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)

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October 23

William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. (October 23, 1810 – May 18, 1848) was one of the earliest mixed-race U.S. citizens in California and a highly successful, enterprising businessman.  He became a United States citizen in New Orleans in 1834 and migrated to California in 1841, then under Mexican rule, settling in Yerba Buena (now San Francisco), a village of about 30 European-Mexican families. He served as US Vice Consul to Mexico at the Port of San Francisco beginning in 1845. and was President of the San Francisco school board and later elected as City Treasurer. Shortly before Leidesdorff's death, vast amounts of gold were officially reported on his Rancho Rio De los Americanos. By the time his estate was auctioned off in 1856, it was worth more than $1,445,000, not including vast quantities of gold mined upon his land.


Birthdays

Oliver Law (October 23, 1900 – July 9, 1937) fought for the Republic in the Spanish Civil War. He was the commander of the entire Abraham Lincoln Brigade for several days and commander of its Machine Gun regiment for much longer, becoming the first African American to lead an integrated military force in the history of the United States. He was killed on July 9, 1937, while leading an attack on Mosquito Ridge during the Battle of Brunete. He had previously served with the US Army from 1919 to 1925 in the 24th Infantry Regiment along on the Mexican border.

Samuel Harold "Sam" Lacy (October 23, 1903 – May 8, 2003) was a pioneering African American and Native American sportswriter, reporter, columnist, editor, and TV/radio commentator who worked in the sports journalism field for parts of nine decades. Credited as a persuasive figure in the movement to racially integrate sports, Lacy in 1948 became the first black member of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Edson Arantes do Nascimento (born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé, is a retired Brazilian professional footballer (soccer player) who played as a forward. He is widely regarded as the greatest player of all time. Pelé has also been known for connecting the phrase "The Beautiful Game" with football. In 1999, he was voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). That year, France Football asked their former Ballon d'Or winners to choose the Football Player of the Century; they selected Pelé. In 1999, Pelé was elected Athlete of the Century by the IOC. (Photo by Patrick Lichfield)

Martin Luther King III (born October 23, 1957) is the oldest son and the oldest living child of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He is the only one of his siblings to enter politics, and served as an elected county commission member in Fulton County, Georgia, the county encompassing most of Atlanta, from 1987 to 1993. In February 2009, King and his wife traveled to India, fifty years after his father and mother made the trip. During his stay in India, he led a delegation which included John Lewis and Andrew Young.

Michael Eric Dyson (born October 23, 1958) is an American academic, author, and radio host. He is a professor of Sociology at Georgetown University. Described by Michael A. Fletcher as "a Princeton Ph.D. and a child of the streets who takes pains never to separate the two", Dyson has authored or edited 18 books dealing with subjects such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Marvin Gaye, Nas's debut album Illmatic, Bill Cosby, Tupac Shakur and Hurricane Katrina. He became an ordained Baptist minister at 19 years of age and serves on the board of directors of the Common Ground Foundation, a project dedicated to empowering urban youth in the United States.

Katoucha Niane (October 23, 1960 - February 2, 2008) was a highly successful French model born in Guinea of Fula heritage. She hosted the TV show France's Next Top Model and starred in the film Ramata. She retired from modeling in 1994 to devote herself full-time to the fight against female circumcision, including writing her autobiography Dans ma char (In My Bones).



Events

On October 23, 1945, Jackie Robinson signed with the Class AAA Montreal Royals of the International League, a minor league team in the Dodgers' farm system. Robinson had played the 1945 season with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro League and was signed for $600 a month, Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey did not offer compensation to the Monarchs, believing all Negro League players were free agents due to the contracts' not containing a reserve clause.

On October 23, 1947, the NAACP sent a petition to the United Nations written by W.E.B. DuBois, Waalter White, and  others,  titled “An Appeal to the World.” The document stated, “We appeal to the world to witness that this attitude of America is far more dangerous to mankind than the Atom bomb; and far, far more clamorous for attention than disarmament or treaty.” It also included facts about lynching, segregation, education, health care, voting rights, and inequalities but was not considered for further action.

On October 23, 1951, the NAACP picketed the Stork Club in support of Josephine Baker, who had been refused admission to the club a week earlier. After a city-convened special committee called Baker’s charges unfounded, Thurgood Marshall called the findings a “complete and shameless whitewash of the long-established and well-known discriminatory policies of the Stork Club.”

On October 23, 1989, "M" Street High School in Washington DC was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It was founded in 1870 as the Preparatory High School for Negro Youth, moving to the 128 "M" Street NW location in 1890; in 1916 the name was changed to Dunbar High School in honor of poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar. The school was one of the most academically rigorous segregated high schools in the country for African Americans. Francis Cardozo and Anna Julia Cooper were two of its principals, and Carter G, Woodson was among the faculty. It closed shortly after the integration of the DC schools in 1954 and is now the Perry School Community Services Center. The building was designed by Thomas Entwistle.

