MUNIRAH CHRONICLE
******* Today in Black History – October 21, 2018 *******
1832 - Maria W. Stewart, an African American women's rights and
abolitionist
speaker, says in her farewell address
"...for it's
not the color of the skin that makes the
man or woman, but
the principle formed in the soul."
1865 - Jamaican National Hero, George William Gordon, is
unfairly arrested
and charged for complicity in what is
now called the
Morant Bay Rebellion. George William
Gordon was a free
colored land owner. Born to a slave
mother and a
planter father, who was attorney to several
sugar estates in
Jamaica, he was self-educated and
became a landowner
in St. Thomas. He had urged the
people to protest
against and to resist the oppressive
and unjust
conditions under which they were forced to
live. He is
illegally tried by court martial and, in
spite of a lack of
evidence, convicted and sentenced to
death.
1872 - John H. Conyers, Sr. becomes the first African American
admitted to the
United States Naval Academy.
1917 - John Birks ("Dizzy") Gillespie is born in
Cheraw, South
Carolina. He will,
with Charlie Parker and Theolonious
Monk, be the
founder of the revolutionary bebop movement
in the very early
1940's. His music accomplishments
will include
formation of the Dee Gee and Verve labels.
He will perform in
clubs and concert halls in Harlem,
Canada and Europe.
His music will earn him a Grammy
Award in 1974 and
1980. He will join the ancestors on
January 6, 1993 in
Englewood, New Jersey.
1950 - Ronald Ervin McNair is born in Lake City, South Carolina.
In 1971, he will
receive a bachelor's degree in engineering
physics, magna cum
laude, from North Carolina A&T State
University in
Greensboro, North Carolina. In 1976, he will
receive a Ph.D. in
physics from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology under
the guidance of Prof. Michael Feld,
becoming nationally
recognized for his work in the field of
laser physics. He
will receive three honorary doctorates and
a score of
fellowships and commendations. After graduation
from MIT, he will
become a staff physicist at the Hughes
Research Lab in
Malibu, California. In 1978, he will be
selected as one of
thirty-five applicants from a pool of ten
thousand for the
NASA astronaut program. He will fly on
STS-41-B aboard
Challenger from February 3-11, 1984, as a
mission specialist,
becoming the second African American to
fly in space.
Following this mission, he will be selected for
STS-51-L, which
will launch on January 28, 1986, and will join
the ancestors when
he is subsequently killed when Challenger
disintegrates nine
miles above the Atlantic Ocean just 73
seconds after
liftoff.
1950 - Earl Lloyd, becomes the first African American person to
play in an NBA game
(beating out Charles Cooper and Nat
Clifton by one
day). He will later become the first
African American
NBA Assistant Coach and first African
American NBA chief
scout.
1969 - A bloodless coup occurs in Somalia (National Day).
1977 - The United States recalls William Bowdler,
ambassador to
South Africa, due
to the country's apartheid policies.
1979 - The Black Fashion Museum is opened in Harlem by Lois
Alexander to
highlight the achievements and
contributions of
African Americans to fashion.
1980 - Valerie Thomas invents the illusion transmitter.
1989 - Bertram M. Lee and Peter C.B. Bynoe sign an agreement to
purchase the
National Basketball Association's Denver
Nuggets for $54
million. They become the first African
American owners of
a professional basketball team.
1999 - Gaston T. Neal, a community activist and influential
performance poet,
who was best known for his work in the
genre of the Black
power movement and social change,
joins the ancestors
after a bout with lymphatic cancer,
at his home in
Washington, DC.
2003 - Fred Berry, actor, joins the ancestors at the age of 52
after succumbing to
a stroke. He played the character
"Rerun"
on the TV sitcom "What's Happening!!"
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The source for these facts are "Encyclopedia Britannica,
"Before the
Mayflower", "Black Firsts" and independent
research by Mr. Rene’ A. Perry, Sr.
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EVERY MONTH SHOULD BE BLACK HISTORY MONTH! CHECK OUT THESE OTHER BLACK HISTORY SITES ON THE WEB
Schomburg Center for Research in
Black Culture - located in Harlem, New York City
Black History - Black History Links from the Information Man
Black History - Afro-American Newspapers
National Civil Rights Museum - located
in Memphis, Tennessee
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American
History - located in Detroit,
Michigan
Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland
African American History & Culture - located in Baltimore, Maryland
National Museum of African American History and
Culture - located in Washington, DC
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Last Updated Sunday, October 21, 2018