* Today in Black History - March 11 *
1861 - The Confederate Congress, meeting in Montgomery, Alabama, adopts a
constitution which declares that the passage of any "law denying
or impairing the right of property in Negro slaves is prohibited."
1870 - Moshweshwe, King of Basutoland (Lesotho) joins the ancestors.
Moshweshwe was the founder of Lesotho in the 1820's. Lesotho was
landlocked by the Cape Colony (now South Africa). He was able to
develop a strong tribal organization from his mix of peoples. He
appeased the Zulu and Ndebele, led cattle raids on surrounding
people, defeated the British in 1852 and conducted frequent wars
with the Orange Free State. Because of repeated attacks by the Cape
Colony, Moshweshwe asked the British for protection and Lesotho will
become a protectorate in 1868. Upon his death, the country was
annexed to Cape Colony, but was returned to the status of British
protectorate in 1884. When the Union of South Africa was formed in
1910, the British honored the desire of Lesotho ("Basutoland") to
remain independent. A protectorate continued until 1968, protecting
Lesotho from incursions from South Africa.
1874 - Frederick Douglass is named president of the failing Freedmen's
Bank.
1874 - Charles Sumner, a militant white advocate of equal rights, dies
at the age of 63.
1884 - William Edouard Scott is born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He will
study with Henry O. Tanner at the Art Institute of Chicago. He
later will go to Paris, France and study at the Julien and Colarossi
academies. He will also study under Tanner again in Paris (Tanner
had emigrated there) and become best known for his portrait studies
of Haitians, rural life, and landscapes. Many of his murals are
on the walls of public buildings in Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia,
and New York (135th Street YMCA).
1919 - Mercer Ellington is born in Washington, DC, the only child of
Edward "Duke" Ellington and his wife, Edna. He will become
"the keeper of the flame," the charge his father will give him
and one he will readily accept. In doing so, he will lead the
Duke Ellington Orchestra for over twenty years after replacing
his father.
1926 - Ralph David Abernathy is born in Linden, Alabama. He will become
a famed minister, civil rights advocate, and confidant of Martin
L. King, Jr. After King's assassination, he will become the
president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and
write an autobiography that will attract widespread criticism for
his comments on King's alleged womanizing.
1935 - "The Conjure Man Dies," a play by Rudolph Fisher, premieres on
Broadway at the Lafayette Theatre. Fisher, who had died over
a year before the play's premiere, had adapted the play from
his 1932 short story "The Conjure-Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of
Dark Harlem," considered the first detective fiction by an
African American.
1948 - Reginald Weir becomes the first African American to play in the
U.S. Indoor Lawn Tennis Association Championship. He will win
his first match, but will be eliminated on March 13.
1950 - Robert "Bobby" McFerrin is born in New York City. He will be
known for his versatile and innovative a cappella jazz vocals
and for his hit song "Don't Worry Be Happy," which will sell
over ten million copies and earn him three Grammy awards in
1989 in addition to a Grammy for best jazz vocalist.
1956 - A manifesto denouncing the Supreme Court ruling on segregation
in public schools, is issued by one hundred southern senators
and representatives.
1959 - "A Raisin in the Sun" becomes the first play written by an
African American woman, Lorraine Hansberry, to open on Broadway.
The play will run for 19 months at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre,
and be named "Best Play" by the New York Drama Critics Circle,
and bring Lloyd Richards to Broadway as the first African
American director in modern times.
1965 - The Reverend James J. Reeb, a white minister from Boston, dies
after being beaten by whites during civil rights disturbances in
Selma, Alabama.
1968 - Otis Redding posthumously receives a gold record for the single
"(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay."
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