* Today in Black History - June 23 *
1824 - The Reverend William Levington, Deacon, establishes St.
James' First African Protestant Episcopal Church in the
"Upper Room" at Park Avenue and Marion Street. The St.
James Episcopal Church, in Baltimore, Maryland, becomes
the oldest African American Episcopal Church established
south of the Mason-Dixon line.
1888 - Abolitionist Frederick Douglass receives one vote from
the Kentucky delegation at the Republican convention
in Chicago, effectively making him the first African
American candidate nominated for U.S. president.
1893 - Willie Sims, the wealthiest jockey of his time, rides
winning horses in five of six races at Sheepshead Bay
in Brooklyn, New York. Sims will repeat the feat two
years later in addition to winning two Kentucky Derbys
and two Belmont Stakes.
1904 - Willie Mae Ford (later Smith) is born in Rolling Fork,
Mississippi. She will become a leading gospel singer
and will be known as "the mother of gospel music." She
will be one of the early associates of Thomas A. Dorsey
and an innovator in gospel style, introducing the "song
and sermonette" style that other singers, such as
Shirley Caesar and Edna Gallmon Cooke, made popular. She
will also be a major figure within the Baptist Church as
the Director of its Education Department of the National
Baptist Convention before she became a member of a
Pentecostal denomination. She will consider herself a
preacher and instill her singing and sermonettes with an
evangelical fervor. In 1990, she will be inducted into
the St. Louis Walk of Fame. She will join the ancestors
on February 2, 1994.
1919 - The Black Star Line of Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro
Improvement Association (UNIA) is incorporated.
1926 - Langston Hughes' articles "The Negro Artist and the
Racial Mountain" appears in "Nation "magazine. In it,
Hughes expresses African Americans' bold new confidence
to create a new art during the Harlem Renaissance. "We
younger Negro artists who create now intend to express
our individual dark skinned selves without fear or
shame."
1940 - Wilma Glodean Rudolph is born in St. Bethlehem, Tennessee.
A polio victim as a child, she will overcome her illness
and win three gold medals at the Summer Games in Rome
(1960), the first American woman to achieve this feat
in a single Olympiad. She will be United Press Athlete
of the Year in 1960 and Associated Press Woman Athlete
of the Year for 1960 and 1961. Also in 1961, she will win
the James E. Sullivan Award, an award for the top amateur
athlete in the United States, and visit President John F.
Kennedy. She will be voted into the National Black Sports
and Entertainment Hall of Fame in 1973 and the National
Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1974. She will be inducted
into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983, honored with
the National Sports Award in 1993, and inducted into the
National Women's Hall of Fame in 1994. She will join the
ancestors on November 12, 1994, after succumbing to cancer.
1944 - Rosetta Jeanette Hightower is born in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Her primary fame will be derived from being
the lead singer of The Orlons, the prime American girl group
who will score several Top 10 US hits between 1962-1964,
including "The Wah Watusi", "Don't Hang Up", "South Street",
and "Not Me". In early 1962, The Orlons will provide back-up
vocals on Dee Dee Sharp's "Mashed Potato Time" (#2 pop, #1
R&B). That spring, they will record "The Wah Watusi" which,
in July 1962, will make it in the Billboard charts to the #2
spot. Around the same time, they will record back-up vocals
on Dee Dee Sharp's second hit, "Gravy (For My Mashed
Potatoes)" which went to #9. The follow-up to "The Wah
Watusi", "Don't Hang Up" will reach #4 pop and #3 Rhythm &
Blues in the fall and winter of 1962. The Orlons' first major
performance will be at New York's Apollo Theatre with The
Crystals, Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, Chuck Jackson,
Tommy Hunt, and Gene Chandler. In 1963, they had hits with
"South Street" (#3 pop, #4 R&B) and "Crossfire" (#19 pop, #25
R&B). She will leave the group in the late 1960s to pursue a
solo career in the United Kingdom. She will join the ranks of
the then-popular female session singers who back many hit songs.
This group includes Madeline Bell, Lesley Duncan, Kiki Dee, and
Sue and Sunny. She will record with Joe Cocker on his "With a
Little Help From My Friends" album. Moving permanently to
England in 1970, she will marry musician-producer Ian Green.
She will represent the United States in Belgium for the first
international singing contest ever held. She will release
numerous singles and at least two albums. In 1971, she will be
a backing vocalist for John Lennon's "Power to the People". She
will join the ancestors on August 2, 2014 in Clapham, London,
England.
