* Today in Black History - January 30 * 1797 - Boston Masons, led by Prince Hall, establish the first African American interstate organization, creating lodges in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Providence, Rhode Island. 1797 - Sojourner Truth is born a slave in Hurley, New York. This is an approximation, since historians cannot agree on the actual date of her birth. 1797 - Congress refuses to accept the first recorded petitions from African Americans. 1844 - Richard Theodore Greener becomes the first African American to graduate from Harvard University. 1858 - William Wells Brown publishes the first drama by an African American, "Leap to Freedom," Brown is an escaped slave who will also become noted as an abolitionist and author of several early historical publications. 1927 - The Harlem Globetrotters, considered by many the most popular basketball team in the world, is formed by Abe Saperstein. Originally called the Savoy Five after their home court, the Savoy Ballroom, in Chicago, Illinois, the team's name will be changed to the Harlem Globetrotters. 1928 - Ruth Brown is born in Portsmouth, Virginia. She will become a Rhythm & Blues and jazz singer, recording "So Long," "Teardrops from My Eyes," "Hours," "Mambo Baby," "Lucky Lips," and "This Little Girl's Gone Rockin'." She will be a Tony Award winner and a rhythm-and-blues revolutionary--a woman whose early successes earned her instant worldwide fame and launched a career that has influenced such legendary performers as Aretha Franklin, Dinah Washington, Little Richard and Stevie Wonder. 1944 - Sharon Pratt is born in Washington, DC. In 1990, as Sharon Pratt Dixon, she will be elected the first woman mayor of Washington, DC. Her defeat of incumbent Marion Barry coupled with her years of community involvement and activism will raise the beleaguered city's hopes for positive change. 1945 - Floyd Flake is born in Los Angeles, California. He will become a congressman from New York's 6th District. 1956 - The home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Montgomery bus boycott leader, is bombed. 1962 - The United Nations General Assembly censures Portugal for its widespread violations of human rights in Angola. 1965 - Leroy "Satchel" Paige, major league baseball player, is named all-time outstanding player by the National Baseball Congress. 1979 - Franklin A. Thomas becomes the first African American to head a major U.S. charitable foundation when he is named president of the Ford Foundation. ______________________________________________________________ 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 2003, All Rights Reserved by the Information Man in association with CODE One Communications.