September 13

Alain Locke (September 13, 1885 - June 9, 1954) was the first African American Rhodes Scholar after graduating from Harvard in 1908 as a member of Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in philosophy, He taught at Howard  to 1953, retiring as philosophy department chair. His
philosophical interests were focused on values, cultural pluralism, and race relations. He influenced the New Negro Movement and the Harlem Renaissance, promoting black art and culture.



Birthdays

Maria Louise Baldwin (September 13, 1856 - January 9, 1922) was educated in the Cambridge, Massachusetts public schools and spent virtually all her career as an educator there. She began as a teacher at Agassiz Grammar School, rising to principal in 1889. When the school expanded to include upper grades in 1916 she was named Master, one of only two women at that position in the city and the only African American in New England to hold it. She supervised 12 teachers and 500 children, all of whom were white. Under her leadership Agassiz became one of the best schools in the city, attended by the children of Harvard professors and old Cambridge families. She spent summers teaching education courses at Hampton Institute and Philadelphia's Institute for Colored Youth.  .

Alberta Christine Williams King (September 13, 1904 - June 30, 1974) grew up in Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church where her father, Rev. Adam Daniel Williams, was pastor. She married Martin Luther King Sr. in 1926; he later served as pastor as did their son Martin Luther King Jr. Mrs. King was shot and killed while playing the organ before a Sunday service by Marcus Wayne Chenault, a 23-year-old black man who claimed that all Christians were his enemies.

Tony Russell "Charles" Brown (September 13, 1922 – January 21, 1999) was pianist and lead vocalist for Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, a group that replaced the Nat King Cole trio as the most prominent band on the Los Angeles blues club scene in the mid-1940s. Their 1945 recording of "Drifting Blues" stayed on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart for six months, followed by other hits such as the 1947 classic "Merry Christmas, Baby." Brown formed his own trio in 1948 and continued to do well for several years until his mellow, sophisticated style was overshadowed by the growing popularity of rock 'n' roll. He began recording again in the 1980s as well as touring with Bonnie Raitt.

Andrew Felton Brimmer (September 13, 1926 – October 7, 2012) is remembered as the first African American to have served as a governor of the Federal Reserve System. He served in the Army during World War II and then completed a BA and MA in economics  at the University of Washington. He studied at the University of Bombay for a year before earning his PhD at Harvard while working as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York helping the newly established Sudanese government establish a central bank. Dr. Brimmer was a supporter of affirmative action and wrote extensively on the connection between racism and income inequality.

Brimmer being sworn in as a member of the Federal Reserve Board by William McChesney Martin in 1966. U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and Brimmer's wife and daughter, Esther, look on.

Adrienne Kennedy (born September 13, 1931) was a key figure in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. She is best known for her first major play Funnyhouse of a Negro. Many of Kennedy's plays explore issues of race, kinship, and violence in American society, and many of her works are "autobiographically inspired." Ms. Kennedy has won two Obie Awards: "Distinguished Play" in 1964 for Funnyhouse of a Negro, and "Best New American Play" in 1996 for June and Jean in Concert and Sleep Deprivation Chamber. She was also honored at the 2008 Obie Awards with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Geronimo Pratt (September 13, 1947 - June 2, 2011) was a Vietnam veteran and Deputy Minister of Defense for the Black Panther Party who was convicted of murder in 1970. The conviction was overturned in 1997 on the grounds that the prosecution had withheld evidence, and he was awarded a $ 4.5 million settlement. Pratt was the godfather of Tupac Shakur.

Nell Carter (September 13, 1948 – January 23, 2003) was an American singer, and film, stage, and television actress. She won a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway musical Ain't Misbehavin', as well as an Emmy Award for her reprisal of the role on television. She also received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her starring role in the long-running 1980s’ sitcom Gimme a Break!




Events

September 13, 1663 is observed as the first slave revolt in the American colonies, although it may have occurred earlier in the month. Nine indentured servants in Gloucester County VA plotted to amass weapons and demand their freedom from Gov. William Berkeley (pictured). They were betrayed by another servant and charged with treason with four being executed. More restrictive laws for indentured servants and slaves were soon passed.

On September 13, 1858 escaped slave John Price was captured by US Marshals in Oberlin OH, a town known for its abolitionist views as part of the Underground Railroad, and taken to nearby Wellington. Oberlin residents were able to free Price and send him to Canada. Thirty-seven men were arrested violating the Fugitive Slave Act; all were released except for Simon Bushnell, a white man, and Charles Langston, who was black. Both men served brief sentences.

On September 13, 1962, Mississippi Gov. Ross Barnett pledged on statewide television and radio to uphold integration, saying “We must either submit to the unlawful dictates of the federal government or stand up like men and tell them, never! I submit to you tonight, no school will be integrated in Mississippi while I am your governor!” Barnett was also secretly negotiating with President Kennedy about the enrollment of James Meredith at Ole Miss later that month.

 Photo Gallery

Peddler's Shoe Shine, September 13, 1911

September 13, 1916. Henderson County, Kentucky. "Colored School at Anthoston.
 Census 27, enrollment 12, attendance 7. Teacher expects 19 to be enrolled
after work is over. 'Tobacco keeps them out and they are short of hands.'
Ages of those present: 13 to 5." Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine.

James Baldwin by Carl Van Vechten, September 13, 1955

"African American children on the way to PS 204, 82nd Street and 15th Avenue,
pass mothers protesting the busing of children to achieve integration",
New York, by Dick DeMarsico, September 13, 1963

Michelle Obama and friend in Fredericksburg VA, September 13 (Han Nguyen for Obama for America)

Publications

September 13, 1907. "The Daily Oklahoman was one of the cheerleaders leading the Jim Crow charge."

Boogie Fever. Jet Magazine. September 13, 1979

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