1948 - Clarence Thomas is born in the Pinpoint community, near
Savannah, Georgia. He will become a U.S. Supreme Court
Justice in 1991, replacing Thurgood Marshall as the only
African American among the nine jurists. He is appointed
by the conservative Republican administration to satisfy
the need to have an African American on the court, while
at the same time have a justice that is very conservative.
This will serve to increase the court's decisions that
negatively affect African Americans and other minorities
and weaken affirmative action.
1956 - Randall "Randy" Darius Jackson in born in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana. He will become an American musician and
record producer. He will be best known to the general
public for being a judge on the television show American
Idol. As a musician Randy Jackson will play the electric
bass. He will be the bass player for the band Journey
for a period in the 1980s. He will also record, produce,
or tour with many well-known artists and bands, ranging
from Mariah Carey (whom he knew when she was still a
teenager; he will be in her band at Live 8 in London in
2005) to *NSYNC, Celine Dion, Bruce Springsteen and
Madonna. He will also work as an executive with Columbia
Records and MCA Records. He will be a judge with American
Idol from its inception in 2002 to 2013. On the show he
will be known for taking a middle road of criticism
between the supportiveness of Paula Abdul and the
nastiness of Simon Cowell. He will popularize "pitchy" as
the way to describe off-key singing. He will also be
renowned for his heavy use of slang terms and gestures,
most notably the word "dawg". When Randy says "you can
blow," it means "you can sing well." He will sometimes
wear outrageous outfits and supplies an endless
inspirational resource for those looking for eye glasses.
He will become a mentor on American Idol after season 12
and will depart the series for good in November 2014.
1958 - A federal judge ruled racial segregation in Little Rock,
Arkansas, must end in 30 months.
1966 - Jonathan "Chico" DeBarge is born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
He will launch a promising solo career on Motown in the
late '80s. Despite a hit single and a hit debut album, his
career will be sidelined by imprisonment on a drug charge.
After he completes his sentence, DeBarge will launch a
comeback in November 1997 with the release of "Long Time
No See". "The Game" will follow in 1999.
1969 - Joe Frazier defeats Jerry Quarry for the heavyweight boxing
title.
1970 - Charles Rangel defeats Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. in the New
York Democratic primary in Harlem. This will end the
political career of one of the major political symbols of
the post-World War II period.
1979 - LaDainian Tramayne Tomlinson is born in Rosebud, Texas. He
will become a professional football player who will be a
running back in the National Football League (NFL) for
eleven seasons. He will be widely considered one of the
greatest running backs of all time. He will play the
majority of his career with the San Diego Chargers, who will
select him with the fifth overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft.
He will be invited to five Pro Bowls, be an All-Pro six times,
and win consecutive rushing titles in 2006 and 2007. At the
time of his retirement, he will rank fifth in career rushing
yards (13,684), seventh in all-purpose yards (18,456), second
in career rushing touchdowns (145), and third in total
touchdowns (162). He will serve as an analyst on NFL Network.
After being elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in
2014, he will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
in August 2017, his first year of eligibility. He will be
often referred to by his initials, L.T. An effective passer on
halfback option plays, he will throw seven touchdown passes
and ranks second behind Walter Payton (8) for non-quarterbacks
since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. He will be named to the
NFL's 2000s All-Decade Team as one of the top running backs of
the 2000s.
1982 - The House of Representatives approves the extension of the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, despite North Carolina Senator
Jesse Helms' attempt to block the House vote. The Senate
had approved the extension of the bill five days before the
historic House vote.
1990 - TV Guide selects Arsenio Hall as Television Personality of
the Year.
1994 - After decades as an international outcast, South Africa
reclaims its seat in the United Nations.
1994 - French marines and Foreign Legionnaires head into Rwanda to
try to stem the country's ethnic slaughter.
1997 - Dr. Betty Shabazz, widow of Malcolm X, joins the ancestors
in New York City at the age of 61, 3 weeks after receiving
burns over 80% of her body. Her burns were the result of a
fire set by her grandson, Malcolm.
2003 - Maynard Jackson Jr., who was elected the first African
American mayor of Atlanta in 1973 and transformed urban
politics in America by forcing the city's white business
elite to open doors to minorities, joins the ancestors at
the age of 65. Thirty years earlier, Jackson survived a
racially charged primary to become the first African
American mayor of a major Southern city. The victory, the
same year that African American mayors were elected in
Detroit and Los Angeles, helped solidify the political
power of urban African Americans.
2003 - Max Manning, star pitcher in the Negro Leagues, joins the
ancestors at the age of 84 after a long illness. His 1937
tryout offer from the Detroit Tigers was rescinded when
they learned that he was African American.
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