* Today in Black History - December 18 * 1852 - George H. White is born in Rosindale, North Carolina. He will become a lawyer, state legislator, and in 1896, the only African American member of the United States House of Representatives, where he will be the first to introduce an anti-lynching bill. White will also found the town of Whitesboro, New Jersey, as a haven for African Americans escaping southern racism. 1860 - South Carolina declares itself an "independent commonwealth." 1865 - Congress proclaims the ratification of the thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. The ratification process had been completed on December 6, 1865. 1917 - Ossie Davis is born in Cogdell, Georgia. While he will be best known as an actor in such plays as "Jeb" (where he will meet his wife, Ruby Dee) and "Purlie Victorious" and films like "Let's Do It Again," "Do The Right Thing," and "Jungle Fever," he will be a playwright, screenwriter, and director(Cotton Comes to Harlem). In 1969, he will win an Emmy for his role in "Teacher, Teacher" and will be a featured performer in television's "Evening Shade." 1958 - Niger gains autonomy within the French Community of Nations. 1961 - Wilt Chamberlain of the NBA Philadelphia Warriors scores 78 points vs the Los Angeles Lakers. 1964 - Funeral services are held in Chicago for Sam Cooke. Hundreds of fans will cause damage to the A.R. Leak Funeral Home, where Cooke's body is on display. 1971 - Jesse Jackson announces the formation of Operation Push (People United to Save Humanity), a new African-American political and economic development organization. Jackson, who resigned from Operation Breadbasket, the economic arm of the SCLC, says, "the problems of the 1970's are economic so the solution and goal must be economic." 1971 - The NAACP's Spingarn Medal is presented to Rev. Leon H. Sullivan, founder of Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America (OIC) for his leadership. 1989 - Ernest Dickerson wins the New York Film Critics Circle Award for best cinematography for the movie "Do the Right Thing." 1996 - The Oakland, California School board becomes the first in the nation to recognize Black english, a.k.a. Ebonics, as a separate language, NOT a dialect or slang. ______________________________________________________________ Munirah Chronicle is edited by Brother Mosi Hoj "The TRUTH shall make you free" E-mail: <[log in to unmask]> Archives: <http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/Munirah.html> ______________________________________________________________ To SUBSCRIBE send E-mail to: <[log in to unmask]> In the E-mail body place: Subscribe Munirah Your FULL Name ______________________________________________________________ Munirah(TM) is a trademark of Information Man. Copyright 2001, All Rights Reserved by the Information Man in association with CODE One Communications.