Photo Gallery

On October 23, 1886 Wiley Jones operated the first streetcar system in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

 Concert featuring the Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, and Martha and
the Vandellas at Veterans Memorial Auditorium, Columbus, Ohio, October 23, 1965

Koko Taylor and The Blues Machine, taken October 23, 1978 at a club called Sprangkullen
 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Bob Anderson is seen on bass. Photo © 1996 by Torsten Stahlberg.

The Official Portrait of the First Family, October 23, 2009. President Barack Obama and first lady
Michelle Obama are pictured with their daughters Sasha, 8, (left) and Malia, 11, (right).

Publications

Jet Magazine, October 23, 1952

President Truman in Harlem - Jet Magazine, October 23, 1952

Life Magazine, October 23, 1970 - Muhammad Ali

The October 23, 2013 cover of the NY Daily News

Rolling Stone, October 23, 2014

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October 20

Jelly Roll Morton (born Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, October 20, 1890 - July 10, 1941) took the name Morton as an anglicized version of his stepfather's name, Mouton, and the nickname "Jelly Roll" came from the risque lyrics he sang during an early stint playing in a brothel, where he first played piano in his distinctive ragtime style. Different dates and years have been given for his birth date but October 20, 1890 is listed on his baptism certificate and no birth certificate is available. His composition "Jelly Roll Blues" was the first published jazz composition, in 1915, and in 1926 he signed a recording contract with the the Victor Talking Machine Company. In May 1938,  Alan Lomax began recording Morton for the Library of Congress. The sessions, originally intended as a short interview with musical examples for use by music researchers, soon expanded to record more than eight hours of Morton talking and playing piano. (Sketch by Keith Mallett).

Birthdays

William Washington Browne (October 20, 1849 – December 21, 1897) was turned down for membership in the segregated Independent Order of Good Templars, but the society offered him the option of opening a sponsored charter named the Grand United Order of True Reformers. Over time the organization grew in size to where it managed a bank, ran a newspaper, owned several properties, and at one point in time was the largest black fraternal society and black-owned business in the United States. The bank was the only one in Richmond to maintain full services during the panic of 1893. After Browne's death, unsecured loans and employee embezzlement led to its collapse in 1910.

Jomo Kenyatta (October 20, 1893 - August 22, 1978) served as Kenya's prime minister and, later, president from the nation's independence in 1963 until his death in 1978. He attended a Church of Scotland Mission School as a child and held a number of jobs while becoming involved in national politics, becoming general secretary of the Kikuyu Central Association in 1928. He then went to England where he studied social anthropology under Bronisław Malinowski at the London School of Economics and was active in Pan-African groups. He returned to Kenya in 1946, becoming principal of Kenya Teachers College, and was elected president of the Kenya African Union (KAU) the next year. The Mau Mau Rebellion, a a radical anti-colonial movement, began in 1951, with the KAU being banned, and a state of emergency was declared on October 20, 1952. Kenyatta was arrested that month on the charges of "managing and being a member" of the Mau Mau Society, tried, and sentenced to seven year's imprisonment. Kenyatta was admitted into the Legislative Council after his release in 1961, where he led the Kenya African National Union delegation, and he became Prime Minister on June 1, 1963. The following year, Parliament amended the Constitution to make Kenya a republic, with the office of prime minister replaced by a president with wide executive and legislative powers. Kenyatta died of natural causes in 1978, and his son, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, is the current president.

Rex Ingram (October 20, 1895 – September 19, 1969) attended Northwestern University before moving to Hollywood where he was literally discovered on a street corner by the casting director for the silent film Tarzan of the Apes (1918). With the arrival of sound, his presence and powerful voice became an asset and he went on to memorable roles in The Green Pastures (1936), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (the 1939 MGM version, opposite Mickey Rooney),  and The Thief of Bagdad (1940) which was perhaps his best-known film appearance as the genie.  He appeared in more than a dozen Broadway productions, including the original cast of Haiti (1938), Cabin in the Sky (1940), and St. Louis Woman (1946).

Adelaide Hall (October 20, 1901 - November 7, 1993) entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 2003 as the world's most enduring recording artist having released material over eight consecutive decades.  She began her stage career in 1921 on Broadway in the chorus line of Noble Sissle's and Eubie Blake's hit musical Shuffle Along, starred in the long-running Blackbird Revue, and often appeared with  Duke Ellington, Bill (Bojangles) Robinson, Art Tatum, and other contemporary musicians. She settled permanently in London in 1938. She made more than 70 records for Decca, had her own BBC Radio series Wrapped in Velvet (making her the first black artist to have a long-term contract with the BBC), and appeared on the stage, in films, and in nightclubs.

