1762
Anthony Benezet published “An Account of African Civilization and Culture.”


1785
Ornithologist, naturalist, and painter John James Audubon was born in Les Cayes, Santo Domingo (now Haiti) to an African Caribbean mother and a French father. He displayed an early affinity for bird specimens and drawing in France, later emigrating to the United States, where he married a plantation owner’s daughter and painted his seminal work and the ground-breaking collection, completed in 1839, “The Birds of America,” a catalogue of 435 hand-colored engravings.


1844
On this day, James Pierson Beckwourth discovered a path through the Sierra Nevada Mountains that now bears his name. Beckwourth Pass on U.S. Alt 40 between Reno, Nevada and Sacramento, California made overland travel to the gold fields of California possible.


1854
The New England Emigrant Aid Society, originally the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company, was organized to encourage opponents of slavery to settle Kansas.


1886
William Levi Dawson was born on this date in Albany, Georgia. He was the first African American to chair a standing Congressional Committee and the first Black Chairman of the Democratic NationalCommittee.

Dawson became one of Chicago’s most influential politicians, serving as an elected representative and a political power broker in that city. In this way, he parallels the rising significance of African Americans in Democratic politics of the twentieth century. In World War I, he served in the 365th Infantry

He attended the Kent College of Law in Chicago, Illinois, graduated from Albany Normal School in 1905 and Fisk University in Tennessee magna cum laude in 1909. He, then, moved to Illinois in 1912 to study at Northwestern University Law School in Evanston.

After the entry of the U.S. into World War I, Dawson served overseas as a first lieutenant with the Three Hundred and Sixty-fifth Infantry of the United States Army from 1917 until 1919. After returning home, he was admitted to the bar in 1920 and commenced private practice in Chicago. He began his political career as a member of the Republican Party in 1930 as a state central committeeman for the First Congressional District of Illinois. He held this position until 1932. He then served as alderman for the second ward of Chicago from 1933 until 1939 and as a Democratic Party committeeman after 1939.

In 1942, after serving as alderman on the Chicago City Council, Dawson successfully ran for Congress, holding his seat until retiring in 1970. William Dawson spoke out about the poll tax and was credited with defeating the Winstead Amendment, which would have allowed military personnel to choose whether or not they would serve in integrated units. In 1949, Dawson became chair of the House Committee on Expenditures in Executive Departments (later renamed the Committee on Government Operations), making him the first African American to chair a regular Congressional Committee.

In Chicago, where his constituents knew him as simply “The Man,” Dawson developed a considerable power base by awarding political appointments to his allies. Similarly, President John F. Kennedy acknowledged Dawson’s work in the 1960 campaign by offering him the Postmaster General’s position. Dawson, however, turned the position down, preferring to remain in the House where he felt he could do the most good. For all of the power he amassed, Dawson remained connected to his constituency. He returned to his district often and spent part of each day in his district office, visiting with constituents and working to solve their problems. He died in 1970.


1886
The “Mother of the Blues” Gertrude “Ma” Rainey was born Gertrude Malissa Nix Rainey Pridgitt in Columbus, GA on this date. She was the first great Black professional blues vocalist.

She began her career touring with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels as a vaudeville performer. She was the first person to sing the blues in minstrel shows. She married William “Pa” Rainey, a minstrel comic, and became the “Ma” half of “Rainey and Rainey: The Assassinators of the Blues.” From 1904, she toured southern American tent shows, levee camps, and cabarets in a song-and-dance team with her husband. She performed in the theatrical circuits of the South and Midwest through the 1920s, leading her own troupes, including at times, Bessie Smith and Thomas A. (“Georgia Tom”) Dorsey.

Between 1923 and 1928, she recorded 93 songs with country blues musicians and Black jazz players, many of which were her own compositions. She performed nationwide and had a loyal fan base, even after her recording contract with Paramount was terminated. She had a great impact on performers who followed her and has been immortalized by being included in August Wilson’s play, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” and the poem of Sterling Brown, “Ma Rainey.” She recorded with Fletcher Henderson and Louis Armstrong. Rainey also coached young blues singer Bessie Smith who would become more famous and celebrated than Rainer.

An outstanding, earthy stage presence, she retired in 1933, to own and operate two Georgia theaters and to join the Friendship Baptist Church. She died on December 22, 1939 in Rome, GA and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.


1892
Sarah Boone received a patent on this date for an appliance that would help to neatly iron clothing.

This device, the forerunner to our modern ironing board was made of a narrow wooden board, with collapsible legs and a padded cover and was specifically designed for the fitted clothing worn during that time period.

Prior to her inventions, people were forced to resort to simply using a table or being creative in laying a plank of wood across two chairs or small tables. The registration filing was U.S. Patent #473,653 on December 30, 1887.


