January 21

On Monday, January 21, 2013, President Barack Obama was publicly inaugurated after being elected to his second term in office the previous November. 

Willa Beatrice Brown (January 22, 1906 – July 18, 1992) was the first African American woman to earn her pilot's license in the United States, the first African American woman to run for the United States Congress, the first African American officer in the US Civil Air Patrol, and the first woman in the United States to have both a pilot's license and a mechanic's license.  A lifelong advocate for gender and racial equality in flight and in the military, Brown not only lobbied the U.S. government to integrate the U.S. Army Air Corp and include African Americans in the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP), but also co-founded the Cornelius Coffey School of Aeronautics with Cornelius Coffey, which was the first private flight training academy in the United States owned and operated by African Americans. She trained hundreds of pilots, several of whom would go on to become Tuskegee Airmen.

Birthdays

John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813 – July 13, 1890) was a surveyor for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and military governor of California, serving as a U.S. Senator after statehood. During the Civil War he was promoted to Major General and assigned as Commander of the Department of the West on July 1, 1861 but relieved of his duties on November 2 of that year after putting Missouri under martial law. freeing all enslaved people within the state, without the knowledge of President Lincoln. Frémont, the son-in-law of Senator Thomas Hart Benton, was the first presidential candidate for the newly-formed Republican Party.

Leonard Harmon (January 21, 1917 - November 12, 1942) was a Mess Attendant First Class serving aboard the USS San Francisco. During the Battle of Guadacanal he was assisting pharmacist's mate Lyndford Bondsteel in caring for the wounded and was killed when he deliberately interposed himself between Bondsteel and enemy gunfire. He was awarded the Navy Cross and two ships were named in his honor. The HMS Aylmer had been provisionally named USS Harmon but was transferred to the Royal Navy prior to completion. The USS Harmonserved from 1943 to 1947 and remained in the Reserve Fleet until 1967 It was the first US warship to be named after an African American.

Lincoln Alexander (January 21, 1922 – October 19, 2012) was a Canadian lawyer who became the first black Member of Parliament in the House of Commons, the first black federal Cabinet Minister serving as federal Minister of Labour, the first black Chair of the Worker’s Compensation Board, and the 24th Lieutenant-Governor serving Ontario from 1985 to 1991, and the first person to serve five terms as Chancellor of the University of Guelph, from 1991 to 2007. He was also a governor of the Canadian Unity Council.

Richie Havens (born Richard Pierce Havens, January 21, 1941 - April 22, 2013) had recorded five albums with limited success before appearing at Woodstock in 1969 where he was the opening performer and played for almost three hours because other acts were caught in traffic delays caused by the massive crowds. Having run out of tunes, he improvised a song based on the old spiritual "Motherless Child" that became "Freedom" and the subsequent Woodstock movie release helped Havens reach a worldwide audience. He continued to record and perform as well as educating young people about ecological issues.

Edwin Starr ( born Charles Edwin Hatcher, January 21, 1942 – April 2, 2003) is best known for his Norman Whitfield-produced Motown singles of the 1970s, most notably the number one hit "War". Besides "War", Starr's songs "25 Miles" and "Stop the War Now" were also major successes in the 1960s. Starr's career shifted to the United Kingdom in the 1970s, where he continued to produce music, living there until his death.

Eric Holder (born January 21, 1951) became the first African American Attorney General of the United States when he was appointed to the position by President Barack Obama in 2009. His father and materal grandparents are from Barbados and he holds a BA in history (1973) and JD (1976) from Columbia University. He has served as a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, and Deputy Attorney General, and senior legal advisor to Obama's presidential campaign.


Events

On Monday, January 21, 2013, President Barack Obama was publicly inaugurated after being elected to his second term in office the previous November. A private swearing-in ceremony took place on Sunday, January 20, 2013 in the Blue Room of the White House. A public inauguration ceremony took place the following day at the United States Capitol building. The inauguration theme was "Faith in America's Future", a phrase that draws upon the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and the completion of the Capitol dome in 1863.

Photo Gallery

Marcus Garvey to James Weldon Johnson concerning the NAACP’s alleged interference with the Universal Negro Improvement Association, January 21, 1922. Typed letter. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (055.00.00) Courtesy of Dr. Juilus W. Garvey [Digital ID # na0055]

Black Panthers press conference, January 21, 1969

Actress Cicely Tyson at the National Society Film Critics Awards, January 21 1973.

