* Today in Black History - November 30 *
1869 - John Roy Lynch is elected to the Mississippi House of
Representatives.
1912 - Gordon Parks, Sr. is born in Fort Scott, Kansas. In the
late 1930's, while working as a railroad porter, he
will become interested in photography and launch his
career as a photographer and photojournalist. From
1943 to 1945, he will be a correspondent for the Office
of War Information, giving national exposure to his
work. This will lead to him becoming a staff
photographer for Life magazine in 1948. He will branch
off into film and television in the 1950's and in 1968
will produce, direct, and write the script and music
for the production of his book, "The Learning Tree."
He will also direct and write the music scores for the
movies "Shaft," "Shaft's Big Score," The Super Cops,"
"Leadbelly," "Odyssey of Solomon Northrup" and "Moments
Without Proper Names." He will also direct "Superfly,"
"Three The Hard Way," "Aaron Loves Angela," and be
called a "Twentieth Century Renaissance Man" by the
NAACP, who will award him its Spingarn Medal in 1972.
The Library of Congress will honor him in 1982 with the
National Film Registry Classics designation for his
film, "The Learning Tree." He will join the ancestors
on March 7, 2006.
1919 - Jane Cooke Wright is born in New York City, one of two
daughters of Dr. Louis Tompkins Wright and Corinne Cook
Wright. Her father was a physician who practiced in New
York City and later established the Cancer Research
Foundation at Harlem Hospital. She will live in New York
City until 1938 when she leaves to enroll in Smith
College. She will begin college intending to major in
art, but will switch to pre-medicine. She will graduate
from Smith in 1942, one of only two graduates in that
class later accepted to medical school. She will bring
the field of chemotherapy to the forefront of cancer
treatment, publishing over 130 papers. Her research team
will focus on the investigation of a wide variety of
anticancer drugs and develop procedures for the sequential
use of these drugs in cancer treatment. She will be
awarded a full scholarship to New York Medical School and
receive an M.D. degree upon graduating with honors, third
in her class. In 1945. She will intern at Bellevue
Hospital, followed by two residencies at Harlem Hospital.
At this point, she will set up private practice since no
medical institution will offer her a position. In 1949 She
will join the medical staff at the Cancer Research
Foundation at Harlem Hospital as a clinician and research
scientist and begin her work in cancer research. After her
father joins the ancestors in 1952, she will become
director of the foundation. In 1955 she will move to New
York University Medical Center as director of cancer
chemotherapy research and instructor of research surgery.
In 1964, she will be appointed to President Lyndon
Johnson's Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke.
Her subcommittee's recommendation to develop regional
centers will be an important outcome of this commission.
By 1967, Jane Wright will be promoted to associate dean
and professor of surgery at NYU Medical Center where she
will continue to be active in research until retiring in
1987. Her honors will include the Spirit of Achievement
Award of the Women's Division of the Albert Einstein
College of Medicine (1965); the Hadassah Myrtle Wreath
(1967); the Smith Medal from Smith College (1968);
featured by Ciba Geigy on its Exceptional Black Scientist
poster (1980); and be honored by the American Association
for Cancer Research (1975). She will receive several
honorary degrees and serve on boards of trustees for
various organizations. She will join the ancestors on
February 19, 2013.
1924 - Shirley Anita St. Hill (later Chisholm) is born in
Brooklyn, New York. While an education consultant for New
York City's day-care division, she will become active in
community and political activities that included the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) and her district's Unity Democratic Club. She
will begin her political career at the age of 40, when she
is elected to the state assembly. In 1968, she will be the
first African American woman elected to Congress,
defeating civil-rights leader James Farmer, who had
asserted in his campaign that African American voters
needed "a man's voice in Washington." She will run for
President in 1972 and continue her Congressional duties
until 1982. She will join the ancestors on January 1, 2005.
1927 - Robert Peter Williams (later Robert Guillaume) is born in
St. Louis, Missouri. He will become a stage and television
actor, known for his role as Benson on the TV-series "Soap"
and the spin-off "Benson," voicing the mandrill Rafiki in
"The Lion King" and as Isaac Jaffe on "Sports Night." In a
career that spanned more than 50 years he will work
extensively on stage (including a Tony Award nomination),
television (including winning two Emmy Awards), and film.
He will receive a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. On
November 28, 1984, he will receive a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame for his work in the television industry. He will
join the ancestors on October 24, 2017 after succumbing to
prostate cancer.
1933 - Sam Gilliam is born in Tupelo, Mississippi. He will become
an artist known for his unique manipulation of materials
that result in painted sculpture or suspended paintings.
