On January 16 in Black History...Black Soldiers and Zeta Phi Beta

In 1776, Continental Congress approved Washington's order on the enlistment of free Blacks.  In 1776, One fifth of the total population was enslaved [1776], about 500,000 negros, women and children.  In October 1775, Washington announced that all blacks, both free and slave would be "rejected altogether." In November he said that "Neither Negroes, boys unable to bear arms, nor old men unfit to endure the fatigues of the campaign, are to be enlisted."[12] Most blacks were integrated into existing military units, but some segregated units were formed, such as the Bucks of America. Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia was determined to maintain British rule in the southern colonies. On November 7, 1775, he issued a proclamation that he would free black and white bondsmen who came to fight with the British. By December 1775 the British army had 300 slaves wearing a military uniform. Sewnon the breast of the uniform was the inscription "Liberty to Slaves". These slaves were designated as "Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment."  Dunmore's Black soldiers had brought fear to the Patriots. In December 1775, Washington wrote a letter to Colonel Henry Lee stating that success in the war would come to whatever side could arm the blacks the fastest. Washington then issued orders to the recruiters to reenlist the free blacks who had already served in the army. He worried that these soldiers may cross over to the British side. Congress in 1776 agreed with Washington and free blacks who had already served could be reenlisted. South Carolina and Georgia did resist in enlisting slaves as soldiers. African Americans from northern units did fight in southern battles and some southern blacks were allowed to be a substitute for their master.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans_in_the_Revolutionary_War

In 1920, Zeta Phi Beta was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C.  In 1948, Zeta Phi Beta became the first Greek-letter organization to charter a chapter in Africa (in Monrovia, Liberia).[4][5] It was also the first organization to establish adult and youth auxiliary groups and centralize its operations in a national headquarters.[3][4] Today, there are also chapters in U.S. Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Bahamas, Japan, Korea, Barbados, and Haiti.

Zeta Phi Beta is the only NPHC sorority that is constitutionally bound to a fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma.[4] The sorority maintains affiliations with several organizations including American Diabetes Association, March of Dimes, American Cancer Society, American Red Cross, National Council of Negro Women, and the United Negro College Fund.[6]

Famous members of Zeta Phi Beta include Zora Neale Hurston, Esther Rolle, Dione Warwick and Wendy Palmer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeta_Phi_Beta
www.zphib1920.org


In 1920 Zeta Phi Beta Sorority was founded on the campus of Howard University.

Leading in Politics, Service and the Billboards

On January 15 in Black history...Dr. King, AKA and The Supremes

In 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. born in Atlanta. King was an iconic leader of the civil rights movement in America. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a vital figure of the modern era. His lectures and dialogues stirred the concern and sparked the conscience of a generation. The movements and marches he led brought significant changes in the fabric of American life through his courage and selfless devotion. This devotion gave direction to thirteen years of civil rights activities. His charismatic leadership inspired men and women, young and old, in this nation and around the world.

Dr. King’s concept of “somebodiness,” which symbolized the celebration of human worth and the conquest of subjugation, gave black and poor people hope and a sense of dignity. His philosophy of nonviolent direct action, and his strategies for rational and non-destructive social change, galvanized the conscience of this nation and reordered its priorities. His wisdom, his words, his actions, his commitment, and his dream for a new way of life are intertwined with the American experience.
http://www.thekingcenter.org/DrMLKingJr/

On December 10 1964, Dr. King accepted the Nobel Peace Prize.  Watch a video and read more here: http://experiencinghistory.blogspot.com/2010/12/mlk-gets-nobel-peace-prize.html

