* Today in Black History - April 6 * 1798 - James P. Beckwourth is born in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He will become a noted scout and will discover a pass in the Sierra Nevadas between the Feather and Truckee rivers that will bear his name. 1830 - James Augustine Healy is born to an Irish planter and a slave on a plantation near Macon, Georgia. He will become the first African American Roman Catholic bishop in America. 1865 - Writing in the "Philadelphia Press" under the pen name "Rollin," Thomas Morris Chester describes the Union Army's triumphant entry into the city of Richmond, Virginia, during the closing days of the Civil War. Rollin is the only African American newspaperman writing for a mainstream daily. There will be no others for almost 70 years. 1869 - Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett, the principal of the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is named Minister to Haiti and becomes the first major African American diplomat and the first African American to receive a major appointment from the United States government. 1909 - Matthew Henson, accompanying Commander Robert Peary's expedition, is the first, in the party of six, to discover the North Pole. Although in later years Henson will be called Peary's servant or merely "one Negro" on the expedition, Henson is a valuable colleague and co-discoverer of the pole. Peary says, "I couldn't get along without him." 1917 - America enters World War I. President Wilson, who has just inaugurated a policy of segregation in government agencies, tells Congress that "the world must be made safe for democracy." 1931 - The first trial of the Scottsboro Boys begins in Scottsboro, Alabama. This trial of nine African American youths accused of raping two white women on a freight train become a cause celebri. Ivan Dixon is born in New York City. He will become an actor and director and will be best known for his comedic role on the TV series "Hogan's Heroes." One of his first acting credits will be for the celebrated television anthology show "The Dupont Show of the Month" in the 1960 production of "Arrowsmith." He will go on to act in the film version of the theatrical drama "A Raisin in the Sun" with Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier in 1961, in which he plays Asagai, the African boyfriend of Beneatha. He will also portray Jim in the 1959 film version of "Porgy and Bess." His other pre-"Hogan's Heroes" film work includes: "Something of Value" (1957), "The Murder Men" (1961), and "The Battle at Bloody Beach" (1961). After leaving Hogan's heroes he will appear in more films including "A Patch of Blue" and "Car Wash." Ivan will begin directing films in the early 1970s, such as the 1972 gang warfare flick "Trouble Man" and the 1973 action movie "The Spy Who Sat by the Door" (which he will also produce). For television, he will direct "Love Is Not Enough" (1978), the series "Palmerstown, U.S.A." (1980), the detective series "Hawaiian Heat" (1984), and the telemovie "Percy & Thunder" (1993). 1937 - Billy Dee Williams is born in the village of Harlem in New York City. He will become one of the most romantic leading men of film and television. Among his best known roles will be football great Gale Sayers in the TV movie "Brian's Song" as well as leading parts in the movies "Lady Sings the Blues" and two "Star Wars" films. 1971 - "Contemporary Black Artists in America" opens at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The exhibit includes the work of 58 master painters and sculptors such as Jacob Lawrence, Charles White, Alma Thomas, Betye Saar, David Driskell, Richard Hunt, and others. ******************************************************** The source for these facts are "Encyclopedia Britannica, "InfoBeat," "I, Too, Sing America - The African American Book of Days," and independent research by the Information Man. ******************************************************** ______________________________________________________________ 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 1998, All Rights Reserved by the Information Man in association with CODE One Communications.