(Photo By Flickr User Thomas Hawk)
Welcome again, family to another trek to see what’s happening in African-American History!
Black History Scope For February 11th:
1644-First Black legal protest in America pressed by eleven Blacks who petitioned for freedom in New Netherlands (New York). Council of New Netherlands freed the eleven petitioners because they had “served the Company seventeen or eighteen years” and had been “long since promised their freedom on the same footing as other free people in New Netherlands.”
1783-The daughter of former slaves, born in Cape May, NJ. Jarena Lee is the considered the first female preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1836, she published her autobiography, The Life and Religious Experiences, of Jarena Lee, a Coloured Lady, Giving an Account of Her Call to Preach the Gospel. Her maiden name is unknown and the year of her death is uncertain. She married Joseph Lee, a minister of a Black church in Snow Hill (Lawnside – about 6 miles from Philadelphia, PA) in 1811.
1898-Owen L. W. Smith of North Carolina, AME Zion minister and educator, named minister to Liberia.
1961-Robert Weaver sworn in as administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Agency, highest federal post to date by a Black American.
1971-Whitney M. Young, Jr., National Urban League director, died on this day
1976-Clifford Alexander, Jr. is confirmed as the first African American Secretary of the Army. He will hold the position until the end of President Jimmy Carter’s term.
Black History Scope for February 12th:
2013- Former LAPD officer and US Navy Reserve Officer Christopher Dorner died by a self inflicted gunshot wound after nationwide man hunt and a stand-off with police at a cabin in the San Bernardino Mountains. Dorner was 33 years old.
2010- More than 80 artists gathered to record the remake of “We Are The World.” Janet Jackson laid down her version of Michael Jackson’s part and the song was premiered at the opening of the Winter Olympics on this day.
2000- Jalacy “Screamin’ Jay” Hawkins passed away at the age 70. He was a musician, singer, and actor. Famed chiefly for his powerful, operatic vocal delivery and wildly theatrical performances of songs such as “I Put a Spell on You,” Hawkins sometimes used macabre props onstage, making him an early pioneer of shock rock.
1997- Michael Jackson’s wife Debbie gave birth to a son named Prince Michael Jackson on this day
1983- Eubie Blake passed away at the age of 96 on this day. He was a composer, lyricist and pianist of ragtime, jazz, and popular music.
1972- Al Green’s ‘Let’s Stay Together’ went to number one on the US Singles Chart on this day.
1968- Soul On Ice a memoir written by Eldridge Cleaver, was published on this day. Also on this day, musician Jimi Hendrix returned to his home city Seattle, WA, was given an honorary high school diploma and a key to the city.
1966- Stevie Wonder reached #1 for five weeks and #3 on the Pop charts, with “Uptight, Everything is Alright” on this day.
1961- “Shop Around” by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, became Motown’s first million selling single on this day.
1956- Actor, comedian, TV personality, and talk show host Arsenio Hall, was born on this day in Cleveland, OH.
1934- William Felton “Bill” Russell, former NBA player and one of the most successful and decorated athletes in North American sports history, was born on this day in Monroe, LA.
1930- In Tuskegee, AL, the Rosenwald Fund made grants to the Alabama State Board of Health to help meet the cost of a study of syphilis in African American men living in rural Georgia and Alabama. Thus would begin a four decade long study of syphilis without treatment. Over 400 men were allowed to carry the disease without medical treatment for nearly 40 years. Several government agencies including the Federal Public Health Service and the Center for Disease Control participated in the unethical study. It was kept a secret until 1972 when a newspaper reporter disclosed it..
1909- The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded. The purpose and the focus of the NAACP is “To ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination.”
1907- Roberta Martin, gospel great born this day in Helena, AR, died January 18, 1969. Martin worked with gospel greats like Thomas Dorsey and Theodore Frye. Sis. Martin became owner of one of the largest gospel publishing houses in Chicago, IL.
1865- Henry Highland Garnet, first Black to speak in the Capitol, delivered memorial sermon on the abolition of slavery at services in the House of Representatives on this day.
1793- Congress passed the first Fugitive Slave Law to implement the provisions in the Constitution. It stated that to reclaim an escaped slave a master needed only to go before a magistrate and provide oral or written proof of ownership. The magistrate would then issue an order for the arrest of the slave. The slave was not given a trial in court or allowed to present evidence on their own behalf, including proof of having previously earned their freedom.
