|
1848\
This day marks one of the most daring and in-your-face escapes from
slavery in American history. William & Ellen Craft escape from slavery in Macon, Georgia.
Light-complexioned Mrs. Craft
cut her hair and impersonates a white
slave holder and her husband, William, assumes the role of her servant, in one
of the most dramatic of the slave escapes. They journey by train
from Macon to Savannah where they board a steamship.
Despite several close calls, they arrive in Pennsylvania. The couple would move to Boston and help establish
a thriving Black community in that city.
1849
David Ruggles joins the
ancestors in Northampton, Massachusetts. Often called the first
African American bookseller (for his bookstore established in 1834), Ruggles
was an early abolitionist, speaker, and writer as well as a “conductor” on the
Underground Railroad. He published the first African American magazine, the “Mirror
of Liberty in August of 1838. He was a noted hydropathist, erecting the first
building constructed for hydropathic treatments in the United States
and was known as the “water cure doctor.”
1894
Nathaniel Jean Toomer was born on
this date. He was an African-American writer.
Born in Washington, D.C., the grandson of P.B.S. Pinchback, Toomer
wanted a bonded argument that would resolve the conflicts of his bi-racial
identity. Born Nathan Pinchback
Toomer, his father deserted his mother when he was a year old and his
mother died in 1909. He was raised in the home of his grandparents.
As a writer, Greenwich Village progressive
aesthetes nurtured Toomer in the 1910s and 1920s. His book, Cane was
inspired by his two-month stint as a substitute principal at the Black Sparta
Agricultural and Industrial Institute in Georgia in 1921. Entranced by Georgia’s rural
geography and its Black folk traditions, he saw in Southern life the harmony
that escaped him, although he believed the culture to be disappearing through
migration to the North and its encounter with modernity. Cane is a series of
vignettes whose narrative structure moves from the South to the North and back
to the South, forming a troubled synthesis of the two regions.
Members of the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts Movement, as well as later
African-American women writers have cited its influence and acclaimed the
author’s sensitive treatment of black folk life, his formal elegance, and his
progressive, uninhibited approach to sexuality and gender. Cane was Toomer’s
only work that explicitly treated the lives of African-Americans; after its
publication he disappeared from literary circles. In 1924 the restless author
made the first of several pilgrimages to Fontainebleau,
France, to
study at the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man.
He taught philosophy in Harlem and Chicago
until the mid-1930s. Toomer wrote voluminously until his death, and although
much of his writing received occasional praise for its experimentation,
African-Americans largely dismissed it. In 1930 Toomer declined to be included
in James Weldon Johnson’s Book of American Negro Poetry, on the grounds that he
wasn’t a Negro. Toomer continued to strive for a sense of wholeness, however,
and for a definition of what Henry Louis Gates Jr. has described as a
“remarkably fluid notion of race.”
He found this potential of an “American” race, described in the 1936 long poem
Blue Meridian, the last work published while he was alive.
1892
On
this dates Registry we celebrate the founding of Mary
Holmes College. It is one of over 100 Historical
Black Colleges
and University in America.
Originally the Mary Holmes Seminary it was the creation of the Board of
Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church, (USA). Located in Jackson, Mississippi,
the school was dedicated to the Christian education of “Colored” girls, largely
in the domestic arts. When fire destroyed the original school, it was rebuilt
in West Point, Mississippi, where it is now located, and where, in spite of two
more destructive fires, it continues to seek to educate youth for worthy,
purposeful lives.
Conceived and initiated through the efforts of the Reverend Mead Holmes and his
daughter, Miss Mary Holmes, the school was named for Mrs. Mary Holmes, wife and
mother, who had long been a tireless and devoted missionary for the Freedmen’s Mission. In 1932, the school
became coeducational and also added the college department, with the primary
purpose of training elementary teachers. At this time private schools like Mary
Holmes were the main sources for Black teachers in the south, and the
preparation of Mary Holmes graduates had them in great demand.
