* 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 - Isabella Baumfree is born a slave in Swartekill, Ulster County, New York. This is an approximation, since historians cannot agree on the actual date of her birth. She will escape from slavery with her infant daughter in 1826. After going to court to gain custody of her son, she will become the first Black woman to win such a case against a white man. She will become an African American abolitionist and women's rights activist, naming herself 'Sojourner Truth' on June 1, 1843. Her best-known extemporaneous speech on racial inequalities, "Ain't I a Woman?," will be delivered in 1851 at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. During the Civil War, she will help recruit Black troops for the Union Army. After the war, she will try unsuccessfully, to secure land grants from the federal government for former slaves. She will speak about abolition, women's rights, prison reform, and will preach to the Michigan Legislature against capital punishment. Not everyone welcomed her preaching and lectures, but she will have many friends and staunch support among many influential people at the time, including Amy Post, Parker Pillsbury, Frances Gage, Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, Laura Smith Haviland, Lucretia Mott, and Susan B. Anthony." During her last days on earth, a reporter will come from the Grand Rapids Eagle to interview her. "Her face was drawn and emaciated and she was apparently suffering great pain. Her eyes were very bright and mind alert although it was difficult for her to talk." She will join the ancestors on November 26, 1883, at her home in Battle Creek, Michigan, 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 & 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. She will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. She will join the ancestors on November 16, 2006. A memorial concert for her will be held on January 22, 2007 at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in the village of Harlem in New York City. 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. 2009 - Michael Steele, the first African American lieutenant governor of Maryland, is elected after six rounds of voting as the chairperson of the Republican National Committee. He is the first African American to hold that office. ______________________________________________________________ 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.