In 1908, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority was founded  by a group of nine students, led by Ethel Hedgeman (Lyle) at Howard Universityin Washington, D.C.  Alpha Kappa Alpha was first organization of black Greek sisterhood.  Forming a sorority broke barriers for African American women in areas where little power or authority existed due to a lack of opportunities for minorities and women in the early 20th century.
After the organization's establishment over a century ago, Alpha Kappa Alpha has helped to improve social and economic conditions through community service programs. The sorority works with communities through service initiatives and progressive programs relating to education, family, health, and business.  Notable members of Alpha Kappa Alpha include Dr. Maya Angelou, Bebe (Elizabeth) Moore Campbell , Sarah “Sadie” Delaney, Ella Fitzgerald, Dr. Mae Jemison, Star Jones, Gladys Knight, Toni Morrison, Rosa Parks, Phylicia Rashad and Coretta Scott King.
http://wwhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Kappa_Alpha ; www.aka1908.com/

In 1961, "The Supreme" signed with Motown. The girl group of the 60's had 12 number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and was one of the top FIVE artists with the most number one hits.  Founding members Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, Diana Ross, and Betty McGlown, all from the Brewster-Douglass public housing project in Detroit,[3] formed The Primettes as the sister act to The Primes (with Paul Williams and Eddie Kendricks, who would go on to form The Temptations).[3] Barbara Martin replaced McGlown in 1960, and the group signed with Motown the following year as The Supremes. Martin left the act in early 1962, and Ross, Ballard, and Wilson carried on as a trio.

During the mid-1960s, The Supremes achieved mainstream success with Ross as lead singer. In 1967, Motown president Berry Gordy renamed the group Diana Ross & the Supremes, and replaced Ballard with Cindy Birdsong. Ross left to pursue a solo career in 1970 and was replaced by Jean Terrell, at which point the group's name reverted to The Supremes. After 1972, the lineup changed more frequently; Lynda Laurence, Scherrie Payne, and Susaye Greene all became members of the group during the mid-1970s. The Supremes disbanded in 1977 after an 18-year run.

Basketball Firsts and a Sisterhood of Service

On January 13 in Black History...

In 1953, Don Barksdale became the first Black person to play in an NBA All-Star Game.  He was a pioneer with a number of African-American firsts to his credit.  A 6'6" center at UCLA, he became the first African American to be named consensus All-American in 1947. Barksdale was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter organization established for African Americans.  In 1948, he was the first African American to play with the U.S. Olympic team. He joined the team in Basketball at the 1948 Summer Olympics. He became the first Africa-American basketball player to win a gold medal in the Summer Olympics.   In 1948, he became the first black radio disc jockey in the San Francisco Bay Area. He also worked in television and owned a beer distributorship. He became the first African-American beer distributor in the Bay Area. He became the first African American television host in the Bay Area with a show called Sepia Review on KRON-TV.  After his basketball career ended, he returned to radio, started his own recording label, and opened two nightclubs in Oakland. 

In 1983, he launched Save High School Sports Foundation, which is credited with helping to save Oakland school athletic programs from collapse.  In February, Bounce: The Don Barksdale Story is scheduled to be broadcast on FSN Bay Area. The documentary was produced by Doug Harris for Athletes United for Peace, a Berkeley-based youth sports and media organization.  The Wire character D'Angelo Barksdale is named in honour of him.

Read this 1991 interview with Barksdale here:  http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OralHistory/OHBarksdale.pdf

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

In 1913, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was founded at Howard University by twenty-two collegiate women at Howard University. These students wanted to use their collective strength to promote academic excellence and to provide assistance to persons in need. The first public act performed by the Delta Founders involved their participation in the Women's Suffrage March in Washington D.C., March 1913. Delta Sigma Theta was incorporated in 1930.

Delta Sigma Theta has continued its tradition of service through a plethora of programs.  For example, the sorority was the first national African-American organization to collaborate with Habitat for Humanity International in 1992, during Delta President Bertha Roddey's administration. Habitat for Humanity builds and rehabilitates homes with the help of selected homeowners, volunteer labor, management expertise, and tax-deductible donations of money and materials. Houses are sold to families without profit, and no-interest mortgages are issued over a fixed period. Between 1992-1994, Delta Sigma Theta and Habitat for Humanity built twenty-two homes throughout the United States. In 1996, sorority members and supporters traveled to Ghana, where they built forty Delta Habitat for Humanity homes.


