February 10

Leontyne Price (born February 10, 1927) was a was a choir member and accompanist at St. Mark Methodist Church in Laurel, Mississippi as a child, and was inspired at the age of nine by seeing Marian Anderson perform. She prepared for a career in music at Wilberforce College and Julliard, and her first starring role was in an international tour of Porgy and Bess in 1952. She sang in the title role of NBC's presentation of Tosca (1955) and soon became the first internationally acclaimed African American opera performer, appearing in Aida at La Scala in Milan and as Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra at the dedication of the New York Metropolitan Opera's new building in 1961. She sang at both Lyndon Johnson's inauguration and at his funeral. During her career she earned over twenty Grammy Awards and was one of the most widely recorded opera singers. She retired from opera in 1985 but continued to sing in concerts and recitals until 1997.

Birthdays

Sylvia L. Hill Williams (February 10, 1936 - February 28, 1996), A.B. Oberlin 1957, was the first woman to hold the position of Director of the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C. She served as a member of the Allen Memorial Art Museum Visiting Committee (1989-96), and a member of the Board of Trustees, Oberlin College (1990-96).

Roberta Cleopatra Flack (born February 10, 1939) is best known for her classic #1 singles "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Killing Me Softly with His Song" and "Feel Like Makin' Love", and for "Where Is the Love" and "The Closer I Get to You", two of her many duets with Donny Hathaway. She was the first, and remains the only, solo artist to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year on two consecutive years: "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" won at the 1973 Grammys as did "Killing Me Softly with His Song" at the 1974 Grammys.


Events

On February 10, 1881, the Alabama legislature established Tuskegee Institute as a "normal school for the education of colored teachers." The law stipulated that no tuition be charged and that graduates agree to teach for two years in Alabama schools. Booker T. Washington was chosen as the first superintendent and arrived in Alabama in June 1881.

On February 10, 1966, Andrew Brimmer was the first African American to be appointed to the Federal Reserve Board. Dr. Brimmer 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.

On February 10, 2007, Sen. Barack Obama announced his presidential candidacy in Springfield, Illinois.





Photo Gallery

February 10, 1919 -- Officers of the 369th Infantry Regiment (Harlem Hellfighters)

Jennie Jacobs (l), 96, and Phyllis Pollitt, 99, prepare to celebrate the birthday of Abraham Lincoln at an old folks' home in Philadelphia.Both are former slaves. Mrs. Pollitt is a native of North Carolina, where she was born in slavery; Mrs. Jacobs was freed from the state of Delaware. Photo taken February 10, 1940. Photo Credit: Corbis Images.

"Capt. Ezekia Smith, 370th Inf. Regt., 92nd Div., receives treatment at the 317th Collecting Station, for shell fragments in face and shoulders suffered near Querceta, Italy. Here, surgeon stitches the wound. Fifth Army, Pietrasanta Area, Italy." February 10, 1945.

Photo from February 10, 1950 promoting Ruby Dee, who had just been signed to play Jackie Robinson's wife Rachel in the biopic 'The Jackie Robinson Story'. Photo by FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images).

Dorothy I. Height (national president of National Council of Negro Women), Press conference, 10 February 1958. Photographer: Snow University of Southern California, Los Angeles Examiner Collection

Lunch counter protest Raleigh, North Carolina, February 10, 1960 Unidentified photographer From "Freedom Now! Forgotten Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement" by Martin A. Berger

Bob Marley married Alpharita Constantia Anderson, better known as Rita Marley on February 10, 1966.

Publications

Jet Magazine, February 10, 1955

The White Image in the Black Mind:African-American Ideas about White People, 1830-1925 by Mia Bay. $17.61. Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (February 10, 2000)

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January 27

On January 27, 1991, Whitney Houston sang the National Anthem prior to Super Bowl XXV at Tampa Stadium on January 27, 1991 in Tampa, Florida, considered to one of the best Super Bowl National Anthem singing performances ever. Photographed by George Rose/Getty Images

Julius Lester (born January 27, 1939) was a faculty member at UMass Amherst for 32 years, first in the department of  Afro-American Studies and later in the Judaic and Near Eastern Studies department, as well as teaching courses in comparative literature, English, and history. He is the author of 44 books, including his first, an instructional book on how to play the 12-string guitar, co-authored with Pete Seeger, and is a regular essayist for The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Village Voice, The New Republic, and other publications. As a member of SNCC he was the chief photographer, and his images have been displayed in the civil rights exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution as well as in solo exhibitions. He has also hosted radio and television shows in New York City and recorded two albums of traditional and original songs for Vanguard Records.

