* Today in Black History - October 13 *
1831 - Jo Anderson, a slave, helps invent the grain harvester
reaper.
1876 - Meharry Medical College, formally opens at Central
Tennessee College.
1901 - Edith Spurlock (later Sampson) is born in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. She will graduate from the John Marshall
Law School in Chicago in 1925 with a Bachelor of Laws
degree. In 1927, she will become the first African
American woman to receive a Masters of Laws degree from
Loyola University. She will become a member of the
Illinois bar in 1927, and be admitted to practice before
the Supreme Court in 1934. She will become the first
African American woman to be named a delegate to the
United Nations. She will serve from 1950 to 1953, first
as an appointee of President Harry S. Truman and later
during a portion of the Eisenhower Administration. She
will join the ancestors on October 8, 1979.
1902 - Arna Bontemps is born in Alexandria, Louisiana. He will
become a prolific poet, librarian, and author of
historical and juvenile fiction. Among his best-known
works will be "God Sends Sunday" and "Black Thunder",
the juvenile books "We Have Tomorrow" and "The Story of
the Negro", and "American Negro Poetry", which he will
edit. In 1943, after graduating from the University of
Chicago with a masters degree in library science, he will
be appointed librarian at Fisk University in Nashville,
Tennessee. He will hold that position for 22 years and
will develop important collections and archives of
African American literature and culture. Through his
librarianship and bibliographic work, he will become a
leading figure in establishing African American
literature as a legitimate object of study and
preservation. He will join the ancestors on June 4, 1973.
1906 - J. Saunders Redding is born in Wilmington, Delaware. He
will become a literary and social critic and author of
non-fiction works on the African American experience. He
will earn an advanced degree in English at Brown
University (1932) and will be a professor at various
colleges and universities, including Morehouse, Hampton,
and Cornell. In 1949, his stint as a visiting professor
at Brown will make him the first African American to hold
a faculty position at an Ivy League university. He will
write many books and articles on African American culture
and other topics, including "To Make a Poet Black" (1939),
a landmark history of African American literature; "No Day
of Triumph" (1942), an autobiographical account of a
journey through southern black communities; and "Stranger
and Alone" (1950), a novel, as well as several more general
historical and sociological works. He will also edit with
Arthur P. Davis, an important anthology, "Cavalcade: Negro
American Writing from 1760 to the Present" (1971). He will
join the ancestors on March 2, 1988 at his home in Ithaca,
New York.
1909 - Arthur Tatum Jr. is born in Toledo, Ohio. He will become a
jazz pianist. He will begin playing professionally and have
his own radio program, rebroadcast nationwide, while still
in his teens. He will leave Toledo in 1932 and have
residencies as a solo pianist at clubs in major urban centers
including New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Throughout his
career, he will also play for long periods at night in after-
hours venues – at which he will often be more spontaneous and
creative than in his paid-for performances – and drink
enormous quantities of alcohol. Although drinking will not
negatively affect his playing, it will damage his health. In
the 1940s, he will lead a commercially successful trio for a
short time and begin playing in more formal jazz concert
settings, including at Norman Granz-produced Jazz at the
Philharmonic events. Granz will record him extensively in
solo and small group formats in the mid-1950s, with the last
session occurring only two months before the pianist's death
from uremia at the age of 47. He will be widely regarded as
one of the greatest jazz pianists. His playing will encompass
everything that had come before, adding great harmonic and
rhythmic imagination and complexity, and often at very high
speed. He will join the ancestors on November 5, 1956.
1914 - Garrett Augustus Morgan, the son of former slaves, receives
a patent for an invention he calls the "Safety Hood and
Smoke Protector," which came to be known as a gas mask.
1923 - Dorothy Lee Bolden is born in Atlanta, Georgia. She will be
the founder of the National Domestic Worker's Union of America
and will work to fight for women's rights and bring segregation
to an end. She will begin working as a domestic worker at the
age of nine. She will eventually utilize her past experiences
to form the Domestic Worker's Union in Atlanta, Georgia.
Through the Domestic Worker's Union, thousands of women will
secure better pay and working conditions throughout the United
States. She will join the ancestors on July 14, 2005.
1925 - Garland Anderson's "Appearances" opens at the Frolic Theatre
on Broadway. It is the first full-length Broadway play by
an African American.
1926 - Raymond Matthews Brown is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He
will become a jazz double bassist known for extensive work with
Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald. His stage name will be Ray
Brown. He will join the ancestors on July 2, 2002.
