*		  Today in Black History - March 22		   *

1492 - Alonzo Pierto, explorer of African descent, sets sail from 
	Spain with Christopher Columbus.

1873 - Slavery is abolished in Puerto Rico. The Spanish Crown 
	finally ends slavery in one of its last Latin American 
	colonies.  Slave owners are compensated with 35 million 
	pesetas per slave.  Despite the pronouncement of abolition, 
	slaves are still required to keep working for three more 
	years as indentured servants.

1882 - African American Shakespearean actor Morgan Smith joins the 
	ancestors in Sheffield, England.  Smith had emigrated to 
	England in 1866, where he performed in Shakespeare's Richard 
	III, Macbeth, Hamlet, and The Merchant of Venice, as well as 
	Othello.

1931 - Richard Berry Harrison receives the NAACP's Spingarn Medal 
	for his role as "De Lawd" in "The Green Pastures" and for 
	his "long years ...as a dramatic reader and entertainer, 
	interpreting to the mass of colored people in church and 
	school, the finest specimens of English drama from 
	Shakespeare down."

1943 - George Benson is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  He will 
	begin playing the guitar at age 8, will sing in nightclubs 
	as a child and form a rock group at age 17. He will move to 
	New York City in 1963 and join Jack McDuff's band but will 
	leave in 1965 to form his own group with Lonnie Smith, 
	Ronnie Cuber, and Phil Turner. He will become a session 
	guitarist in the late 1960s, working with such artists as 
	Miles Davis, Ron Carter, and Herbie Hancock and developing 
	a reputation as one of the best jazz guitarists. The release 
	of his triple Grammy Award-winning "Breezin'" in 1976, with 
	its hit single, "This Masquerade," will mark Benson's return 
	as a vocal artist. His follow-up album, "In Flight" (1977), 
	and his double live set "Weekend in L.A." (1978) will 
	confirm his wide popularity. After "Livin' Inside Your Love" 
	(1979), he will release the equally popular "Give Me the 
	Night" (1980), his first collaboration with Quincy Jones, 
	which will garner an impressive sweep of five Grammy Awards.
	Later albums will include "While the City Sleeps" (1986), 
	"Twice the Love" (1988), "Tenderly" (1989), and "Love 
	Remembers" (1993).

1957 - Stephanie Mills is born in Brooklyn, New York.  She will 
	become a singer and actress and be best known for her role 
	as Dorothy in the stage show of "The Wiz."  She will win a 
	talent show at the Apollo Theater six weeks in a row at age 
	nine. She will appear in the Broadway play "Maggie Flynn," 
	tour with the Isley Brothers, and release her debut album 
	in 1973. She will land the part of Dorothy in 1975, 
	recording an album for Motown during the show's four-year 
	run. In 1980, she will have a worldwide hit with "Never Knew 
	Love Like This Before," which rises to the Top Ten in the 
	U.S.  She will be married for a short while to Shalamar's 
	Jeffrey Daniels and work with Teddy Pendergrass in 1981. In
	1983, she will land a daytime television show on NBC. She 
	will also later play Dorothy in a revival of "The Wiz."

1968 - Pennsylvania State troopers are mobilized to put down a 
	student	rebellion on the campus of Cheyney State College.

1986 - Debi Thomas becomes the first African American woman to win 
	the world figure skating championship.

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