Capt. John Rogers, Sr., a member of the 99th Pursuit Squadron during World War II, better known as the "Red Tails." Capt. Rogers died on January 21, 2014 at the age of 95.

Publications

Are the Prettiest Girls in Washington, DC Like Patricia Adams - Jet Magazine, January 21, 1954

The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations by Ira Berlin. $12.26. 320 pages. Author: Ira Berlin. Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (January 21, 2010)

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November 13

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Augustine of Hippo (November 13, 354 – August 28, 430), also known as Saint Augustine or Saint Austin, was an early Christian theologian and philosopher whose writings influenced the development of Western Christianity and Western philosophy. He was the bishop of Hippo Regius (present-day Annaba, Algeria) located in the Roman province of Africa. He is the patron saint of brewers, printers, theologians, the alleviation of sore eyes, and a number of cities and dioceses. Many Protestants, especially Calvinists, consider him to be one of the theological fathers of the Protestant Reformation due to his teachings on salvation and divine grace. In his writings, Augustine leaves some information as to the consciousness of his African heritage. For example, he refers to Apuleius as "the most notorious of us Africans," to Ponticianus as "a country man of ours, insofar as being African," and to Faustus of Mileve as "an African Gentleman."

Birthdays

John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil (November 13, 1911 – October 6, 2006) was a first baseman and manager in the Negro American League, mostly with the Kansas City Monarchs. After his playing days, he worked as a scout, and became the first African American coach in Major League Baseball with the Chicago Cubs. In 1990, O'Neil led the effort to establish the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) in Kansas City, and served as its honorary board chairman until his death and was featured in Ken Burns' 1994 documentary, Baseball. In 2007 he was posthumously given a Lifetime Achievement Award named after him. He had fallen short in the Hall of Fame vote in 2006; however, he was honored in 2007 with a new award given by the Hall of Fame, to be named after him.

Georg Olden (born George Elliott Olden, November 13, 1920 - February 25, 1975) worked during World War II as a graphic designer for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), forerunner of the CIA. After the war his supervisor in the OSS, Col. Lawrence W. Lowman, became Vice President of CBS's television division and recommended Olden to the agency's Director of Communications. In 1960 he left CBS to work for BBDO and other advertising agencies. He designed the Clio award as well as willing seven himself. In 1963, he designed a postage stamp for the United States Postal Service commemorating the centennial of the declaration of the Emancipation Proclamation, the first African-American to do so.

Benny Andrews (November 13, 1930 - November 10, 2006) served as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean war and later earned a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He had his first New York City solo art show in 1962. In 1969, he co-founded the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition to protest the fact that no African Americans were involved in organizing the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit “Harlem on My Mind.”
From 1982 to 1984, he was director of visual arts for the National Endowment for the Arts and in 1983 he was instrumental in forming the National Arts Program which is the largest coordinated visual arts program in the nation’s history. From 1968 to 1997, Andrews taught at Queens College, City University of New York and created a prison art program that became a model for the nation. In 2006, he went to the Gulf Coast to work on an art project with children displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

John Hill Westbrook (November 13, 1947 - December 17, 1983) was the first African American to play varsity football for the SWC, entering a game for the Baylor Bears on September 10, 1966, one week ahead of SMU's Jerry LeVias. Due to early injuries, Westbrook didn't have the outstanding college career that LeVias had and was not as well known. After graduating with a degree in English, Westbrook taught at Southwest Missouri State and Wiley College, and pastored Baptist churches in Tyler and Houston. He ran for Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1978, placing second in the Democratic primary. He died at the age of 36 due to a pulmonary embolism.

Whoopi Goldberg (born Caryn Elaine Johnson, November 13, 1949) has been nominated for 13 Emmy Awards for her work in television, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Oscar, and a Tony Award. Her first major film role was as Celie in The Color Purple (1985), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She won the Best Supporting Actress Award five years later in Ghost, becoming the second African American to do so after Hattie McDaniel in 1940.


Events

On November 13, 1940, the U.S. Supreme Court in Hansberry v. Lee invalidated a racial covenant, ruling in favor of an African American man, Carl Hansberry, who bought a house in a formerly whites-only neighborhood. the justices reversed the Supreme Court of Illinois’ decision on the basis of the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process rights, arguing that it was unfair to allow the 54 percent of the neighborhood landowners who had signed the covenant to represent the 46 percent who had not. Carl Hansberry was the father of author Lorraine Hanberry.

