January in Black History

Each month we'll list daily black history notes for the month. Here's what happened in January in Black History.


On January 1 in Black History...…
In 1997, Kofi Annan of Ghana became the first black secretary of United Nations.
In 1916, first issue of Journal of Negro History was published.
In 1863, President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
In 1956, Sudan was proclaimed independent.

On January 2 in Black History...
In 1954, Oprah Winfrey was born.
In 1915, John Hope Franklin was born.
In 1898, Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander becomes the first African American to earn a Ph.D in economics is born in Philadelphia ,PA.
In 1831, "The Liberator", an abolitionist newspaper by William Lloyd Garrison, began publishing.

On January 4 in Black History...

1935, Boxer Floyd Patterson born

1937, Opera singer, Grace Bumbry was born, 1937

1901, C.L.R. James born

In 1920, first black baseball league, National Negro Baseball League organized

On January 15 in Black History...…
In 1929, Martin Luther King Jr was born.
In 1908, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority was founded.

On January 10 in Black History...

In 1915, classical conductor Dean Dixon was born.
In 1925, drummer, Max Roach, was born.
In 1938, baseball great, Willie Lee McCovey was born.
In 1864, Scientist and inventor George Washington Carver was born.

On January 20 in Black History...
In 2001, Colin Luther Powell became the first African-American Secretary of State.
In 1986, the first national Martin Luther King Jr holiday was celebrated.
In 1920, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. was founded.
In 1986, Ronald McNair, the first Black astronaut killed during a space mission, when the space shuttle "Challenger" met with disaster, which blew up shortly after take-off.

On January 25 in Black History...
In 1980, BET, Black Entertainment Television begins broadcasting.
In 1972, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm begins her campaign for President of the U.S.
In 1950, writer Gloria Naylor was born.
In 1851, Sojourner Truth addressed the first Black Women's Rights Convention in Akron Ohio.

On January 31 in Black History...
In 1919, Jackie Robinson was born.
In 1920, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity was founded.
In 1924, Etta Motten sings for President and Mrs. Roosevelt, becoming the first African-American to perform at the White House.
In 1962, Samuel L. Gravely becomes the first African-American to command a US warship.


SEE MORE HERE - http://experiencinghistory.blogspot.com/2011/01/january-in-black-history.html


Check out these sites are where I get many of the daily black history info: http://www.blackfacts.com/http://www.dayinblackhistory.com/
http://www.wikipedia.org

http://www.aaregistry.org

Honoring Heroes, Carl Clark

On January 18, 2012, Carl Clark was finally recognized for his heroism in World War II.

Carl E. Clark, 95, never dreamed the day would come when he would be formally recognized for his heroism during World War II, let alone by the Navy's top official and in front of half a thousand people.

"This is overwhelming," the soft-spoken 95-year-old Menlo Park resident said after Navy Secretary Ray Mabus pinned the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal to his chest during a ceremony Tuesday at Moffett Field.

Clark, an African-American who served at a time when the Navy was segregated, had his reasons to doubt.

The steward first class' efforts to keep the USS Aaron Ward and its men from succumbing to a kamikaze attack were left out of the official battle record because of his skin color, according to U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, who championed the effort to recognize Clark.

"Today, we will add that final entry that has been missing for almost two-thirds of a century," Mabus said Tuesday, referring to the form that members of the military receive when they retire.

The USS Aaron Ward, a destroyer minelayer, was on picket duty near Okinawa on May 3, 1945, when 25 Japanese planes loaded with fuel and bombs swooped out of the clouds with deadly intent.

The impact of the first of six kamikaze pilots to strike the ship threw Clark against the ceiling of a passageway and fractured his collarbone. Despite the injury, he raced to his battle station.

"A broken collarbone could not break Carl's spirit," Eshoo said.

The nearly hourlong fight that followed was brutal, bloody and oddly personal. Clark saw the face of the second kamikaze pilot as he steered his plane into the ship's left flank, Mabus said.

Clark was alone at his station. The opening salvo had killed the rest of his eight-man damage control unit. Undeterred, he picked up a fire hose that usually required several men to operate and went to work.