Enolia Virginia Pettigen McMillan (October 20, 1904 - October 24, 2006) became the first woman elected National President of the NAACP in 1984, a position she held until 1990. The role at the time was largely ceremonial, but McMillan had considerable influence in the organization’s policies and operations. She had previously served as president of the Baltimore NAACP as well as President of the Maryland State Colored Teachers' Association and as Regional Vice-President of the National Association of Colored Teachers. She taught in the Maryland public schools for 40 years and held a B.A. in education from Howard and an M.Ed. from Columbia.

Eddie Harris (October 20, 1934 – November 5, 1996) was an American jazz musician, best known for playing tenor saxophone and for introducing the electrically amplified saxophone. He was also fluent on the electric piano and organ. His best-known compositions are "Freedom Jazz Dance", recorded and popularized by Miles Davis in 1966, and "Listen Here." His jazz arrangement of Ernest Gold's theme from the movie Exodus was heavily played on radio and became the first jazz record ever to be certified gold. He experimented with new instruments of his own invention, such as the reed trumpet, a trumpet with a saxophone mouthpiece.


Events

On October 20, 1951, Drake halfback and Heisman Trophy candidate Johnny Bright received a broken jaw from an Oklahoma A&M's Wilbanks Smith in a racially motivated incident during a Missouri Valley Conference football game in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Bright was one of the few African American players in the conference and had been the first to play at Lewis Field two years previously. Both campus and local newspapers articles predicting the attack. Despite the injury, Bright was still able to complete a 64-yard touchdown pass before leaving the game a few plays later.   Des Moines Register cameramen John Robinson and Don Ultang won the 1952 Pulitzer Prize in photography for their coverage.

On October 20. 1951, the British colonial government in Kenya declared a national state of emergency due to the Mau Mau Rebellion, an anti-colonial movement of radical Kikuyu natives led by  Dedan Kimathi. All nationalists were suspected of involvement; Jomo Kenyatta and five other members of the moderate Kenya African Union known as the "Kapenguria Six" (left) were arrested and found guilty after a staged trial. In 1954 during Operation Anvil, a sweep of Nairobi by British forces, 50,000 native Kenyans were arrested or deported to reserves. Kimathi was arrested and executed on October 21, 1956, essentially ending the revolt. Land and electoral reforms began  to be introduced, with the first direct elections for native Kenyans to the Legislative Council occurring in 1957. The country gained its independence from Britain in 1963.

On October 20, 1967, an all-white federal jury in Meridian, Mississippi convicted seven white men of civil rights violations in the murder of civil rights workers James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. Eighteen men had been indicted, including Sheriff Lawrence Rainey (shown left, being escorted by U.S. Marshals) and Deputy Cecil Ray Price. The seven found guilty were sentenced to 3-10 years in federal prison.

On October 20, 1956 an article by W.E,B. Du Bois entitled "Why I Won't Vote" was published in The Nation. He believed the rematch between Republican Dwight Eisenhower and Democrat Adlai Stevenson was a contest of “one evil party with two names and it will be elected despite all I can do or say. . . Democracy is dead in the United States.” Du Bois condemned both parties for their indifferent positions on the influence of corporate wealth, racial inequality, arms proliferation and unaffordable health care.

Photo Gallery

Wilson Brown served in the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War. In August 1864 Brown joined
Company B of the 127th USCT. According to his service records, Brown was discharged on October 20, 1865. 

October 20, 1955: Brooklyn High School in Cleveland, OH, is host to a rock and roll
concert featuring Bill Haley, LaVern Baker (pictured), Roy Hamilton, Johnnie Ray, the
up-and-coming artist Elvis Presley, and also, improbably, Pat Boone and The Four Lads.

Queen Juliana of the Netherlands congratulates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., after the American civil rights
 leader received an honorary degree in social science by the Amsterdam Free University, on October 20, 1965.

During the weekend of October 20, 1972, Black American poets, artists, critics, and scholars gathered
at the University of Dayton to celebrate the centennial of the birth of Paul Laurence Dunbar

October 20, 1974, Muhammad Ali defeated George Foreman for heavyweight boxing title in Zaire.

October 20, 2012 Doug Mills/The New York Times The Obamas at the dedication of the
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall last October.

Publications

Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Illinois Jacquet, Norman Granz Arrested For Houston Craps Game
Jet Magazine, October 20, 1955

Mose Wright, Uncle of Emmett Till, Awaits Till Murder Trial
Jet Magazine, October 20, 1955

Lake City, South Carolina Whites Burn Church to Chase Away Minister
Jet Magazine, October 20, 1955

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