* Today in Black History - July 9 *
1863 - Union troops enter Port Hudson. With the fall of Vicksburg (on July
4) and Port Hudson, Union troops control the Mississippi River and
The Confederacy is cut into two sections. Eight African American
regiments play important roles in the siege of Port Hudson.
1868 - Francis L. Cardozo is installed as secretary of the state of South
Carolina and becomes the first African American cabinet officer on
the state level.
1893 - Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performs the world's first open-heart surgery
at Chicago's Provident Hospital (which he founded in 1891) on James
Cornish, who had been stabbed in the chest and was dying from blood
accumulation around the heart. Dr. Williams brought Mr. Cornish to
surgery, where he proceeded to open his chest, drain the blood and
successfully sutured the pericardium.
1901 - Jester Hairston is born in Belew's Creek, North Carolina, and will
move at a very early age to the Homestead section of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, where he will grow up. He will attend the Massachusetts
Agriculture College (now University of Massachusetts), dropping out in
the 1920s due to lack of money. After impressing a benefactor with his
singing, he will be sponsored at Tufts University, graduating in 1929.
He will move to New York and will meet Hall Johnson, who will teach him
to respect Negro spirituals. He will begin his Hollywood career in 1935
when Warner Brothers purchases the show, "Green Pastures." His early
acting roles, will include long-running parts on the radio and television
versions of "Amos 'n' Andy" as well as bit parts in Tarzan films.
Although many of his early acting jobs will portray less than flattering
images of Blacks, he will never apologize for playing racial stereotypes.
"We had a hard time then fighting for dignity," he will say years later.
"We had no power. We had to take it, and because we took it the young
people today have opportunities." In addition to his roles in
television's "Amos 'n' Andy" and "Amen," Hairston will excel as a
musician, first with the Eva Jessye Choir and later as assistant
conductor of the Hall Johnson Choir. He will also arrange choral
music for more than 40 film soundtracks. He will also become the
first African American to direct The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. His films
credits will include "The Alamo," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "In the Heat
of the Night," "Lady Sings the Blues," "The Last Tycoon" and "Lilies of
the Valley," for which he will compose the song "Amen." That song,
which he dubbed for Sidney Poitier in the movie, will reflect Hairston's
lifelong dedication to preserving old Negro spirituals. He will be a
sought-after choral director who will organize Hollywood's first
integrated choir and compose more than 300 spirituals. In his later
years, when working with students at college workshops, Hairston will
tell them, "You can't sing legato when the master's beatin' you across
your back." He will join the ancestors in Los Angeles, California on
January 18, 2000.
1927 - Attorney William T. Francis is named minister to Liberia.
1936 - June Jordan is born in the Harlem, New York City. She will become a
poet and author of books for children and young adults and will be
nominated for the National Book Award in 1972 for "His Own Where."
1947 - O.J. (Orenthal James) Simpson is born in San Francisco, California. He
will become a professional football player after winning the Heisman
Trophy - USC - in 1968. He will be elected to the Pro Football Hall
of Fame after playing for the Buffalo Bills and SanFrancisco 49ers.
He will then become an actor and be known for his roles in the Naked
Gun series, The Towering Inferno, Roots, and Capricorn One. He will be
charged with, and acquitted of the murder of ex-wife, Nicole and Ron
Goldman in 1995.
1951 - Dave Parker is born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He will become a professional
baseball player and will replace Roberto Clemente as the right fielder
for the Pittsburgh Pirates, after Clemente's death. In 1978, he will
become the first Pirate to become Most Valuable Player since Clemente.
He will win three Gold Glove awards. His career will diminish after
he suffers from weight and knee problems, eventually leading to drug
problems. He will be traded to Cincinnati and then to the Athletics,
where he will contribute to their 1988 and 1989 pennants as a Designated
Hitter and team leader.
1955 - E. Frederick Morrow is appointed an administrative aide to President
Dwight D. Eisenhower. He is the first African American to hold an
executive position on a White House staff.
1971 - Clergyman and activist Leon H. Sullivan is awarded the NAACP's Spingarn
Medal for his achievements in transmitting "the social gospel into
economic progress for his people."
1978 - Larry Holmes wins a decision over Ken Norton for the WBC crown.
1979 - Dr. Walter Massey is named director of the Argonne National Laboratory.
1987 - Percy E. Sutton, former New York State legislator, president of the
Borough of Manhattan, founder of Inner City Broadcasting and owner of
the Apollo Theatre, receives the NAACP's Spingarn Medal.
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