Notable members include Selma Burke, Shirley Chisholm, Ruby Dee Davis, Dorothy I. Height and Barbara Jordan.

The original artwork pictured above is a life sized painting on canvas created by artist Tarleton Blackwell. The original hangs in the National Headquarters Office in Washington, D.C.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Sigma_Theta
http://www.deltasigmatheta.org/

The Highest Standards

On January 9 in Black History...

"the highest standards, not of Negro education, but of American education at its best."

In 1866, Fisk University opened for classes in Nashville, Tennessee. Barely six months after the end of the Civil War and just two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, three men - John Ogden, the Reverend Erastus Milo Cravath, and the Reverend Edward P. Smith - established the Fisk School in Nashville, name in honor of General Clinton B. Fisk of the Tennessee Freedmens Bureau, an abolitionist who helped establish the first free public schools in the south for white AND African-American children. General Fisk also provided the new institution with facilities in former Union Army barracks near the present site of Nashvilles Union Station. In 1954, Fisk became the first private black college accredited for its music programs by the National Association of Schools of Music. 

Famous Fisk alumni include Johnetta B. Cole, Mayor Marion Barry, John Hope Franklin, WEB DuBois, Congressman John Lewis, Nikki Giovani and Ida B. Wells.

In 1914, Phi Beta Sigma was founded at Howard University in Washington, DC. by three young African-American male students - A. Langston Taylor, Leonard F. Morse and Charles I. Brown. The founders wanted to organize a Greek letter fraternity that would exemplify the ideals of brotherhood, scholarship and service. the fraternity is the only one of its kind to aid in the creation and hold a consitutional bond with a African-American sorority. The Founders wanted its organization to be a part of the community as opposed to apart from the community. Their deep conviction for community service is embodied in its motto, "Culture for Service and Service for Humanity."
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_B._Fisk 
http://www.fisk.edu/
http://www.pbs1914.org/history/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phi_Beta_Sigma

Opera and Sisterhood

Mary Cardwell Dawson

On November 12 in Black History...

In 1941, Mary Cardwell Dawson founded on November 12 the NATIONAL NEGRO OPERA COMPANY.  in 1941. The NNOC grew to include chapters New York, Chicago,Washington, DC, and other cities around the country. Dawson's opera company, her music school and the Cardwell Dawson Choir, opened new doors and launched careers for African-Americans who had little or no access to classical odr opera music training.  First Lady Elanor Roosevelt and Marian Anderson were honorary board chairs. 

The house  where the company was housed also has a rich history beyond Mary Cardwell Dawson. Businessman William "Woogie" Harris, brother of famed photographer "Teenie" Harris, bought the house in 1930, hosting and housing prominent black entertainers (Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughn, Cab Calloway) and athletes (Joe Louis, Roberto Clemente) who were denied Pittsburgh hotel accommodations because of their race. Neighbors dubbed the house "Mystery Manor" because of the famous comings and goings.  The Company disbanded in 1962 upon Dawson's death.  Currently there are efforts to restore the house. 

 Check out this video about the house and NNOC.

National Negro Operal Company

In 1922 SIGMA GAMMA RHO, INC. was founded on November 12 by seven school teachers: Mary Lou Allison Little, Dorothy Hanley Whiteside, Vivian White Marbury, Nannie Mae Gahn Johnson, Hattie Mae Dulin Redford, Bessie M. Downey Martin, and Cubena McClure.  The sorority was the first African-American sorority founded at a predominantly white college, Butler University in Indianapolis, IN.  The group became an incorporated national collegiate sorority on December 30, 1929, when a charter was granted to Alpha chapter at Butler.

Its first three years were devoted to organizing. Now, Sigma Gamma Rho continues to grow through Sisterhood, Scholarship and Service. The sorority has supported the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), National Council of Negro Women, National Pan-Hellenic Council, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, National Urban League, March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, National Mental Health Association, United Negro College Fund, Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violent Social Change, Black Women's Agenda, and American Association of University Women.

Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., now has over 400 chapters in the United States, Bermuda, the Virgin Islands, Bahamas, and Germany.