On June 4, 1956 the federal district court ruled that Alabama's racial segregation laws for buses were unconstitutional. However, an appeal kept the segregation intact, and the Montgomery boycott continued. On November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court upheld the district court's ruling, leading to a city ordinance that allowed black bus passengers to sit virtually anywhere they wanted. The boycott officially ended December 20, 1956, after 381 days.

Photo Gallery

Walter White to James Weldon Johnson concerning the Ossian Sweet case, November 13, 1925. Typed letter. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (063.00.00) Courtesy of the NAACP [Digital ID # na0063]

President Obama and the U.S. delegation toast with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama
 and the Japanese delegation at a dinner at the prime minister's official residence
following their bilateral meeting and joint press conference in Tokyo, November 13, 2009.

Publications

Jet Magazine, November 13, 1952

Thousands Attend Funeral for Hattie McDaniel - Jet Magazine, November 13, 1952

Blue Rage, Black Redemption: A Memoir by Stanley Tookie Williams.
$16.00. Publisher: Touchstone (November 13, 2007). 

The Beatitudes: From Slavery to Civil Rights by Carole Boston Weatherford. $11.56. Author:
Carole Boston Weatherford. Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers (November 13, 2009).
36 pages. Publication: November 13, 2009. With the text of the biblical Beatitudes as an
undercurrent, the story of the civil rights movement is told in lyrical text and stirring illustrations. 

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November 6

Absalom Jones (November 6, 1746 - February 13, 1818) formed Philadelphia's Free Africa Society along with Richard Allen after both men left St. George's Methodist Church where they were licensed preachers and leaders of the congregation's African American members. The FAS was a non-denominational mutual aid and abolitionist society with regular worship services, and its members formed the basis for the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas which Rev. Jones founded in 1794. Ten years later he was the first African American priest ordained in the denomination. He helped establish the tradition of anti-slavery sermons on New Year's Day and his sermon for January 1, 1808, when the U.S. Constitution mandated the end of the African slave trade, was published in pamphlet form and widely read. Rev. Jones was also founding Worshipful Master of the Prince Hall African Masonic Lodge of Philadelphia.

Birthdays

Gen. Gordon Granger (November 6, 1822 – January 10, 1876) was named Commander of the Military District of Texas after the Civil War, and on June 19, 1865, he announced in Galveston the end of the war and the end of the institution of slavery in the state. The anniversary of the event is celebrated annually as Juneteenth. He was replaced later in the summer by Gen. Horatio Wright. Gen. Granger was an 1845 West Point graduate and spent most of his military career in the western territories. He had an impressive record during the Civil War and was known as the "Rock of Chickamaugua" for his actions during that battle.

George Coleman Poage (November 6, 1880 - April 11, 1962) won bronze medals in the 200 and 400-meter hurdles at the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis. Many African-American leaders had called for a boycott of the games to protest racial segregation of the events in St. Louis as organizers had built segregated facilities at both the Olympics and the World's Fair for the spectators. Poage ran as a representative of the Milwaukee Athletic Club and was a member of the University of Wisconsin track team. He had graduated the year before with a degree in History, and had returned to the University for the 1903-04 school year to take graduate classes, supported by the UW athletic department, which hired him as an athletic trainer for the football team.

Juanita Hall (November 6, 1901 - February 28, 1968) attended New York City, New York’s Juilliard School of Music and directed the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Chorus from 1935 to 1944. She first appeared on Broadway in 1935, and in 1950, she became the first African American to win a Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Bloody Mary in South Pacific, which she appeared in for 1,925 performances at the Majestic Theatre beginning on April 7, 1949. Her co-stars were Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin. In addition to her role in South Pacific, she was a regular performer in clubs in Greenwich Village.

Derrick Albert Bell, Jr. (November 6, 1930 – October 5, 2011) was a 1957 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and began his career with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, but resigned when he was asked to give up his NAACP membership. He then became an assistant counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), supervising over 300 school desegregation cases. In 1969 he became the first tenured African American Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and is largely credited as one of the originators of critical race theory (CRT). He was a Visiting Professor at New York University School of Law from 1991 until his death.

