* Today in Black History - May 10 *
1652 - John Johnson, a free African American, is granted 550 acres in
Northampton County, Virginia, for importing eleven persons to work
as indentured servants.
1775 - Lemuel Haynes, Epheram Blackman, and Primas Black, in the first
aggressive action of American forces against the British, help
capture Fort Ticonderoga as members of Ethan Allen's Green
Mountain Boys.
1815 - Henry Walton Bibb is born a slave in Shelby County, Kentucky. He
will escape to Canada, return to get his first wife, be recaptured
in Cincinnati, escape again, be recaptured again and sold into
slavery in New Orleans. He will be removed to Arkansas, where he
will escape yet again, this time for good in 1842. He will make
his way to Detroit, Michigan and will become an active abolitionist.
He will publish his autobiography, "Narrative of The Life and
Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave" in 1849. This narrative
of his life will be so suspenseful that an investigation is conducted
that will substantiate Bibb's account. In 1850, the U.S. Congress
will pass the Fugitive Slave Act which will force his immigration to
Canada with his second wife. In 1851, he will found the "Voice of the
Fugitive", the first Black newspaper in Canada. He will join the
ancestors in 1854 at the age of 39.
1837 - Pinckney Benton Steward (P.B.S.) Pinchback is born near Macon, Georgia.
During the Civil War, he will recruit and command a company of the
"Corps d'Afrique," a calvary unit from Louisiana. He will resign his
commission in 1863 after unsuccessful demands that African American
officers and enlisted men be treated the same as white military
personnel. In 1868, he will be elected to the Louisiana legislature
as a Senator. In 1871, he will be elected President Pro Temp of the
Louisiana Senate, and will become Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana in
1872 after the death of Oscar Dunn. He will serve briefly (two months)
as the appointed Governor. He will be elected to the U.S. Senate in
1873, but never be seated by that body, due to supposed election
irregularities. After the end of Reconstruction and his political
career, Pinchback will use his resources to work as an advocate for
African Americans as Southern Democrats endeavor to take away the
civil rights gained by Blacks after the Civil War. He will publish
the newspaper "The Louisianan," using it as a venue to help influence
public opinion. He will also become the leader of the precursor to the
Associated Negro Press, the Convention of Colored Newspaper Men. At the
age of sixty, he will relocate to Washington, DC where he will live
until he joins the ancestors in 1921.
1876 - The American Centennial Exposition opens in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Included are works by four African American artists, among them
Edmonia Lewis' "The Dying Cleopatra" and Edward Bannister's "Under the
Oaks." Bannister's painting will win the bronze medal, a distinct and
controversial achievement for the renowned painter.
1919 - A race riot occurs in Charleston, South Carolina. Two African
Americans are killed.
1935 - Larry Williams is born. He will become a rhythm and blues singer and
will be known for his record hits "Short Fat Fannie," "Bony Maronie,"
and "Dizzy Miss Lizzie."
1936 - Jayne Cortez is born in Fort Huachuca, Arizona. She will grow up in
the Watts section of Los Angeles, California and will marry jazz
saxophonist Ornette Coleman in 1954. After divorcing him in 1960,
she will study drama and poetry. She will become active in the civil
rights movement, registering African Americans to vote in Mississippi
as a worker for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. She
will then become a poet and performance artist that will integrate the
rhythms and foundations of jazz into her written works. She will
found the Watts Repertory Theater and be its artistic director from
1964 through 1970. She will establish Bola Press in New York City in
1972 and will be a writer-in-residence at Rutgers University from 1977
to 1983. She will be known for her collections of poetry "Pisstained
Stairs and Monkey Man's Wares," "Festivals and Funerals,"
"Coagulations: New and Selected Poems," and "Somewhere in Advance of
Nowhere." She will also be known for her poetry reading recordings with
jazz musicians "There It Is," "Maintain Control," and "Taking the Blues
Back Home: Poetry and Music."
1944 - Judith Jamison is born in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. She will begin
her dancing career at the age of six. She will complete her dance
training at the Philadelphia Dance Company (later the University of
Arts). She will make her debut with the Alvin Ailey American Dance
Theatre in Chicago, dancing in Talley Beaty's Congo Tango Palace. She
will become the troupe's premier dancer in 1967 and will tour the
world exhibiting her signature dance "Cry." She will win a Dance
Magazine award for her performances in 1972. She will leave the Ailey
troupe in 1980 to perform on Broadway and will choreograph many of her
own works such as "Divining," Ancestral Rites" and "Hymn." She will
form the twelve member group, The Jamison Project, in 1987. After
Alvin Ailey health declines in 1988, she will rejoin the Ailey troupe
as artistic associate and will become artistic director upon his
death in 1989. She will continue the company's tradition of performing
early works choreographed by African Americans for many years.
1950 - Jackie Robinson appears on the cover of Life magazine. It is the
first time an African American has been featured on the magazine's
cover in its 13-year history.
1951 - Z. Alexander Looby is the first African American elected to the
Nashville City Council.
1952 - Canada Lee joins the ancestors in England at the age of 45. He had
become an actor in 1933 after a professional boxing match left him
blind in one eye. He was able to be cast in non-traditional roles for
African Americans at a time when most were cast in stereotypical parts.
He was best known for his portrayal of "Bigger Thomas" in the play
"Native Son" in 1940 and 1941. He was blacklisted by the House
Committee on Un-American Activities and the FBI for his outspoken views
on the stereotyping of African Americans in Hollywood and Broadway.
1962 - Southern School News reports that 246,988 or 7.6 per cent of the
African American pupils in public schools in seventeen Southern
and Border States and the District of Columbia attended integrated
classes in 1962.
1963 - Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth announces agreement on a limited
integration plan which will end the Birmingham demonstrations.
1974 - "Just Don't Want To Be Lonely" earns a gold record for the group,
The Main Ingredient. The trio began as the Poets in 1964. Cuba
Gooding is the lead singer. (Gooding's son, Cuba Jr., will star
in the 1991 film "Boyz N The Hood" and will win an Academy award
for his role in the movie "Jerry Maguire in 1997.) The Main
Ingredient's biggest hit, "Everybody Plays The Fool," will make
it to number three on the pop charts in 1972.
1986 - Navy Lt. Commander Donnie Cochran becomes the first African American
pilot to fly with the celebrated Blue Angels precision aerial
demonstration team.
1998 - Jose' Francisco Pena Gomez joins the ancestors at the age of 61 in
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic after succumbing to pancreatic
cancer. He had led a successful civil-military revolt in 1965 which
was curtailed by the interference of United States Marines sent to
the Dominican Republic to put down the rebellion. He was later forced
into exile. He later returned to the Dominican Republic and be
heavily involved in politics as leader of the Partido Revolucionario
Dominicano. He ran for president unsuccessfully three times.
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