* Today in Black History - May 29 * 1910 - Ralph Metcalfe is born in Atlanta, Georgia. He will become a world record holder in the 100-yard and 200-yard dashes and win a bronze medal in the 1932 Olympic Games and gold and silver medals in the 1936 Games. He will also become a four-term congressman representing Illinois's 1st District. 1938 - Ronald Milner is born in Detroit, Michigan. He will become trained as a writer and will exhibit his skills as a playwright when he produces his first play , "Who's Got His Own" on Broadway in 1966. In 1969, he will help start "The Black Theater Movement," which will promote plays in which African Americans could represent their lives on stage. His works will include "What The Wine-Sellers Buy," "Jazz Set," "Don't Get God Started," and "Checkmates." 1944 - Maurice Bishop is born in Aruba and will be raised in Grenada. While attending college in England during the early 1960s, he will become involved in the Black Power Movement and be heavily influenced by Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr. Kwame Nkrumah, and Walter Rodney, the Guyanese activist. After returning to Grenada in 1970, he will cofound a political organization, "Movement for Assemblies of the People." This organization will later merge with another political group, forming the "New Jewel Movement." After constant conflict with, and harassment by, Grenada's ruling regime, Bishop will become the minority leader in the Grenadian government in 1976. In 1979, Bishop will become the Prime Minister after leading a bloodless coup. He will develop close ties with Castro's Cuba and will obtain government funding from Cuba and the Soviet Union. These relationships will cause the United States to impose sanctions against Grenada which led to internal turmoil in the Grenadian ruling party. After a party split, Bishop and his primary supporters will be executed in October of 1983. Using this event as an excuse to involve themselves in the politics of the region, the United States will invade Grenada and keep a "peacekeeping" mission on the island until 1985. 1950 - Maureen "Rebbie" Jackson is born in Gary, Indiana. Rebbie will make her professional debut at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas with her siblings, the Jackson's. In the late 70s, she will begin to consider a solo career. Artists such as Betty Wright and Wanda Hutchinson of the Emotions will mentor her, but it will be her brother Michael who pens and produces her very first hit, "Centipede." As the title track of Rebbie's 1984 debut, "Centipede," introduces the pop world to a Jackson most never knew existed. 1956 - La Toya Jackson is born in Gary, Indiana. She will become a singer and one of the most controversial members of the Jackson family. She will be referred to as "The Rebel With A Cause." She will cause a big stir, when she poses for Playboy Magazine. Her book, "La Toya: Growing Up in the Jackson Family," will be on the New York Times Best Seller List for nine weeks. She will attract full capacity audiences in her performances all over the world. 1962 - Buck (John) O'Neil becomes the first African American coach in major- league baseball. He accepts the job with the Chicago Cubs. O'Neil had previously been a scout with the Cubs organization. He had been a notable first baseman in Black baseball. 1965 - Ralph Boston sets a world record in the broad jump at 27 feet, 4-3/4 inches, at a meet held in Modesto, California. 1969 - Artist and art educator James v. Herring joins the ancestors in Washington, DC. Herring organized the first American art gallery to be directed and controlled by African Americans on the Howard University campus in 1930, founded and directed the university's art department and, with Alonzo Aden, opened the famed Barnett-Aden Gallery in Washington, DC, in 1943. 1973 - Tom Bradley is elected the first African American mayor of Los Angeles, California. Winning after a bitter defeat four years earlier by incumbent mayor Sam Yorty, Bradley, a Texas native and former Los Angeles Police Department veteran, will serve an unprecedented five terms. 1980 - Vernon E. Jordan Jr., President of the National Urban League, is critically injured in an attempted assassination in Fort Wayne, Indiana. 1999 - Olusegun Obasanjo becomes Nigeria's first civilian president in 15 years, after a series of military regimes. ______________________________________________________________ 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.