His work will be shown at the 36th Venice Miennale as well
as in the exhibit "African-American Artists 1880-1987." He
will be associated with the Washington Color School and
broadly considered a Color field painter. His works will be
described as belonging to Abstract Expressionism and Lyrical
Abstraction. He will work on stretched, draped, and wrapped
canvas, and add sculptural 3D elements. He will be recognized
as the first artist to introduce the idea of a painted canvas
hanging without stretcher bars c.1965, a major contribution
to the Color Field School.
1944 - Luther Thomas Ingram is born in Jackson, Tennessee. He will
become a rhythm and blues musician and singer and will be
best known for the song, "(If Lovin' You is Wrong) I Don't
Want to be Right." The song will reach no. 1 on the Billboard
Rhythm & Blues chart and no. 3 on the Hot 100 in 1972. He will
join the ancestors on March 19, 2007.
1948 - The Negro National League (Professional Baseball) officially
disbands. Although black teams will continue to play for
several years, they will no longer be major league caliber.
The demise of the Negro Leagues was inevitable as the
younger black players were signed by the white major league
franchises.
1953 - Albert Michael Espy is born in Yazoo City, Mississippi. In
1987, he will be sworn in as the state's first African
American congressman since John Roy Lynch more than 100
years before. He will become Secretary of Agriculture
during the Bill Clinton administration. Leaving the
cabinet under fire and indicted for corruption, he will
later be vindicated when he is found not guilty.
1956 - Archie Moore is defeated by Floyd Patterson, as Patterson
wins the heavyweight boxing title vacated by the retired
Rocky Marciano. At the age of 21, Patterson becomes the
youngest boxer to date, to be named heavyweight champion.
1962 - Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson is born in Bessemer, Alabama. He
will become a professional baseball and football player. He
will become the only athlete to be named an All-Star in two
major sports. While at Auburn University, he will win the
1985 Heisman Trophy, annually awarded to the most outstanding
collegiate football player in the United States. In 1989 and
1990, his name will become known beyond just sports fans
through the "Bo Knows" advertising campaign, a series of
advertisements by Nike, starring him alongside Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame musician Bo Diddley, promoting a cross-training
athletic shoe named for Jackson. After a 1991 hip injury on
the field ends his football career, he will focus on baseball,
and will expand into other pursuits, including the completion
of his Bachelor of Science degree in Family and Child
Development at Auburn University. In addition, he will appear
in small roles as an actor, in TV shows such as "The Fresh
Prince of Bel-Air" and "Married... with Children," and films
such as "The Chamber."
1965 - Judith Jamison makes her debut with Alvin Ailey's American
Dance Theatre in Chicago, dancing in Talley Beaty's Congo
Tango Palace. Jamison will rejoin the company in 1988 as
artistic associate due to the failing health of Alvin Ailey.
She will become the company's artistic director in 1989 upon
Ailey's transition.
1966 - Barbados gains its independence from Great Britain.
1975 - The state of Dahomey becomes the People's Republic of Benin.
1977 - Nelsan Ellis is born in Harvey, Illinois. He will become a
film and television actor and playwright. He will play
Lafayette Reynolds in the HBO series "True Blood" and Bobby
Byrd in the 2014 James Brown biopic, "Get on Up." "True
Blood" will premier on September 7, 2008, and conclude on
August 24, 2014, comprising seven seasons and 80 episodes.
In 2008, he will receive a Satellite Award from the
International Press Academy for best supporting actor in a
television series for his role as Lafayette Reynolds. In
2009, he will be nominated for a Scream Award for "Best
Supporting Actor" for True Blood. In 2012, he will be cast
as Martin Luther King, Jr. in a supporting performance in
Lee Daniels' "The Butler." "The Butler" will receive mostly
positive reviews from critics, with a 71% rating on the film
critic aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 171 reviews.
On October 21, 2013, he will join the cast of "Get on Up," a
biographical drama film about the life of singer James Brown.
He will portray Bobby Byrd, Brown's long-time friend. "Get on
Up" was met with positive reviews from critics. In 2014, the
film will have a rating of 80% on the review aggregator site
Rotten Tomatoes, based on 150 reviews, with an average rating
of 6.8/10. He will join the ancestors on July 8, 2017 after
succumbing to heart failure associated with alcohol withdrawal
syndrome.
1981 - The NAACP's Spingarn Medal is awarded to Coleman A. Young
"in recognition of his singular accomplishments as mayor
of the City of Detroit."
1990 - Ruth Washington, long-time publisher of the Los Angeles Sentinel,
joins the ancestors. Following the death of her husband Chester,
she acted as publisher of the weekly newspaper, founded in 1933,
for sixteen years.
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