MUNIRAH CHRONICLE
******* Today in Black History – July 5, 2009 *******
1852 - At a meeting sponsored by the Rochester
Ladies' Anti-
Slavery
Society, in Rochester Hall, Rochester, New
York,
Frederick Douglass illustrates the full shame
of
slavery, delivering a speech that takes aim at
the
pieties of the nation -- the cherished memories
of its
revolution, its principles of liberty, and its
moral and
religious foundation. The Fourth of
July,
a day
celebrating freedom, is used by Douglass to
remind
his audience of liberty's unfinished business.
"What
to the American Slave is Your Fourth of July?":
"To
him your celebration is a sham...to cover up
crimes
which would disgrace a nation of savages.
There is
not a nation of the earth guilty of practices
more
shocking and bloody than are the people of the
United
States at this very hour." The text of this
speech
can be seen on the Information Man's web site
Frederick Douglass' Fourth of
July Speech.
1892 - Andrew Beard is issued patent number 478,271
for his
rotary
engine.
1899 - Anna Arnold (later Hedgeman) is born in
Marshalltown,
Iowa.
Hedgeman will be the first African American
woman to
serve in the cabinet of a New York City mayor
(1954), a
special projects coordinator for the
Commission
on Religion and Race of the National Council
of
Churches, and recruiter of 40,000 Protestant
churchmen
to participate in the 1963 March on Washington.
1913 - Smiley Lewis is born in Dequincy,
Louisiana. He will
become a
rhythm and blues vocalist and best known for his
song,
"I Hear You Knockin'."
1947 - The first African American baseball player in
the American
League
joins the lineup of the Cleveland Indians.
Larry
Doby
plays his first game against the Chicago White Sox.
He will
play for both the Indians and the White Sox
during
his 13-year, major-league career.
1949 - The New York Giants purchase the contracts of
Monty Irvin
&
Henry Thompson, their first African American players.
1966 - Three nights of race rioting in Omaha,
Nebraska, result
in the
calling out of the National Guard.
1969 - Tom Mboya, Economics Minister, joins the
ancestors after
being
assassinated in Narobi, Kenya.
1975 - Arthur Ashe becomes the first African
American to win the
Wimbledon
Men's Singles Championship when he defeats
Jimmy
Conners.
1975 - The Cape Verde Islands gain independence
after 500 years
of
Portuguese rule.
1975 - Forty persons are injured in racial
disturbances in Miami,
Florida.
1989 - Barry Bond's home run sets father-son (Bobby)
HR record at
408.
1990 - Zina Garrison upsets Steffi Graf in the
Wimbledon semi-
finals.
1994 - In an attempt to halt a surge of Haitian
refugees, the
Clinton
administration announces it is refusing entry to
new
Haitian boat people.
*********************************************************
The source for these facts are "Encyclopedia Britannica,
"InfoBeat," "I, Too, Sing
Book of Days," "Before the Mayflower", "Black Firsts" and
independent
research by the Information
*********************************************************
EVERY MONTH SHOULD BE BLACK HISTORY MONTH! CHECK OUT THESE OTHER BLACK HISTORY SITES ON THE WEB
Black History - Permanent Site at the Christian Science Monitor
Black History - Black History Links from the Information Man
Black History -
Black History - Afro-American Newspapers
National Civil Rights Museum - located in Memphis, Tennessee
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Last Updated Sunday, July 05, 2009