* Today in Black History - September 2 * 1766 - Abolitionist, inventor, and entrepreneur, James Forten is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1833 - Oberlin College, one of the first colleges to admit African Americans, is founded in Oberlin, Ohio. 1864 - In series of battles around Chaffin's Farm in the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia, African American troops capture entrenchments at New Market Heights, make a gallant but unsuccessful assault on Fort Gilmer and help repulse a Confederate counterattack on Fort Harrison. The Thirty- Ninth U.S. Colored Troops will win a Congressional Medal of Honor in the engagements. 1902 - "In Dahomey" premieres at the Old Globe Theater in Boston, Massachusetts. With music by Will Marion Cook and lyrics by poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, it is the most successful musical of its day. 1911 - Romare Bearden is born in Charlotte, North Carolina. His family will move to the village of Harlem in New York City in 1914. He will call New York his home for the rest of his life. A student at New York University, the American Artists School, Columbia University, and the Sorbonne, Bearden's depiction of the rituals and social customs of African American life will be imbued with an eloquence and power that will earn him accolades as one of the finest artists of the 20th century and a master of collage. Among his honors will be election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and receiving the President's National Medal of Arts in 1987. He will join the ancestors on March 12, 1988 after succumbing to complications of bone cancer. 1928 - Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver is born in Norwalk, Connecticut. He will become a jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer who will initially lead the Jazz Messengers with drummer Art Blakey before forming his own band in 1956. A pioneer of the hard bop style, he will attract to his band the talents of Art Farmer, Donald Byrd, and Blue Mitchell, among others. 1945 - The end of World War II (V-J Day). A total of 1,154,720 African Americans have been inducted or drafted into the armed forces. Official records list 7,768 African American commissioned officers on August 31, 1945. At the height of the conflict, 3,902 African American women (115 officers) were enrolled in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WACS) and 68 were in the Navy auxiliary, the WAVES. The highest ranking African American women were Major Harriet M. West and Major Charity E. Adams. Distinguished Unit Citations were awarded to the 969th Field Artillery Battalion, the 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion, and the 332nd Fighter Group (Tuskegee Airmen). 1946 - William Everett "Billy" Preston is born in Houston, Texas. He will become a musician songwriter and singer. His hits will include "Will It Go Round in Circles", "Nothing from Nothing", "Outa-Space", "Get Back" (with The Beatles), and "With You I'm Born Again"(with Syreeta). He also will appear in film: "St. Louis Blues" and play with Little Richard's Band. He will collaborate with some of the greatest names in the music industry, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Little Richard, Ray Charles, George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, King Curtis, Sammy Davis Jr., Sly Stone, Aretha Franklin, the Jackson 5, Quincy Jones, Richie Sambora, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He will play the electric piano on the Get Back sessions in 1969 and is one of several people sometimes credited as the "Fifth Beatle". He is one of only two non-Beatles to receive label performance credit on any Beatles record. He will join the ancestors on June 6, 2006 in Scottsdale, Arizona. 1956 - The Tennessee National Guard is sent to Clinton, Tennessee, to quell white mobs demonstrating against school integration. 1960 - Eric Dickerson is born in Sealy, Texas. He will become a professional football player and will become NFC Rookie of the Year in 1983. He will also set a NFL single- season rushing record of 2,105 yards in 1984. 1963 - Alabama Governor George Wallace blocks the integration of Tuskegee High School in Tuskegee, Alabama. 1965 - Lennox Claudius Lewis, former WBC boxing champ, is born in West Ham, London, England. 1966 - Frank Robinson is named Most Valuable Player of the American League. 1971 - Cheryl White becomes the first African American woman jockey to win a sanctioned horse race. 1975 - Joseph W. Hatchett sworn in as first African American state supreme court justice in the South (Florida) in the twentieth century. 1978 - Reggie Jackson is 19th player to hit 20 home runs in 11 straight years. 1989 - Rev. Al Sharpton leads a civil rights march through the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York. ______________________________________________________________ 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.