* Today in Black History - October 9 * 1823 - Mary Ann Shadd (later Cary) is born free in Wilmington, Delaware, the eldest of thirteen children. She will become the publisher of Canada's first anti-slavery newspaper, "The Provincial Freeman", devoted to displaced African Americans living in Canada. This also makes her the first woman in North America to publish and edit a newspaper. She will then become a teacher, establishing or teaching in schools for African Americans in Wilmington, Delaware, West Chester, Pennsylvania, New York, Morristown, New Jersey, and Canada. She will also be the first woman to speak at a national Negro convention. In 1869, she will embark on her second career, becoming the first woman to enter Howard University's law school. She will become the first African American woman to obtain a law degree and among the first women in the United States to do so. She will join the ancestors in 1893. 1906 - Leopold Senghor is born in Joal, Senegal, French West Africa (now in Senegal). He will become a poet and president of Senegal from 1960 to 1980. Senghor will try to modernize Senegal's agriculture, instill a sense of enlightened citizenship, combat corruption and inefficiency, forge closer ties with his African neighbors, and continue cooperation with the French. He will advocate an African socialism based on African realities, free of both atheism and excessive materialism. He will seek an open, democratic, humanistic socialism that shunned such slogans as "dictatorship of the proletariat." A vigorous spokesman for the Third World, he will protest unfair terms of trade that work to the disadvantage of the agricultural nations. In 1984, Senghor will be inducted into the French Academy, becoming the first black member in that body's history. 1929 - Ernest "Dutch" Morial is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He will become the first African American mayor of New Orleans in 1978 and be re-elected in 1982. 1940 - The White House releases a statement which says that government "policy is not to intermingle colored and white enlisted personnel in the same regimental organizations." 1959 - Mike Singletary is born in Houston, Texas. He will become a second- round draft pick for the Chicago Bears in 1981. He will be the first or second leading tackler for each of his eleven seasons. Over his career he will amass 1488 tackles (885 solo), 51 passes defended, 13 fumble recoveries, and 7 interceptions. He will be an All-NFC selection nine straight years from 1983-1991, will be selected to ten consecutive Pro Bowls, and Defensive Player of the Year in 1985 and 1988. He will be enshrined in the Football Hall of Fame in 1998. 1961 - Tanganyika becomes independent within the British Commonwealth. 1962 - Uganda gains its independence from Great Britain. 1963 - Uganda becomes a republic within the British Commonwealth. 1989 - The first NFL game with a team coached by an African American, Art Shell, takes place as his Los Angeles Raiders beat the New York Jets 14-7 on Monday Night Football. 1999 - Milt Jackson, a jazz vibraphonist who made the instrument sing like the human voice as a longtime member of the Modern Jazz Quartet, joins the ancestors at the age of 76. He succumbed to liver cancer in a Manhattan hospital. ______________________________________________________________ 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.