1892
J.A. Joyce patented the ore bucket on this date. Patent No. 603,143.


1915
Johnny Shines was born on this date. He was an African-American blues musician.

Shines was from Frayser, Tennessee, one of the last of the original Delta blues-men who had traveled and performed with Robert Johnson and whose style, in large part, remained untouched by more modern blues sounds. Over the years Shines was repeatedly asked to tell Johnson stories, play Johnson songs, and work out on guitar what only Johnson himself was capable of playing. Somewhat reluctantly, Johnny became one of the carriers of the Johnson legacy, often having his own contributions to country blues overlooked in the process.

Shines was forced to cut down on his touring after he suffered a stroke in 1980 and reduced dexterity of his fingers caused him to concentrate more on slide guitar. Johnny Shines died on April 20, 1992, the same year he was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame.


1926
On this date, Blues guitarist Joseph Benjamin “J.B.” Hutto was born.


1940
One of the most extraordinarily durable figures in the history of classic rhythm-and-blues and rock’n roll, Maurice Williams, was born in Lancaster, SC. “Stay,” became one of the classic singles in the history of rock ‘n roll and R&B-a No. 1 mega-hit upon its release in 1960 on Al Silver’s Herald label, and a popular favorite for decades since, revived in 1987 with its prominent use in the movie Dirty Dancing. Williams has remained active as a performer and, periodically, as a recording artist and songwriter, ever since.

Williams had his first experience with music in the church, where his mother and sister both performed. By the time he was six, Williams was performing regularly there. With his childhood friend Earl Gainey, Williams formed the gospel group ‘The Junior Harmonizers’, but as rock and roll and doo-wop became their primary interest, the Junior Harmonizers changed their name to ‘The Royal Charms’.

In addition to Williams and Gainey, The Royal Charms were made up of Willie Jones (baritone), William Massey (tenor, baritone, trumpet), and Norman Wade (bass). In the winter of 1956, while still in high school, Williams and his band traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to record for the Excello record label. At the time they were going by the name ‘The Royal Charms,’ but the founder of Excello Records, Ernie Young, convinced them to change their name to ‘The Gladiolas.’ At the time, there were at least two other bands using the same name.

The song “Little Darlin’” was a #11 hit on the R&B chart in 1957, but did not break the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 40. However, when the song was covered by the Canadian group The Diamonds, it moved up to #2.

Williams finished high school and while on the road with the band (after their station wagon broke down in Bluefield, West Virginia), the band came across a small car known as “The Zodiac” and the band changed their name.[citation needed] Shortly thereafter, Henry Gatson replaced Earl Gainey.

In the spring of 1959, Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs performed at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. Around that time, the group split and reformed. The members were Williams, Gatson, Wiley Bennett, and Charles Thomas. Later, Little Willie Morrow and Albert Hill were added. One month later, in the early summer of 1959, the band recorded in a Quonset Hut on Shakespeare Road in Columbia. The recording engineer, Homer Fesperman, recorded several tracks that the band had hoped would fetch them a hit. One of the last tracks that they recorded that day was “Stay,” a song that Williams had written a couple of weeks before.

After taking the demo of “Stay” to Al Silver at Herald Records in New York City, the song was pressed and released in early 1960. “Stay” is the shortest recording ever to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States (1:39, though the label read 1:50). Later versions of “Stay” by The Four Seasons (1964) and Jackson Browne (1978) also reached the Top 20, each selling over one million copies in the United States alone. The inclusion of “Stay” on the soundtrack to the film Dirty Dancing in 1987 led to the song selling more records than it had during its original release.

A 1961 recording by the group, “May I”, also released by Herald Records became, over the years, another million selling record.

Williams continued recording, touring, and releasing music through the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. He is still active on the music industry, residing in Charlotte, North Carolina.


1941
On this date, R&B musician, Claudine Clark, was born. She is best known as the singer and composer of the 1962 hit “Party Lights,” which reached #5 on the Billboard pop chart.

Clark grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and began recording in 1958 for the Herald record label then moved to New York. She finally had a hit with her second single for Chancellor Records, the self-penned “Party Lights,” but her follow-up, “Walkin’ Through a Cemetery,” was a commercial failure. She continued to record and compose, including under the alias Joy Dawn for the Swan Records label.


1946
Father Divine, a spiritual leader who claimed to be God, married the 21-year old Edna Rose Ritchings. Subsequently, the marriage date became a celebrated anniversary in the International Peace Mission movement, which he founded.


1957
Harry Belafonte signed for the then-unheard-of sum of $1 million with RCA Records. Known as the King of Calypso, Belafonte was actually from the Bronx.


1964
After the Zanzibar Revolution in 1963 overthrew the Arab dynasty in neighboring island country of Zanzibar, which had become independent in 1963, the island merged with mainland Tanganyika to form the nation of Tanzania on this date. The union of the two, hitherto separate, regions was controversial among many Zanzibaris (even those sympathetic to the revolution) but was accepted by both the government of Tanganyikan Prime Minister Julius Nyerere and the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar owing to shared political values and goals.

From the late 1970s, Tanzania's economy took a turn for the worse. Tanzania also aligned with China, seeking Chinese aid. The Chinese were quick to comply, but with the condition that all projects to be completed by imported Chinese labor.

