January 31

Jack Roosevelt (Jackie) Robinson (January 31, 1919 - October 24, 1972) was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball since color lines were drawn in the 1880s. He had been an all-sport athlete at UCLA, an Army officer, athletic director at Huston College (now Huston-Tillotson University), and a member of the Negro League Kansas City Monarchs before being signed by Dodgers' General Manager Branch Rickey in 1945. He was with the the AAA affiliate Montreal Royals for two seasons before his major league debut on April 15, 1947. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. After his playing career, he was the first black television analyst in MLB, and the first black vice president of a major American corporation, Chock Full o'Nuts.

Birthdays

Jersey Joe Walcott (born Arnold Raymond Cream, January 31, 1914 - February 25, 1994) won the World Heavyweight Championship from Ezzard Charles, whom he knocked out in the 7th round of their 1951 title bout in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Walcott had 69 professional fights. He won 30 of them by knock-out and was elected to the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1969. He held the world heavyweight title from 1951 to 1952, and broke the record for the oldest man to win the title, at the age of 37. That record would eventually be broken in 1994 by 45-year-old George Foreman.

Carol Elaine Channing (born January 31, 1921) began her acting career as a Broadway musical actress, starring in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1949, and Hello, Dolly! in 1964, when she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She revived both roles several times throughout her career, most recently playing Dolly in 1995. During her career, she had won or been nominated for a Tony Award for every Broadway show she ever played. She grew up in a German-American household in San Francisco and did not know until just before she left for college that her paternal grandmother was African American.

Benjamin Lawson Hooks (January 31, 1925 – April 15, 2010) was an American civil rights leader. A Baptist minister and practicing attorney, he served as executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1977 to 1992, and throughout his career was a vocal campaigner for civil rights in the United States.

Ernest "Ernie" Banks (January 31, 1931 – January 23, 2015), nicknamed "Mr. Cub" and "Mr. Sunshine", was an American professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs between 1953 and 1971. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977, and was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. He began playing professional baseball in 1950 with the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro leagues. He served in the U.S. military for two years, played for the Monarchs again, and began his major league career in September 1953. The following year, Banks was the National League Rookie of the Year runner-up.

Kerry Washington (born January 31, 1977) is an African American actress. She is known for her roles as Ray Charles's wife, Della Bea Robinson, in the film Ray (2004), as Idi Amin's wife Kay in The Last King of Scotland, and as Alicia Masters, love interest of Ben Grimm/The Thing in the live-action Fantastic Four films. She has also starred in the critically acclaimed independent film as the lead actress in the 2012 ABC drama Scandal playing Olivia Pope and as Broomhilda von Shaft in the movie Django Unchained.



Events

On January 31, 1865, Congress passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery in the United States. The amendment was ratified by the required number of states on December 6, 1865. On December 18, 1865, Secretary of State William H. Seward proclaimed its adoption. It was the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted following the American Civil War.

On January 31, 1934, Etta Moten sang for President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt at a White House Dinner, the first time an African American actress performed at the White House.

On January 31, 1964, Herbert Lee was shot and killed by E.H. Hurst, a white member of the Mississippi Legislature. Lee worked with civil rights leader Bob Moses to help register black voters. Louis Allen, who witnessed the murder of civil rights worker Herbert Lee, endured years of threats, jailings and harassment. Allen was among a dozen witnesses of the murder of Herbert Lee by E.H. Hurst, a white state legislator, in September 1961. Civil rights activists had come to Liberty that summer to organize for voter registration; essentially no black had been allowed to vote since 1890, when the state disfranchising constitution was passed.

Photo Gallery

The Ashanti Golden Stool with its immediate caretaker January 31, 1935

Sammy Davis, Jr. laughing with Senator Robert F. Kennedy backstage at a benefit for the senator at Ford's Theater. Date Photographed:31 January 1968

Shirley Verrett (left), Marian Anderson, Grace Bumbry (right) January 31, 1982 Photographer: Henry Grossman

W.E.B. Du Bois Issued: January 31, 1992

Publications

An arrival in Camp–under the Proclamation of Emancipation. --- Alfred Waud worked up this sketch from a photograph, probably made in his presence by David B. Woodbury on January 1, 1863. It was published in Harper’s Weekly, January 31, 1863, p. 6. Library of Congress image. .. When compared with the photograph, it shows that the photo is actually an reversed stereograph.

