THE MUNIRAH CHRONICLE
******* Today in Black History – May 7, 2021 *******
1867 - African American
demonstrators stage a ride-in to protest
segregation on New Orleans streetcars. Similar
demonstrations occur in Mobile, Alabama, and other cities.
1878 - J.R. Winters receives
a patent for the fire escape ladder.
1884 - Henrietta Vinton
Davis performs scenes from Shakespeare
with Powhatan Beaty at Ford's Opera House in Washington,
D.C., site of the assassination of President Abraham
Lincoln. Vinton's
career will span a total of 44 years
and will include her involvement with Marcus Garvey's
UNIA, including a vice-presidency of Garvey's Black Star
Line.
1885 - Dr. John E. W.
Thompson, a graduate of the Yale University
Medical School, is named minister to Haiti.
1931 - Literary critic and
editor Darwin Theodore Troy Turner is born
in Cincinnati, Ohio. He will be admitted to the University of
Cincinnati at the age of 13. He will receive a bachelor's
degree three years later, earn a master's in English from
Cincinnati at the age of 18 and a doctorate from the
University of Chicago when he was 25. He will begin his
teaching career at Clark College in Atlanta in 1949. He will
teach at Morgan State College and Florida A&M University
and
will be chairman of the English department at North Carolina
A&T College before joining the Iowa faculty in 1972. At
the
time of his transition, he will be the University of Iowa
Foundation Distinguished Professor of English. His major
works
will include "Black American Literature: Essays, Poetry
Fiction
and Drama" (1969) and "Voices from the Black
Experience: African
and Afro-American Literature" (1972). He will join the
ancestors
on February 11, 1991, after succumbing to a heart attack.
1936 - Jimmy Lee Ruffin, Sr.
is born in Collinsville, Mississippi. The
older brother of the Temptations' lead singer David Ruffin,
he
will become a singer on the Motown label and will best
known for the hit "What Becomes of the
Brokenhearted." He
will also record "Hold on to My Love," "There
Will Never be
Another You," and "I'll Say Forever My Love."
He will join
the ancestors on November 17, 2014.
1941 - "Natural
Man," a play by Theodore Browne, premieres in New
York City. It is a production of the American Negro
Theatre, founded by Abram Hill and Frederick O'Neal.
1945 - Baseball owner Branch
Rickey announces the organization of
the United States Negro Baseball League, consisting of six
teams.
1946 - William Hastie is
inaugurated as the first African American
governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
1959 - 93,103 fans pack the
Los Angeles Coliseum for an exhibition
game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York
Yankees. It is "Roy Campanella Night." The star catcher
for the Dodgers, paralyzed in an automobile accident, is
honored for his contributions to the team. "Campie"
will continue
to serve in various capacities with the Dodger organization
for
many years.
2020 - Andre Harrell, the
music executive who founded the influential
Uptown Records, joins the ancestors at the age of 59. A native
of
New York, Harrell started his career in music as an artist,
one-
half of the early rap duo Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, whose
single
“Genius Rap” was a minor hit in 1981. In 1983 Harrell teamed
with
Russell Simmons, the founder of Def Jam Records, and had one
of
his early experiences in the business working as a vice
president
and later GM of the label. He left to start his own record
company,
Uptown Records, in 1986. Stylish, sophisticated and
fashion-forward,
the label played a key role in the development of the New
Jack
Swing style of R&B, courtesy of acts like Guy (featuring
the hugely
influential producer-performer Teddy Riley), Al B. Sure and
Jodeci,
as well as crossover hip-hop via Heavy D and the Boyz and
Father MC.
Harrell also signed the teenage Mary J. Blige in the late
’80s,
though her career at the label didn’t fully take off until
the early
’90s, with help from Harrell’s enterprising former intern,
Sean
“Puffy” Combs, who was quickly elevated to an A&R
position at Uptown.
*******************************************************
The source for these facts are "Encyclopedia Britannica,
"Before the
Mayflower", "Black Firsts" and independent
research by Mr. Rene’ A. Perry, I.
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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 Friday, May 07, 2021