* Today in Black History - May 1 * 1863 - The Confederate congress passes a resolution which brands African American troops and their officers criminals. The resolution, in effect, dooms captured African American soldiers to death or slavery. 1866 - White Democrats and police attack freedmen and their white allies in Memphis, Tennessee. Forty-six African Americans and two white liberals are killed. More than seventy are wounded. Ninety homes, twelve schools and four churches are burned. 1867 - Reconstruction of the South begins with the registering of African American and white voters in the South. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan orders the registration to begin in Louisiana on May 1 and to continue until June 30. Registration will begin in Arkansas in May. Other states follow in June and July. By the end of October, 1,363,000 citizens had registered in the South, including 700,000 African Americans. African American voters constitute a majority in five states: Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina. 1884 - Moses Fleetwood Walker becomes the first African American in the Major Leagues when he plays for the Toledo Blue Stockings in the American Association. A catcher, he goes 0-for-3 in his debut, allowing 2 passed balls and committing 4 errors, as his team bows to Louisville 5-1. He will do better in 41 subsequent games before injuries force Toledo to release him in late September. In July he will be joined by his brother Welday, an outfielder. Racial bigotry will prevent his return to major league ball. No other African American player will appear in a major league uniform until Jackie Robinson in 1947. 1901 - Sterling Allen Brown is born in Washington, DC. He will become a poet, literary critic, editor of "The Negro in American Fiction" and "Negro Poetry and Drama," and the coeditor of the anthology, "The Negro Caravan." 1941 - A. Philip Randolph issues a call for 100,000 African Americans to march on Washington, DC, to protest armed forces and defense industry discrimination. In response, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who attempted to persuade Randolph and others to cancel the demonstration, will issue Executive Order 8802, to ban federal discrimination, before Randolph finally yields. 1946 - Mrs. Emma Clarissa Clement is named "American Mother of the Year" by the Golden Rule Foundation. 1948 - Glenn H. Taylor, U.S. Senator from Idaho and Vice- presidential candidate of the Progressive party, is arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, for trying to enter a meeting through a door marked "for Negroes." 1950 - Gwendolyn Brooks becomes the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry "Annie Allen." 1975 - A commemorative stamp of poet Paul Laurence Dunbar is issued by the U.S. Postal Service as part of its American Arts series. 1981 - Dr. Clarence A. Bacote, historian and political scientist, joins the ancestors in Atlanta, Georgia at the age of 75. 1990 - Robert Guillaume, former star of the Benson TV series, premieres in the title role in "Phantom of the Opera" at the Music Center in Los Angeles. Guillaume continues the role that had been played to critical acclaim by the English star, Michael Crawford. 1991 - Rickey Henderson steals his 939th base in the Oakland A's game against the New York Yankees, breaking Lou Brock's major league record. 1995 - Charges that Qubilah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, had plotted to murder Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan are dropped as jury selection for her trial is about to begin in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 1998 - Eldridge Cleaver, the fiery Black Panther leader who later renounced his past and became a Republican, joins the ancestors in Pomona, California, at age 62. 1998 - Former Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda, pleads guilty to charges stemming from the 1994 genocide of more than 500,000 Tutsis. 2000 - Bobby Eggleston is sworn in as the new sheriff of Drew County, Arkansas. He becomes the first African American sheriff in Arkansas since Reconstruction. 2011 - "Obama Gets Osama". President Barack Obama authorizes a military special operations to capture the founder and leader of terrorist organization al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden. This operation resulted in his death and the removal of his body from his sanctuary in Pakistan. resulted in the death of ______________________________________________________________ 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.