December 6

Virgil Ware (December 6, 1949 - September 15, 1963) was killed while delivering newspapers near Montgomery hours after the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church.

Jesse B. Blayton, Sr. (December 6, 1879 - September 7, 1977) founded WERD-AM in Atlanta, Georgia on October 3, 1949 making him the first African American to own and operate a radio station in the United States. He changed the program format and directed toward the local African American audience, playing early versions of rhythm and blues music that could not be found elsewhere on the air.  The station also publicized the emerging civil rights movement and was in the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge Building, which also housed the headquarters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Blayton was an accountant and taught at Atlanta University.

Birthdays

William Stanley Braithwaite (December 6, 1878 – June 8, 1962) was literary editor of The Boston Transcript and also wrote articles, reviews and poetry for many other periodicals and journals, including the Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times, and the The New Republic.W.E.B. Dubois called him “the most prominent critic of poetry in America,” In addition to his own writing, Braithwaite compiled an annual anthology of poetry, and taught literature at Atlanta University from 1935 to 1945.

Dr. Theodore Kenneth (T. K.) Lawless (December 6, 1892 - May 1, 1971) graduated from Northwestern Medical School in 1919 and opened what became one of the country's largest dermatology clinics in Chicago's South side. He was on the faculty of Northwestern and conducted research on leprosy and syphilis. An astute businessman with investments in banking and insurance, he donated much of his income to dermatology programs in Israel.

Jimmy Bivins (December 6, 1919–July 4, 2012) was a boxing great of the 1940s and 50s who defeated some of the greatest fighters of his time. He retired in 1955 after more than 100 professional fights and was inducted in the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1999. He never fought for a world title, but in 1942 was given the unprecedented ranking of #1 contender in the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. He met seven fellow Hall of Famers, beating four, and eleven world champions, defeating eight.

Virgil Lamar Ware (December 6, 1949 - September 15, 1963) was shot in the chest and face while riding on the handlebars of his brother's bicycle while the two were delivering newspapers in a rural area near Montgomery on the afternoon following the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church. His killer was teenager Larry Joe Sims. Another youth, Johnny Robinson, 16, was also killed that afternoon.

Ludmya Bourdeau (Mia) Love (born December 6, 1975)  the U.S. Representative from Utah's 4th congressional district. She is the first Haitian American and the first black female Republican in Congress as well as the first African American to be elected to Congress from Utah. In early 2014 Love was made a member of the Republican National Committee's National Advisory Council on African-American outreach. Raised a Roman Catholic, she joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after graduating from college in 1998 and while working as a flight attendant moved to Utah.


Events

December 6, 1806, the African Meeting House was dedicated at 8 Smith Court in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. It is the oldest African American church building in the U.S. and was originally the home of the First African Baptist Church. It also served as the site of a school that Prince Hall had previously operated in his home. The New England Anti-Slavery Society was founded there, and during the Civil War, the building was used as a recruitment location for the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Regiments. As African Americans left for other areas of the city it was used as a synagogue until it was opened as the Museum of African American History in 1972.

On December 6, 1869, after efforts to get the National Labor Union to integrate failed, 214 African American delegates meeting in Washington, D.C., created the Colored National Labor Union. Isaac Myers was the CNLU's founding president; Frederick Douglas became its president in 1872.

On December 6, 1875, the Forty-Fourth Congress of 1875-1877 convenec with a high of eight African Americans taking office. They are Senator Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi and Jeremiah Haralson of Alabama, Josiah T. Walls of Florida, John Roy Lynch of Mississippi, John A. Hyman of North Carolina, Charles E. Nash of Louisiana, Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina Robert Smalls of South Carolina.

Photo Gallery

Marian Anderson, Lyndon B. Johnson December 6, 1963 White House, Washington DC Photographer: Cecil Stoughton

President Barack Obama and family with the help of Neil Patrick Harris at the annual lighting of the National Christmas Tree on December 6, 2012.

Family members embrace following the funeral for Akai Gurley at the Brown Memorial Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York December 6, 2014.

Publications

Mr. & Mrs. Bob Satterfield (How Boxers Behave At Home) - Jet Magazine, December 6, 1951

Cab Calloway - Jet Magazine, December 6, 1951

Dinah Shore with guest Nat King Cole on the set of the Dinah Shore Chevy Show. From photos by Maurice Terrell and Robert Vose for a cover story on Dinah in the December 6, 1960, issue of Look magazine.

December 6, 2013 front page of the British newspaper The Sun reports Nelson Mandela's December 5, 2013 death: "President of the World"

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