From the mid 1980s, the regime financed itself by borrowing from the International Monetary Fund and underwent some reforms. From the mid 1980s Tanzania's GDP per capita has grown and poverty has been reduced.

The country’s name is derived from the first syllable of each merging country’s name.


1964
The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was founded on this date by black and white Mississippians, with assistance from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, to win seats at the 1964 Democratic National Convention for a slate of delegates elected by disenfranchised black Mississippians and white sympathizers. It ultimately failed, but was said to succeed in dramatizing the violence and injustice by which they claimed the white power structure governed Mississippi. It was also said to have helped the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.


1968
Students seize the administration building at Ohio State.


1969
Dorothy Morrison and the Edwin Hawkins Singers hit the pop charts with the pure gospel song “Oh Happy Day,” which broke all barriers on its way to #4 pop and million-selling status.


1969
James Forman issued The Black Manifesto, a demand that white churches pay $500 million to blacks as reparations for past exploitation, at the National Black Economic Development Conference held in Detroit, Michigan.


1975
Gladys Knight & the Pips’ “The Way We Were” charted, becoming their thirty-third of forty-two Top 100 singles. The same day, the quintessential disco hit “The Hustle,” the massive international hit, which is still played on dance floors and radio today, nearly 30 years after his death, by late, great Van McCoy, entered the hit list, rising to #1 pop and R&B.


1975
Ben E. King peaked at #5 pop (#1 R&B) with “Supernatural Thing,” his first Top 5 solo pop hit in almost fourteen years. Ben had been without a label when Atlantic Records President Ahmet Ertegun saw him performing at a Miami nightclub and asked him to re-sign with the organization. All of the ex-Drifters hits had been with Atlantic’s subsidiary Atco Records from 1961 through 1969.


1984
Jazz musician great William “Count” Basie, died in Hollywood, Florida on this date at the age of 77. He helped popularize the big band movement and was one of the first two Blacks to win Grammy Awards. NOTE: Many sources will have 1904 for Count Basie’s birth year. Our source for his birth and death is the Kennedy Center Archives documenting “The Honors” bestowed on him in 1981.


1988
Dr. Frederick Douglass Patterson, educator, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, humanitarian, and founder of the United Negro College Fund, died on this date.


1989
Mike Tyson was ticketed for driving 71 MPH in 30 mile zone in Albany, NY.


1990
Aretha Franklin, who failed to appear in the show Sing Mahalia, Sing was ordered by a New York judge to pay restitution in the amount of $209,364.


1991
Three former Temptations lead singers (Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin, and Dennis Edwards) banded together to go on tour in England, performing tonight at the Newport Center, Newport, Gwent, Wales.


1991
Maryann Bishop Coffey is named the first woman and the first African American co-chair of the National Conference of Christians and Jews.


1992
“Jelly’s Last Jam” opened at Virginia Theater on Broadway for 569 performances. Gregory Hines portrayed the great jazz composer Jelly Roll Morton and received a Tony award as best actor in a musical in that role.


1992
On this date, St. Louis Cardinals’ second baseman, Ozzie Smith stole his 500th base.


1992
Alex Haley’s “Roots,” won the 1992 Ellis Island Award, posthumously.


1993
Bobby Brown and a young dancer were fined $850 for public lewdness while simulating a sex act at Augusta-Richmond’s County Civic Center on January 13.


1994
R. Kelly and Salt-N-Pepa performed at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, FL


1994
White-ruled South Africa held its first all-race election on this day. The elections would bring an end to 300 years of white minority rule, known as apartheid, in the African nation. The historic moment effectively dissolved the last remnants of apartheid in the region. An estimated 22.7 million eligible voters lined up for miles and participated in the four days of polling, getting their chance to help shape their nation’s government for the first time. Many of the first-time voters stood in line for over 12 hours to cast their ballots. Dr. Nomaza Paintin was the first black South African to vote.

At one-minute after midnight on this date in 1994 a new South African Flag was raised replacing the one introduced in 1928. This was accompanied by the taking effect of the countries new constitution and bill of rights. The Black homelands, formerly a symbol of the racist government, were dissolved and nine new all-race provinces came into being. ANC leader Nelson Mandela, who had spent 27 years in a South African prison because of his leadership of the African National Congress, which had led the struggle against apartheid before he was released in 1990, claimed a landslide victory on May 2nd as South Africa’s first Black democratically elected president. In the wake of the historic vote, the country’s new constitution and bill of rights took effect. The Black homelands were dissolved, and nine new all-race provinces came into being.


1999
Ending the Sierra Leone Civil War, which began in 1991, rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader Foday Sankoh offered the government a cease-fire. Tens of thousands died and more than 2 million people (well over one-third of the population) were displaced because of the 11-year conflict. Neighboring countries became host to significant numbers of refugees attempting to escape the civil war. It was officially declared over on 18 January 2002.


2003
Rosemary Brown, the first black woman to be elected to public office in Canada, died of a heart attack on this date in Vancouver, British Columbia.