By 1959, the State of Mississippi was assuming a greater responsibility for
elementary and secondary education so the high school department of Mary Holmes
was dropped, leaving it free to concentrate on being a Junior College. The
Board of Missions of the United Presbyterian Church, USA still operates the
school but its stance has always been non-sectarian.
In June 1969, the State of Mississippi granted a charter making the institution
a legal entity under the name of Mary Holmes College, Inc. Since that date it
has operated under its own Board of Trustees.
1908
Jack Johnson, one of the greatest and most controversial
Black boxers ever, became the first Black
heavyweight champion of the world on this day. In one of his
most sensational victories, he defeated Canadian
Tommy Burns in the 14th round for the title in Sydney,
Australia. Riots broke out in Australia and the
United States because many whites felt it was impossible for a Black man to
beat a white man. Johnson had boxed for
several years before he had the opportunity to contend for a title bout. White
boxers had refused to fight him. Finally, in 1908, Johnson fought reigning
champion, Tommy Burns. After avoiding fighting Johnson for over a year, embodying white hatred
of Johnson for his defiance of the “Jim Crow” racial practices of
early 20th-century America, Burns will say of his loss, “Race
prejudice was rampant in my mind. The idea of a black man challenging me was
beyond enduring. Hatred made me tense.” Johnson held the title until 1915. He was born on March 31, 1878, in Galveston, TX. During his
professional boxing career, which spanned more than 30 years, Johnson had 113
fights with 78 wins-- 44 knockouts and 34 by decision. He died June 10, 1946,
in a car accident.
1915
On
this date, Una Mae Carlisle was born.
She was an African-American pianist and singer.
Born the day after Christmas in Xenia, Ohio, her parents were American Indian
and black. Carlisle started singing at the age of three and by the age of
seventeen (1932), she was working at a local radio station. It was at this time
that Fats Waller heard her play and asked that she join his band, where she
stayed until 1934. It is her voice with Waller on the recording I Can’t Give
You Anything but Love.
Carlisle auditioned for the Cotton Club, performed solo, and recorded in
Europe. When the Second World War broke out, she returned to America and
recorded for Blue Bird Records, Walkin’ By The River (1940) and I See
A Million People (1941). In 1954, she became ill and retired from
performing; Una Carlisle died two years later in November 1956 in New York
City.
1924
DeFord Bailey, Sr., a harmonica
player, becomes the first African American to perform on the Grand Ole Opry in
Nashville, Tennessee.
1931
Lonnie Elder is born in
Americus, Georgia. He will be known as an author, playwright (“Ceremonies in
Dark Old Men”), and screenwriter (“Sounder,” “A Woman Called Moses”).
1937
La Julia Rhea becomes the first
African American to sing with the Chicago Civic Opera Company during the
regular season. She opens in the title
role of Verdi’s “Aida.”
1956
African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama begin mass
defiance of Jim Crow bus laws.
1966
Kwanzaa, originated by Black California professor Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga, is first celebrated by a small
number of African American families in Los Angeles, California, as an Afrocentric alternative to Christmas to “restore and reaffirm our African heritage and culture.” Kwanzaa, a Kiswahili word meaning first or
first fruit, will celebrate over the next seven days the Nguzo Saba, or seven
principles, of Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (Collective
Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba
(Creativity), and Imani (Faith).
1999
Prolific
singer, songwriter & producer Curtis Mayfield joins the ancestors at the age of 57
in North Fulton Regional Hospital near Atlanta, Georgia. Mayfield introduced social conscienceness
into African American music and continued to record for a decade after an
accident left him paralyzed. His many hits included “People Get Ready,” “I’m So
Proud,” and “Keep On Pushing.” His soundtrack for the 1972 movie “Superfly”
sold over 4 million copies and produced two classic hit singles, the title
track and “Freddie’s Dead.” In addition to his wife, he leaves behind his
mother, 10 children, a brother, two sisters and seven grandchildren to
celebrate his life.
|
|
