*               Today in Black History - April 16               *

1862 - Slavery is abolished in Washington, DC, and $993,407 in
        compensation is paid to slave owners for their lost "property."

1868 - Louisiana voters approve a new constitution and elect state
        officers, including the first African American lieutenant
        governor, Oscar J. Dunn, and the first African American state
        treasurer, Antoine Dubuclet.   Article Thirteen of the new
        constitution bans segregation in public accommodation: "All
        the persons shall enjoy equal rights and privileges upon any
        conveyances of a public character; and all places of business,
        or of public resort, or for which a license is required by
        either State, Parish or municipal authority, shall be deemed
        places of a public character and shall be opened to the
        accommodation and patronage of all persons, without
        distinction or discrimination on account of race or color."

1869 - Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett is appointed Consul General to Haiti
        and the Dominican Republic, the first African American to serve
        in a diplomatic position for the United States.  Bassett will
        hold the post for 12 years.

1947 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor) is born in
        New York City.  He will be one of the finest basketball players
        in history, first with UCLA, then with the Milwaukee Bucks
        and, from 1975 to his retirement in 1990, with the Los Angeles
        Lakers.  The all-time leading scorer in the NBA, Abdul-Jabbar
        will lead the Lakers to five NBA championships, including
        back-to-back titles in 1987 and 1988.

1962 - Three Louisiana segregationists are excommunicated by Archbishop
        Joseph Rummel for continuing their opposition to his order for
        integration of New Orleans parochial schools.

1965 - Maj. General Benjamin O. Davis Jr., assistant deputy chief of
        staff of the U.S. Air Force, is named lieutenant general, the
        highest rank attained by an African American to date in the
        armed services.

1973 - Lelia Smith Foley becomes the first African American female to
        be elected mayor of a U.S. city when she takes office in the
        small town of Taft, Oklahoma. She will hold the position for 13
        years.

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        The source for these facts are "Encyclopedia Britannica,
        "InfoBeat," "I, Too, Sing America - The African American
        Book of Days," and independent research by the
        Information Man.
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