* Today in Black History - October 19 * 1859 - Byrd Prillerman is born a slave in Shady Grove, Franklin County, Virginia. He will become an educator, reformer, religious worker, political figure, and lawyer. He will be best known as the co- founder of the West Virginia Colored Institute in 1891. The school will be changed to the West Virginia Collegiate Institute in 1915. The school, under Prillerman's leadership, will become the first state school for African Americans to reach the rank of an accredited college whose work is accepted by the universities of the North. The school will eventually become West Virginia State College, then West Virginia State University. 1870 - The first African Americans are elected to the House of Representatives. African American Republicans won three of the four congressional seats in South Carolina: Joseph H. Rainey, Robert C. DeLarge and Robert B. Elliott. Rainey was elected to an un-expired term in the Forty-first Congress and was the first African American seated in the House. 1920 - LaWanda Page is born in Cleveland, Ohio. She will become an television and movie actress and will star in "Mausoleum," "Women Tell the Dirtiest Jokes," "Shakes the Clown," and "Don't Be a Menace." She will be best known for her role as Aunt Esther in the long-running television series, "Sanford and Sons." 1924 - "From Dixie to Broadway" premieres at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York City. The music is written by Will Vodery, an African American, who arranged music for the Ziegfeld Follies for 23 years. 1936 - Johnnetta Betsch (later Cole) is born in Jacksonville, Florida. She will have a distinguished career as an educator and administrator and will become the first African American woman to head Spelman College. 1944 - Peter Tosh is born in Westmoreland, Jamaica. He will become a founding father of reggae music and be part of the song writing magic of the Wailers, Bob Marley's group. He will join the ancestors in 1987. 1944 - The Navy announces that African American women would be allowed to become WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). 1946 - The first exhibition of the work of Josef Nassy, an American citizen of Dutch-African descent, is held in Brussels. The exhibit consists of 90 paintings and drawings Nassy created while in a Nazi-controlled internment camp during World War II. 1960 - Jennifer Holiday is born. She will become a singer and actress and will have her first big break as a star in the Broadway production of "Dream Girls" in 1981. 1960 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is arrested in an Atlanta, Georgia sit-in demonstration. 1962 - Evander Holyfield is born in Atmore, Alabama. He will become a professional boxer. Over the course of his career, he will become IBF Heavyweight Champion, WBA Heavyweight Champion, three time World Champion, and Undisputed Cruiserweight Champion. 1981 - The Martin Luther King, Jr. Library and Archives opens in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded by Coretta Scott King, the facility is the largest repository in the world of primary resource material on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., nine major civil rights organizations, and the American civil rights movement. 1983 - Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop joins the ancestors after being assassinated after refusing to share leadership of the New Jewel Movement with his deputy, Bernard Coard. This event will indirectly lead to the invasion of Grenada by the United States and six Caribbean nations. 1983 - The U.S. Senate approves the establishment of the Martin Luther King, Jr. federal holiday on the third Monday in January. 1988 - South African anti-apartheid leader, Walter Sisulu wins a $100,000 Human Rights prize. ______________________________________________________________ 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.