Throughout the night, Clark put out fire after fire, including a smoldering ammunition locker.
An explosion there would have cracked the ship in half. He also carried many of his fellow crewmates to the aid station.

http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_19762528

Jimi Solanke, Master Storyteller

"if you lose your the depth of your cultural perspectives as an artist, you have nothing to say.."

Jimi Solanke

Jimi Solanke was featured on today's episode of CNN's "African Voices."  This 69 year old Nigerian Master Storyteller has been telling stories for decades.

He's a man of many voices, many faces, and many tales. Whether it's through music, dancing, or his art, Nigerian Jimi Solanke is a master of telling local folk stories. Success and fame came with two children's television shows - Storyland and African Stories - broadcast across Nigeria. Referred to fondly as "Uncle Jimi", Solanke also takes his acting into the rural villages to train aspiring artists. CNN told the story of 69 year-old Jimi Solanke, as told by Jimi Solanke, keeping his Yoruba culture alive.   http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.344443812239259.103481.204426449574330&type=3

November in Black History

Each month we'll list daily black history notes for the month.  Here's what happened in November in Black History.

On November 30 in Black History...
In 1912 Gordon Parks was born.

In 1924 Shirley Chisolm was born.   Politician, educator, author and congresswoman, representing New York's 12th Congressional District for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In 1968, she became the first black woman elected to Congress. On January 25, 1972, she became the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination (Margaret Chase Smith had previously run for the Republican presidential nomination) She received 152 first-ballot votes at the 1972 Democratic National Convention. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Chisholm

On November 29 in Black History...
In 1919, Dancer Pearl Primus is born.
In 1908, Civil Rights Activist, Adam Clayton Powell is born.

On November 28 in Black History...
In 1929 Berry Gordy is born.

On November 21 in Black History...
In 1851, Shaw University was founded.

On November 15 in Black History...
In 1979, Rosa Parks was awarded the Spingarn medal.

On November 12 in Black History...
In 1941, Opera singer, Madame Lillian Evanti, founds the National Negro Opera Company.In 1968, Sammy Sosa was born.
In 1977, Alex Haley was awarded the Spiingarn medal.

On November 6 in Black History...
In 1901, actress and singer Juanita Hall was born in Keyport, New Jersey.
In 1900, James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson composed "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing."
In 1746, Absalom Jones was born.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absalom_Jones


On November 3 in Black History...
In 1949, boxer Larry Holmes was born.
In 1992, Carol Mosely Braun, became the 1st African American woman elected to the United States Senate.
In 1964, A.W. Willis, Jr., was elected to the General Assembly making him the first black to hold this position.
In 1896, Hunter, J. H Portable Weighing Scales Nov. 03, 1896 Patent No. 570,533

On November 2 in Black History...
In 1983, the third Monday in January was designated as Martin Luther King, Jr. day.  It was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.
In 1903, Maggie walker opens the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond,  VA.
In 1992, Carol Mosely Braun, became the 1st African American woman elected to the United States Senate.

On November 1 in Black History...
In 1951, Jet magazine was founded.
In 1945 Ebony magazine was founded.
In 1910, the first issue of "Crisis", the NAACP monthly magazine was published by WEB DuBois.
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Check out these sites are where I get many of the daily black history info: http://www.blackfacts.com/ http://www.dayinblackhistory.com/
http://www.wikipedia.org

A Filmmaker is Born

On this day in Black History...

In 1912, filmmaker Gordon Parks was born. Parks was a photographer, musician, poet, novelist, journalist, activist and film director. He is best remembered for his photo essays for Life magazine and as the director of the 1971 film Shaft.

He was the first African American to work at Life magazine, and the first to write, direct, and score a Hollywood film. He was profiled in the 1967 documentary "Weapons of Gordon Parks" by American filmmaker Warren Forma.

Parks was a co-founder of Essence magazine and one of the early contributors to the blaxploitation genre.

Parks himself said that freedom was the theme of all of his work, Not allowing anyone to set boundaries, cutting loose the imagination and then making the new horizons.

Parks' son, Gordon Parks, Jr. (1934–1979), directed blaxploitation films, including Super Fly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Parks