Jet Magazine, January 31, 1952

Are Black Women Getting Sexier - The Full Story - Jet Magazine, January 31, 1952

The Black Panther (January 31, 1970)

Time magazine, January 31, 1973 — Flip Wilson

All-White Jury in Fred Hampton Murder Case? The Black Panther (January 31, 1976)

Black Exodus: The Great Migration from the American South by Alferdteen Harrison. $14.93. 128 pages. Publisher: University Press of Mississippi (January 31, 1991)

.

January 19

Edwidge Danticat (born January 19, 1969) was raised in Haiti by relatives until she joined here parents in Brooklyn at age twelve. She is the author of several novels...

John Harold Johnson (January 19, 1918 – August 8, 2005)  was the founder of the Johnson Publishing Company and in 1982 became the first African American to appear on the Forbes 400. He worked at the Supreme Life Insurance Company while attending the University of Chicago, and one of his duties was to compile a monthly digest of newspaper articles. He felt that this concept could  be marketed, and in 1942 founded Negro Digest, a monthly magazine similar in format and content to Readers' Digest but aimed at an African American readership. In 1945 he launched the large-format, glossy Ebony, which was an immediate success and is still in publication today. This was followed in 1951 by Tan, a true confessions magazine, and Jet, a weekly magazine which covered fashion and beauty tips, entertainment news, and politics. It also covered the Civil Rights Movement and was instrumental in coverage of the murder of Emmett Till. In addition to publishing, Johnson developed a line of cosmetics, purchased three radio stations, started a book publishing company, and a television production company, and served on the board of directors of several major businesses, including the Greyhound Corporation. In 1996 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Birthdays

Lysander Spooner (January 19, 1808 – May 14, 1887) was a political philosopher and abolitionist whose most famous writing includes the seminal abolitionist book The Unconstitutionality of Slavery (1845) and No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority. a series of tracts published during the Civil War which opposed treason charges against secessionists. He is also known for competing with the U.S. Post Office with his American Letter Mail Company, which closed after legal problems with the federal government.

Ida Elizabeth Bowser Asbury (January 19, 1869 - 1955) began her course work at the University of Pennsylvania in 1887 and earned a Certificate of Proficiency in Music in June of 1890, making her the first African American woman to graduate from UPenn. She was a was a violinist and teacher of music until her marriage in 1901 to attorney John Cornelius Asbury, who served in the Pennsylvania State Assembly from 1921 to 1925. She was the daughter of of painter David Bustill Bowser.

Anna Louise James (January 19, 1886 - December 12, 1977) graduated from the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy in 1908, and in 1909 opened a pharmacy in Hartford, Connecticut,  becoming the first African American woman licensed as a pharmacist in the state. She soon relocated to Old Saybrook to join her brother-in-law, Peter Lane, at his pharmacy, buying his half of the business in 1917 and operating James Pharmacy until her retirement in 1967. She was one of the first women in Old Saybrook to register to vote after the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.

Hans Massaquoi (January 19, 1926 – January 19, 2013) was a journalist and author born in Nazi Germany, to a white German mother and Liberian Vai father. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1947, serving two years in the Army as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division and becoming a naturalized citizen in 1950. With his GI bill he studied journalism at the University of Illinois followed by a career at Jet and Ebony magazines. Pictured here: Massaquoi as a child with a Nazi badge.

Carl Maxie Brashear (January 19, 1931 - July 25, 2006) became the first African-American U.S. Navy Master Diver, rising to the position in 1970. He was also the first to enter and graduate from the diver training program n 1954. In 1966 he lost his left leg after a diving accident, and two years later was the first amputee diver to be (re)certified as a U.S. Navy diver. His life story is dramatized in the 2000 motion picture Men of Honor, in which he was portrayed by Cuba Gooding, Jr.

Antoine Fuqua (born January 19, 1966) began his career directing music videos for popular artists like Toni Braxton, Coolio, Stevie Wonder, and Prince. From 1998 onwards, he began directing feature films, although he has worked on a few music videos since then. He directed the film Training Day, for which Denzel Washington won an Academy Award for best actor, as well as Tears of the Sun, King Arthur, Shooter, Brooklyn's Finest, and The Magnificent Seven. He also co-created the comic book miniseries After Dark with Wesley Snipes

Edwidge Danticat (born January 19, 1969) was raised in Haiti by relatives until she joined here parents in Brooklyn at age twelve. She is the author of several novels, including Brother, I'm Dying, Krik? Krak!, and The Dew Breaker. She was the recipient of a 2009 MacArthur Grant and holds a BA in French Literature from Barnard College and an MFA in Creative Writing from Brown University.