Michael Henry (Mickey) Schwerner (November 6, 1939 – June 21, 1964), was killed in Philadelphia, Mississippi by the Ku Klux Klan along with James Chaney and Andrew Goodman for promoting voting registration as Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) field workers. He was from Pelham, New York, and attended graduate school at the School of Social Work at Columbia University. He and his wife, Rita, had  been  active in CORE work in the New York City area before volunteering in Mississippi. As a boy, Schwerner was friends with Robert Reich who later became U.S. Secretary of Labor and helped protect Reich, who was smaller, from bullies.

Events

On November 5, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt summarily discharged "without honor" all 167 enlisted men of Companies B, C, and D of the 25th Infantry Regiment (Buffalo Soldiers) temporarily stationed at Fort Brown near Brownsville, Texas on suspicion of killing a bartender and wounding a police officer during a civil disturbance known as the Brownsville Riot on August 13 of that year, or for shielding those who were involved in the shooting. The soldiers' discharge caused heated national debate for over two years, and after both congressional and military inquiries only 14 were allowed to re-enlist. The other 153 men, many of whom had at least 20 years of service and two had been awarded the Medal of Honor, were stripped of pensions and the possibility of holding any civil service position. In 1972, after Congressman Augustus F. Hawkins of Los Angeles introduced a bill to have the incident re-investigated, the U.S. Army found all the accused soldiers not guilty of any charges. President Richard Nixon pardoned the men and awarded them honorable discharges without backpay. Congress approved a tax-free pension to the last survivor, Dorsie Willis, who received $25,000.

On November 6, 1920, James Weldon Johnson was chosen as the first African American executive secretary of the NAACP, the highest decision-making and policy-setting office at the time. He had previously served as an organizer and field secretary. He continued the NAACP's campaign against lynching and other racially motivated violence with investigations into attacks throughout the country, mass protests, and support of legislation such as the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill of 1921. Johnson, himself a poet and essayist, also used the organization to promote the literature and arts of the Harlem Renaissance.

On November 6, 1928 Oscar DePriest was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Illinois 1st congressional district, becoming the first African American to serve since 1901, and the first ever from outside the south. During his three terms, he was the only African American in Congress. During his three terms he tried to integrate the House public restaurant, gained passage of an amendment to desegregate the Civilian Conservation Corps, and introduced anti-lynching legislation to the House (it was not passed because of the Solid South Democratic opposition). His wife was the first African American woman entertained by the First Lady in the White House (Lou Henry Hoover).

On November 6, 1962, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning South Africa’s racist apartheid policies and calling on all its members to end economic and military relations with the country. Following the 1960 massacre of unarmed demonstrators at Sharpeville near Johannesburg, South Africa, in which 69 blacks were killed and over 180 were injured, the international movement to end apartheid gained wide support.

On November 6, 2012, Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney to be re-elected President of the United States with 332 electoral votes, far exceeding the 270 needed. With 51.1% of the popular vote, Obama became the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to twice win the majority of the popular vote. He is shown here with confetti falling after his victory speech at Chicago's McCormick Place.

Photo Gallery

Maya Angelou (2nd from right) and fellow award recipients - Bob Lefkowitz (3rd from left), John T. Caldwell (second from left) Charles Kurault (far left) and Harvey K. Littleton (far right) - with Governor Jim Martin (3rd from right) at the North Carolina Awards, 6 November 1987. From Photo Collections, Events Files, 1987, State Archives of North Carolina

First Lady Michelle Obama plays hopscotch at Mumbai University with
children from India’s Make A Difference charity, Saturday, November 6, 2010

Publications

Can Democrats Keep the Negro Vote -- Jet Magazine, November 6, 1952

Jet Magazine, November 6, 1952

Advertisement for Ebony Fashion Fair - Jet Magazine, November 6, 1958

Fame actors Gene Anthony Ray & Erica Gimpel, TV Guide November 6-12, 1982

Last Man Standing: The Tragedy and Triumph of Geronimo Pratt by Jack Olsen. $16.14.
Publication: November 6, 2001. Publisher: Anchor; Reprint edition (November 6, 2001). 

Race: A History Beyond Black and White by Marc Aronson. $16.24. 336 pages.
Reading level: Ages 12 and up. Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (November 6, 2007).

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