Birthdays

Will Marion Cook (born William Mercer Cook, January 27, 1869 – July 19, 1944) was a composer and arranger who had studied at the Oberlin Conservatory and the National Conservatory of Music as well as under Antonín Dvořák while in Europe. He is probably best known for his popular songs and Broadway musicals, such as Clorindy, or The Origin of the Cake Walk and In Dahomey. He was the son of Howard Law School dean John Hartwell Cook and the father of diplomat Will Mercer Cook.

Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard (January 27, 1894 – May 11, 1986) was one of the first two players, along with Bobby Marshall, in the National Football League during the 1920 season, and the following year Pollard was named player-coach, making him the first African American coach as well. In 1926 all nine of the black players in the NFL were removed from the league at the end of the season. Pollard also coached Lincoln University's football team during the 1918 to 1920 seasons and served as athletic director of the school's World War I era Students' Army Training Corps. In the 1930s, he founded his own professional football team, the Brown Bombers. The Depression ended the Brown Bombers’ run in 1938, and he went on to other ventures, including a talent agency, tax consulting and film and music production.

Elmore James (January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and band leader. He was known as King of the slide guitar but was also noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice. He was strongly influenced by Robert Johnson, Kokomo Arnold and Tampa Red, recording several of Tampa Red's songs and using two of Tampa Red's former band two musicians in his own backing band, the Broomdusters.

John H. Cross Jr. (January 27, 1925 – November 15, 2007) was best known as the pastor of the 16th Street Baptist Church, an African American Baptist congregation in Birmingham, Alabama, at the time of church's racially motivated bombing in 1963. The bombing, which ripped through the church and killed four young girls, became a rallying cry for the Civil Rights Movement and propelled the problems of racial segregation in The South into the national spotlight. Cross spent much of the rest of his life working for racial reconciliation in the South.

Bobby "Blue" Bland (born Robert Calvin Brooks, January 27, 1930 - June 23, 2013) sang with Eddie Fisher while serving in the U.S. Army and began his professional career as part of Johnny Ace's revue on Beale Street and the Chitlin' Circuit. His first solo success was with the 1957 R&B chart no. 1 hit "Farther Up the Road", which also reached no. 43 on the Billboard Hot 100, followed by "I Pity the Fool", "Turn On Your Love Light",  "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)", and"That's The Way Love Is" in the early 1960s. He began recording for ABC Records in the 1970s, putting out the successful albums His California Album and Dreamer, and was inducted into the  Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

Billy "White Shoes" Johnson (born January 27, 1952) was a kickoff returner and wide receiver for the NFL Houston Oilers and Atlanta Falcons from 1974 through 1988. He was a fan favorite and one of the first players to display elaborate celebrations in the end zone. He was the only player selected to the National Football League 75th Anniversary All-Time Team not in the Hall of Fame.

Ronald E. Richardson (January 27, 1952 – April 5, 1995) was an actor and operatic baritone who began his career in the mid 1970s appearing in regional theater and opera productions. He appeared in several Broadway musicals from 1978-1993, arguably best known for his Tony Award and Drama Desk Award-winning performance of Jim in the 1985 Broadway musical Big River.





Events

On January 27, 1961, Leontyne Price debuted at the Metropolitan Opera as Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore where she received a 42-minute ovation, one of the longest in the Met’s history. She has 15 Grammys for voice recordings, the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1964), the Kennedy Center Honors (1980), and the National Medal of Arts (1985). Although Price wasn’t the first African American to perform at the Metropolitan Opera, she was the first to sing many different roles at the Met and to build an opera career in the US and in Europe.

On January 27, 1972, Mahalia Jackson passed away in Chicago. Her funeral at the Greater Salem Baptist Church saw 50,000 people view her glass and mahogany coffin in tribute; 6,000 people attended her funeral. Coretta Scott King eulogized Ms. Jackson along with Reverend Leon Jenkins and then Mayor Richard Daley. Sammy Davis Jr. and Ella Fitzgerald attended her funeral. The soon-to-be Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin closed the funeral with her rendition of “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.”

On January 27, 1984, Michael Jackson suffered second-degree burns during a pyrotechnics stunt filmed for a Pepsi-Cola commercial. Jackson underwent treatment to hide the scars on his scalp, and had his third rhinoplasty shortly afterward.




Photo Gallery

January 27, 1958: Following a near fatal plane ride Little Richard gives up rock and roll (don't worry, he'll be back) and enrolls in Oakwood College, a school for African-Americans run by the Seventh Day Adventist so he can get his degree in divinity.

Sade poses on January 27, 1984. Photo by B. Gomer, Getty Images

Stevie Wonder and singer Whitney Houston attending 13th Annual American Music Awards on January 27, 1986 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California

Michelle Obama, January 27, 2010

Photo Gallery

Norman Washington Manley Ousts Jamaican Leader William Alexander Bustamante for Prime Minister Post - Jet Magazine, January 27, 1955

Jet Magazine, January, 27, 1977 — Roots — The miniseries, based on Alex Haley's novel, originally aired over eight consecutive nights (January 23-30, 1977) on ABC.