Events

On January 19, 1899, Harriet Tubman was granted a pension for her work for the Union during the Civil War. She nursed fugitives at the Port Royal Camp in South Carolina as well as serving as a cook. She also led scouting parties that mapped nearby territory and provided key intelligence that led to the capture of Jacksonville, Florida. She was also first woman to lead an armed assault during the Civil War during the Combahee River Raid later worked with Colonel Robert Gould Shaw at the assault on Fort Wagner.  Shown here is H.R. 4982, a bill granting a pension to Harriet Tubman Davis, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives. National Archives Identifier 306578.


Photo Gallery

Dancer and Cabaret Singer Elizabeth Welch - January 19, 1934

Ernie Banks With Parents and Twin Sons During a visit by his parents to his home in Chicago, Chicago Cubs star shortstop; Stock Photo ID: BE043943; Date Photographed: January 19, 1960; Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA Credit: © Bettmann/CORBIS. Digital Diaspora Family Reunion Roadshow

Publications

Emmett Till Kidnapers DID Kill Him - Jet Magazine, January 19, 1956

African American Police.... Jet Magazine January 19, 1961

Malik Goes to School: Examining the Language Skills of African American Students from Preschool-5th Grade by Julie A. Washington. $8.91. Publisher: LEA (January 19, 2009). 194 pages

.

November 20

Robert Francis (Bobby) Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968) served as Attorney General and chief advisor during his brother John's presidency. He advanced the Civil Rights Movement by intervening with personal communication and protection by Federal Marshals and troops, if necessary,  to the Freedom Rides and to the integration of the University of Mississippi by James Meredith. He worked with his brother and, later, Lyndon Johnson, to increase minority hiring in government offices and to ensure the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He left the Johnson administration to run for the U.S. Senate and continued his commitment to civil rights after elected, introducing anti-discrimination legislation and visiting the Mississippi Delta. He had a large amount of African American support during his 1968 presidential bid and was able to prevent a violent reaction the the death of Martin Luther King in Indianapolis where he was campaigning on the day that King was assassinated.

Anna Pauline "Pauli" Murray (November 20, 1910 - June 1, 1985) was a civil rights attorney and law professor who wrote State's Laws on Race and Color, which Thurgood Marshall called the bible of the civil rights movement. She also worked for gender equality, coining the term "Jane Crow" and was a co-founder of the National Organization for Women. Ruth Bader Ginsburg named Murray a coauthor on a brief for Reed v. Reed in recognition of her pioneering work on gender discrimination. She left teaching to join the priesthood of the Episcopal Church, becoming its first African American female priest in 1977, and was named a saint in 2012.  Dr. Murray held an undergraduate degree from Hunter College in English, law degree from Howard Law School, a master's degree in law from the University of California at Berkeley, and in 1965 she became the first African American to receive a Doctor of Juridical Science degree from Yale Law School.

Birthdays

Edmond Dédé (November 20, 1827 - 1903) worked in a cigar factory to earn passage from New Orleans to France where he studied at the Paris Conservatoire before serving for 27 years as the conductor of the orchestra at the Théâtre l'Alcazar in Bordeaux. He also conducted light music performances at the Folies Bordelaises. Many of his compositions have been preserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris. His parents were free Creoles of color who moved to New Orleans from the French West Indies, and his father had been a militia unit bandmaster. In 1851 he wrote “Mon Pauvre Coeur” (My Poor Heart), which is considered the oldest piece of sheet music published by a New Orleans free Creole of color.

Amanda America Dickson (November 20, 1849 - June 11, 1893) inherited over $300,000 in land and other assets her father, Georga plantation owner David Dickson. Her mother was Dickson's enslaved servant, Julia, who was 13 years old at the time of Amanda's birth. She was raised by her white paternal grandmother and taught the social graces of wealthy society. She entered into a four-year common-law marriage to her white first cousin, Charles Eubanks when she was sixteen, and later was briefly married to Nathan Toomer until her death at age 43. Toomer and his second wife, Nita Pinchback, were the parents of novelist Jean Toomer.

