* Today in Black History - January 29 * 1837 - Aleksandr Sereyevich Pushkin, a Russian of African ancestry who is considered the "Shakespeare of Russian Literature," joins the ancestors after being killed in a duel. Technically one-eighth African or an octoroon, Pushkin was by all accounts Negroid in his appearance. His verse novel "Eugene Onegin" and other works are considered classics of Russian literature and inspiration for later great Russian writers such as Gogol, Dostoyevski, and Tolstoy. 1850 - Henry Clay introduced in the Senate a compromise bill on slavery which included the admission of California into the Union as a free state. 1872 - Francis L. Cardoza is elected State Treasurer of South Carolina. 1908 - Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, founded at Cornell University in 1906, is incorporated in the state of New York. 1913 - Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, founded at Howard University in 1908, is incorporated in Washington, DC. 1913 - African Americans celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Major celebrations are held in Jackson, Mississippi, New Orleans, Louisiana and Nashville, Tennessee. Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey appropriate money for official celebrations of the event. 1926 - Violette Neatley Anderson is the first African American woman admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. 1954 - Oprah Winfrey is born in Kosciusko, Mississippi. She will become the first African American woman to host a nationally syndicated talk show and will be nominated for an Academy award for best supporting actress in 1985 for her role in "The Color Purple." Following in the footsteps of Oscar Micheaux and others, she will also form her own film and television production company, Harpo Studios, in Chicago, Illinois. In 1988, Harpo Studios will take over ownership and production of the "Oprah Winfrey Show," making her the first African American woman to own and produce her own national talk show. 1966 - Charles Mahoney, the first African American delegate to the United Nations, joins the ancestors. 1981 - William R. "Cozy" Cole joins the ancestors in Columbus, Ohio. A jazz drummer who played with Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong, he was known as a versatile percussionist who played in big bands, comedy jazz groups, and Broadway musicals. In 1958, his recording of "Topsy" became the only drum solo to sell more than one million records. 1999 - Ronnie Lott, formally of the San Francisco 49'ers, is elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. ______________________________________________________________ Munirah Chronicle is edited by Rene' A. Perry "The TRUTH shall make you free" E-mail: <[log in to unmask]> Archives: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/Munirah.html http://blackagenda.com/cybercolonies/index.htm _____________________________________________________________ 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 1997 - 2010, All Rights Reserved by the Information Man in association with The Black Agenda.