* 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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