*                    Today in Black History - May 24                    *

1854 - Anthony Burns, celebrated fugitive slave, is arrested by United
        States Deputy Marshals in Boston, Massachusetts.

1861 - Major General Benjamin F. Butler declare slaves "contraband of war."

1864 - Two regiments, the First and Tenth U.S. Colored Troops, repulse an
        attack by rebel General Fitzhugh Lee.  Also participating in battle
        at Wilson's Wharf Landing, on the bank of the James River, were a
        small detachment of white Union troops and a battery of light
        artillery.

1881 - Paul Quinn College is chartered in the State of Texas. The college,
        founded in 1872, had moved from its original site in Austin to Waco
        in 1877.

1905 - Martin Dihigo is born in Havana, Cuba.  He will become a baseball
        player in the Negro Leagues and will be considered by some to be
        the greatest all-around player of all-time of African descent.  He
        will be elected to the Cuban and Mexican Halls of Fame during his
        lifetime, and will be posthumously elected to the National Baseball
        Hall of Fame in 1977.

1937 - Archie Shepp is born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  He will become a
        renowned avant-garde jazz saxophonist and play with a variety of
        jazz greats including John Coltrane, Bobby Hutcherson, and Donald
        Cherry.  He also will be a composer of jazz instrumental
        compositions and the play "Lady Day: A Musical Tragedy." He will
        use free jazz as a vehicle for political expression and will be an
        important factor in the growing acceptance of African American
        identity. He will become an Associate Professor at the University
        of Massachusetts but will continue his concert career at the same
        time, working mostly in Europe. He will be a seminal figure in the
        development of the New Music and influence many saxophonists of the
        avant-garde.

1944 - Patricia Louise Holt is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  She
        will be better known as Patti LaBelle, organizer and lead singer of
        Patti LaBelle and the Bluebells in 1960.  In the 1970's, she will
        reconfigure the group and later reteam with Nona Hendryx and Sara
        Dash as LaBelle. In 1976, LaBelle will pursue a solo career, gain
        even more critical and popular acclaim, and win a 1992 Grammy.

1951 - Racial segregation in Washington, DC, restaurants is ruled illegal
        by the Municipal Court of Appeals.

1954 - Peter Marshall Murray is installed as president of the New York
        County Medical Society. He is the first African American physician
        to head an AMA affiliate.

1961 - Twenty-seven Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi.

1963 - The Organization of African Unity is founded in Addis Ababa,
        Ethiopia.

1974 - Edward "Duke" Ellington joins the ancestors in New York City at the
        age of 75. For nearly half a century, Duke Ellington led the
        premier American big-band, and is considered by many sources to be
        the greatest composer in the history of jazz.

1983 - Jesse L. Jackson becomes the first African American to address a
        joint session of a state legislature in the 20th century, when he
        talks to the Alabama legislature.

1984 - Ralph Sampson of the Houston Rockets becomes the first unanimous
        choice for NBA Rookie of the Year since Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-
        Jabar) of the Los Angeles Lakers in 1970.

1991 - Hal McRae is named manager of the Kansas City Royals. He will become
        one of two African American managers serving in major league
        baseball.

1993 - The African nation of Eritrea gains independence from Ethiopia.

2000 - Isiah Thomas and Bob McAdoo are elected to be enshrined in the 2000
        class of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

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