* Today in Black History - March 16 * 1827 - With the assistance of James Varick, Richard Allen, Alexander Crummel, and others, Samuel E. Cornish and John B. Russwurm publish "Freedom's Journal" in New York City. Operating from space in Varick's Zion Church, "Freedom's Journal" is the first African American newspaper. Russwurm says of the establishment of the newspaper, "We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us." 1870 - Senator Hiram R. Revels argues against Georgia's re-admission to the Union without safeguards for African American citizens. It is the first official speech by an African American before Congress. 1956 - Ozzie Newsome is born in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He will become a stand-out football player for the University of Alabama, and the first African American star athlete for a major school in the south. Newsome will be drafted by the Cleveland Browns and start 176 out of 182 games in 13 years. He will be the all-time leading receiver in Cleveland history and the all- time receiver among tight ends in the NFL. Newsome will be fourth among receivers in NFL history with a record of 662 catches. He will earn three trips to the Pro Bowl and will be named to the All-NFL Teams of the '80's. Newsome will remain with the Cleveland Browns in an administrative position after his retirement. In 1994 he will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and in 1999 to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 1956 - Former heavyweight champion Joe Louis, makes his debut as a pro wrestler. He knocks out 320-pound cowboy Rocky Lee. Jersey Joe Walcott, the referee, is another former heavyweight champ. 1960 - San Antonio, Texas becomes the first major southern city to integrate lunch counters. 1966 - Rodney Peete is born in Mesa, Arizona. He will become a NFL quarterback playing for the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles and later, the Washington Redskins. 1970 - Tammi Terrell (Tammy Montgomery), best known for her duets with Marvin Gaye, joins the ancestors at Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia after undergoing six brain tumor operations in 18 months. Doctors first discovered Terrell's brain tumor after she collapsed in Gaye's arms onstage in 1967. 1975 - Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker, jazz and blues singer, blues guitarist, composer and pianist, joins the ancestors at the age of 64. He was best known for his hits "Stormy Monday" and "T-Bone Shuffle." 1988 - President Ronald Reagan vetoes a civil rights bill that would restore protections invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court's 1984 ruling in Grove City College v. Bell. Reagan's veto will be overridden by Congress less than a week later. 1989 - The U.S. Senate agrees to try U.S. District Court Judge Alcee Hastings on fraud, corruption, and perjury charges stemming from a 1981 bribery conspiracy case. Hastings, appointed by President Jimmy Carter as the first African American judge to serve on the federal bench in Florida, will be convicted of eight of the original articles and impeached in October. 1991 - Soon Ja Du, a Korean American grocery store owner, shoots to death Latasha Harlins, a fifteen-year old African American girl, after Ms. Du accused the girl of trying to steal a $1.79 bottle of orange juice. A security camera in the store captures the shooting on videotape. The shooting exacerbates racial and ethnic tensions in Los Angeles in the wake of the Rodney King beating. 1995 - Mississippi ratifies the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery, some 130 years after the rest of the country got around to it. 1996 - Mike Tyson regains a piece of the heavyweight championship by defeating WBC champion Frank Bruno by TKO in the third round to reclaim the heavyweight boxing title in Las Vegas. ______________________________________________________________ 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.