* Today in Black History - February 8 * 1865 - The first African American major in the United States Army is a physician, Dr. Martin Robinson Delany. 1894 - Congress repeals the Enforcement Act, which makes it easier for some states to disenfranchise African American voters. 1925 - Marcus Garvey is sent to federal prison in Atlanta, Georgia for mail fraud in connection with the sale of stock in his Black Star Line. His prosecution was vigorously advocated by several prominent African American leaders, including Robert Sengstacke Abbott and others. Garvey was railroaded because of the power he had amassed over the African American population of America. 1925 - Students stage a strike at Fisk University to protest the policies of the white administration at the school. 1944 - Harry S. McAlpin of the "Daily World" in Atlanta, Georgia, is the first African American journalist accredited to attend White House press conferences. 1965 - Dr. Joseph B. Danquah, Ghanaian political leader, joins the ancestors. He had been the leader of the United Gold Coast\ Convention, a political body which had pressed the British for a gradual relinquishing of colonial rule. 1968 - Gary Coleman is born in Zion, Ohio. He will become a child actor portraying "Arnold" in the television series, "Different Strokes," which aired from 1978 to 1986. 1968 - Highway Patrol Officers kill three South Carolina State University students during a demonstration in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Students are protesting against a whites-only Orangeburg bowling alley. 1984 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the Los Angeles Lakers scores 27 points while leading his team to a 111-109 victory over the Boston Celtics. Abdul-Jabbar passes Wilt Chamberlain's NBA career record of 12,682 field goals. 1986 - Oprah Winfrey becomes the first African American woman to host a nationally syndicated talk show. 1986 - 5' 7" Spud Webb, of the Atlanta Hawks, wins the NBA Slam Dunk Competition. 1990 - CBS News suspends resident humorist Andy Rooney for racial comments he supposedly made to a gay magazine, comments Rooney denies making. 1995 - The U.N. Security Council approves sending 7,000 peacekeepers to Angola to cement an accord ending 19 years of civil war. 2000 - Edna Griffin, an Iowa civil-rights pioneer best known for integrating lunch counters, joins the ancestors at the age of 90. In 1948, Griffin led the fight against Katz Drug Store in downtown Des Moines, which refused to serve blacks at its lunch counter. Griffin staged sit-ins, picketed in front of the store and filed charges against the store's owner, Maurice Katz, who was fined. The Iowa Supreme Court then enforced the law which made it illegal to deny service based on race. She organized Iowans to attend the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 march on Washington, D.C., and helped start the former radio station KUCB. On May 15, 1999, Des Moines' mayor proclaimed "Edna Griffin Day." On February 5, 2000, Griffin was inducted into the Iowa African American Hall of Fame. ______________________________________________________________ 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 2002, All Rights Reserved by the Information Man in association with CODE One Communications.