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January 3

On January 3, 1989, The Arsenio Hall Show premiered as the first first late-night talk show with an African American host, and aired late weeknights in syndication until May 27, 1994.

Lucretia Coffin Mott (January 3, 1793 - November 11, 1880) was one of the most notable American women of the nineteenth century for her support of abolition and women's rights. She and her huband, John Mott, were among the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and she was the only woman to speak at the first organizational meeting, She was also a founder of the interracial Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. In June 1840, she was one of six female delegates attending the General Anti-Slavery Convention, better known as the World's Anti-Slavery Convention, in London, England. The women were not allowed to participate and were seated in a segregated area, where they were joined by William Lloyd Garrison and other male activists. She was also part of the American Free Produce Association, which boycotted products made by slave labor.

Birthdays

Sophia B. Packard (January 3, 1824 - June 21, 1891) and her partner Harriet Giles founded what was to become Spelman College as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary on April 11, 1881. Originally funded by the Women's American Baptist Home Mission Society and housed in the basement of Friendship Baptist Church, John D. Rockefeller donated $5000 to pay the mortgage on a permanent location and the name was named to Spelman in honor of his wife's family.

Mary Magdalena Lewis Tate ("Mother Tate") (January 3, 1871 – December 28, 1930) was the first American woman to serve as a Bishop in a nationally recognized denomination. She founded a Pentecostal denomination, The Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of the Truth, in 1903. Its first convocation was held in June 1903 in Greenville, Alabama. The church was the first Pentecostal Holiness church in America founded by a woman, and spread to at least twenty states. At least seven denominations currently trace their history back to her church.

Marpessa Dawn (January 3, 1934 – August 25, 2008), also known as Gypsy Marpessa Dawn Menor, was an American-born French actress, singer, and dancer, best remembered for her role as Eurydice in the film Black Orpheus (1959). The film won the Palme d'Or at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival and the 1960 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. She appeared in a 2005 documentary about Vinicius de Moraes, who wrote the original play from which Black Orpheus was adapted.

William "Willy" Theodore Ribbs, Jr. (born January 3, 1955) is a retired American race car driver, racing owner, and sport shooter known for being the first African-American man to have tested a Formula One car in 1986 and the first to compete in the Indianapolis 500 in 1991. Ribbs competed in many forms of auto racing, including the Trans-Am Series, IndyCar, Champ Car, IMSA, and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Craftsman Truck Series.

Events

On January 3, 1966,  Sammy Younge Jr. was shot to death during an altercation over using a whites-only restroom by Tuskegee gas station attendant Marvin Segrest. An all-white jury, in an overwhelmingly black county, deliberated for an hour and ten minutes before finding Segrest not guilty. Younge was a Tuskegee student and active in the Tuskegee Institute for Advancement League (TIAL), which was affililated with SNCC, and worked to integrate public businesses in Tuskegee and for voting rights throughout the south.

On January 3, 1989, The Arsenio Hall Show premiered as the first first late-night talk show with an African American host, and aired late weeknights in syndication until May 27, 1994. The show was created and hosted by Hall, who had previously been the announcer for Alan Thicke;s talk show, Thicke of the Night.



Photo Gallery

USNR Chief Quartermaster L. J. Russell teaching navigation to African-American sailors Charles W. Divers, Royal H. Gooden, Lewis F. Blanton, and Calvin Bell, Norfolk VA, 3 January 1944 (US National Archives)

Navy USS Mason (DE-529), 1944-1947 Signalman 1st Class Ernest V. Alderman, USNR, (right) explains various parts of a signal lamp to SM2c Julius Holmes, during training for Mason's crew at Norfolk Naval Training Station, Virginia, 3 January 1944. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, National Archives.

Reverend C. K. Steele at the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, Tallahassee, January 3, 1957. Segregationists smashed windows at Reverend Steele’s house and burned crosses on numerous occasions in an attempt to intimidate the African-American community during the Tallahassee Bus Boycott.

Leontyne Price, Metropolitan Opera Farewell Performance, January 3, 1985

On January 3, 1987, Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Publications

"MAY MAKE NEGROES WHITE. Chicagoan Believes It Possible to Neutralize the Color Units." The New York Times, January 3, 1910

Jet Magazine - January 3, 1952

Actor William Marshall, Later Known as Count Blacula - Jet Magazine January 3, 1952

Do Negroes Die Poor? - Jet Magazine, January 3, 1957

Pearl Bailey and her husband Louis Bellson play with their son Tony in this photograph for Jet Magazine's January 3, 1957 issue.

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson by Geoffrey C. Ward. $14.98. Author: Geoffrey C. Ward. Publisher: Vintage (January 3, 2006). 

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