Charles Sidney Gilpin (November 20, 1878 – May 6, 1930) toured with vaudeville, musical, and dramatic productions until he settled in New York City in 1915 as part of the Anita Bush Players. His Broadway debut was in 1919 in John Drinkwater’s Abraham Lincoln and he had the lead role of Brutus Jones in the 1920 premier of Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones, which brought him the Drama League of New York's annual award as one of the ten people who had done the most that year for American theater. In 1921,he was awarded the NAACPs Spingarn Medal and was also honored at the White House by President Warren G. Harding.

Sallie Martin (November 20, 1895 - June 18, 1988) was hired by Thomas A. Dorsey as part of a trio he had formed to introduce his songs to churches. She proved to be an able organizer as well, and marketed Dorsey's songs, organized his finances, developed new avenues for business and helped launch the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, Inc. Martin was a successful artist in her own right, forming the Sallie Martin Singers, in which her daughter Cora Martin, Dinah Washington, then known as Ruth Jones, and Brother Joe May were featured, in 1940 after a dispute with Dorsey. She started her own publishing house, Martin and Morris Music, Inc., with Kenneth Morris.

Richard Aoki (November 20, 1938 - March 15, 2009) was one of the first members of the Black Panther Party and was eventually promoted to the position of Field Marshall. Although there were several Asian Americans in the Black Panther Party, Aoki was the only one to have a formal leadership position. He joined the BPP through friendships with Huey Newton and Bobby Seale while all three men attended Merritt College. Aoki later transferred to UC Berkeley where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in social work. He was born in San Leandro, California. to Japanese parents and the family was interned at the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah from 1942-1945. It is possible he was an FBI informant during his time with the Black Panthers.

Dominique Dawes (born November 20, 1976) began taking gymnastics lessons at age 6. She participated in the Olympic Games as part of the U.S. women's gymnastics team in 1992, 1996 and 2000, winning a team medal each time. In 1996, Dawes's team won Olympic gold and Dawes won an individual bronze medal,becoming the first person of African descent from any country to win an individual Olympic medal in  gymnastics. She retired from gymnastics after the 2000 Games.



Events

On November 20, 1866, Howard University was founded when ten members of the First Congregational Society of Washington, D.C., resolved to establish a seminary for the training of African-American clergymen. By early 1867, the founders had broadened their mission to encompass colleges of liberal arts and medicine. The school was incorporated in March 1867 and the first classes were held in May 1868. It is named after founder Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard, commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau.

On November 20, 1923, the U.S. Patent Office granted Patent No. 1,475,074 to Garrett Morgan for his three-position traffic signal. The Morgan traffic signal was a T-shaped pole unit that featured three positions: Stop, Go and an all-directional stop position. This "third position" halted traffic in all directions to allow pedestrians to cross streets. Morgan's hand-cranked semaphore traffic management device was in use throughout North America until replaced by the automatic signals currently used.

On November 20, 1962, President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 11063, mandating an end to housing discrimination. The order, which came during the burgeoning Civil Rights movement, prohibited federally funded housing agencies from denying housing or funding for housing to anyone based on their race, color, creed or national origin. Although Kennedy’s order was a symbolic landmark for ending de facto segregation in housing, the policy was never enforced. The order left it up to the individual housing and funding agencies to police themselves, leaving much room for non-compliance from state to state.

On November 20, 1981, the Negro Ensemble Company’s production of Charles Fuller’s “A Soldier’s Play” opened at the Theater Four in New York City The play won, in addition to the Pulitzer Prize, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Play, the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play, and the Obie Award for Distinguished Ensemble Performance.

Photo Gallery

Althea Gibson, photographed by Carl Van Vechten on November 20, 1958

Leontyne Price, Flyer/Playbill November 20. 1974

Texas bluesman Sam Lightnin' Hopkins at the Students' House (Gothenburg, Sweden) November 20, 1977. Photo © 1996 by Torsten Stahlberg.

Day of Black Consciousness in São Paulo, November 20, 2006

Baseball legend Ernie Banks receives a Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama, during an event in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., November 20, 2013.

Publications

Hattie McDaniel's Oscar Bequeathed to Howard University
Jet Magazine, November 20, 1952

First Black Los Angeles State College Homecoming Queen Donzella Coulter
Jet Magazine, November 20, 1952

Josephine Premice Set For Broadway Musical
Jet Magazine, November 20, 1952

Drummer Louis Bellson Defies Father to Wed Pearl Bailey
Jet Magazine, November 20, 1952

Jet Magazine, November 20, 2006

.