1938 - Shirley Ann Caesar (later Caesar-Williams) is born in Durham, North
Carolina. She will become a Gospel music singer, songwriter and
recording artist whose career will span over six decades. A multi-
award-winning artist, with 12 Grammy Awards along with Dove Awards
and Stellar Awards to her credit, she will be known as the "First
Lady of Gospel Music" and "The Queen of Gospel Music." She will
begin recording at the age of 12 in 1951 on the Federal recording
label. She will release over forty albums. She will participate in
over 16 compilations and three gospel musicals, "Mama I Want to
Sing," "Sing: Mama 2" and "Born to sing: Mama 3." She will also be
the creator of the #UNameIt Challenge, which will occur during one
of her song sermonettes. She will open her eponymous store and use
the profits to help others during the holiday season. Her credits
will also include a series of commercials for MCI Communications
and numerous awards for her recordings. She will win 12 Grammy
Awards, 14 Stellar Awards, 18 Doves, 1 RIAA gold certification, an
Essence Award, McDonald's Golden Circle Lifetime Achievement Award,
NAACP Lifetime Achievement Award, SESAC Lifetime Achievement Award,
Rhapsody & Rhythm Award from the National Museum of African American
Music, as well as induction into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
According to Soundscan, she has sold 2.2 million albums since 1991.
She will make several notable appearances, including the televised
"Live from Disney World Night of Joy," "the Gospel According to VH1,"
a White House performance for George Bush, and a speech on the
Evolution of Gospel Music to the US Treasury Department. In 2017,
she will be honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award from The
Recording Academy.
1940 - Farrell Sanders is born in Little Rock, Arkansas. He will become
a jazz saxophonist better known as Pharoah Sanders. Saxophonist
Ornette Coleman will once describe him as "probably the best
tenor player in the world". Emerging from John Coltrane's groups
of the mid-1960s, he will be known for his overblowing, harmonic,
and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use
of "sheets of sound". He will be an important figure in the
development of free jazz; Albert Ayler famously said: "Trane was
the Father, Pharoah was the Son, I am the Holy Ghost".
1942 - The 332nd Fighter Group is activated and becomes the first
African American group in the Army Air Forces. It is comprised
of the 100th, 301st and 302nd Fighter Squadrons.
1945 - Desiré Delano Bouterse is born in Domburg, Suriname. He will become
a Surinamese politician who will be President of Suriname since
2010. From 1980 to 1987 he will be Suriname's de facto leader after
conducting a military coup and establishing a period of military
rule. He will be the chairman of the Surinamese political alliance
Megacombinatie ("Mega combination") and the leader of the National
Democratic Party (NDP), which is part of the Megacombination. On
July 19, 2010, he will be elected as President of Suriname with 36
of 50 parliament votes and on August 12, 2010, he will be inaugurated.
He will be a controversial figure, and will be held responsible by
some for numerous human rights violations committed during the
military rule in the 1980s. Most notable will be the December murders
in 1982 of fifteen leading opposition figures. He will be prosecuted
for the murders and a trial will be initiated, but the National
Assembly will extend amnesty to him in 2012. He will also be
suspected of having directed the Moiwana massacre in 1986 during the
civil war by the Maroons, led by his former bodyguard. In 2000, he
will be sentenced in absentia in the Netherlands to 11 years'
imprisonment after being convicted of trafficking 474 kg (1,045 lb)
of cocaine. He will always claim innocence, claiming that the star
witness in the case, Patrick van Loon, was bribed by the Dutch
government. According to WikiLeaks cables released in 2011, he was
active in the drug trade until 2006. Europol has issued an arrest
warrant for him. As Suriname's president, he will enjoy national
immunity from arrest in his country. Because he was convicted of
the drug offense before his election in 2010 as head of state, he
enjoys no international immunity on these charges.
1946 - Demond Wilson is born in Valdosta, Georgia. He will become
an actor and will be best known as Lamont Sanford on the
long-running television show, "Sanford & Son." He will
author the book Second Banana: The Bittersweet Memoirs of
the Sanford & Son Years, which is released on August 31,
2009. According to an interview on the CelebrityCafe.com
website, he will say: "It's just a documented truth, behind
the scenes factual account of what happened during those
years. Redd (Foxx) and I were making history back in those
days. We were the first blacks to be on television in that
capacity and we opened the door for all those other shows
that came after us." He will start working in 2010 to
produce and act in a melodramatic family film based on the
play "Faith Ties." He will say of the project: "I play a
broken down old drunk whose wife and daughter are killed and
he's given up on life. His only friend is a talking scorpion
named Adonis. The protagonist is a pastor who is in the
middle while he watches the lives of people crumbling around
him."
1952 - Beverly Ann Johnson is born in Buffalo, New York. She will
become a model, actress, singer, and businesswoman. She will
rise to fame when she becomes the first African American model
to appear on the cover of American Vogue in August 1974. In
1975, she will become the first black woman to appear on the
cover of the French edition of Elle. In 2012, she will be the
star of the reality series "Beverly's Full House" that will
air on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). The New York Times
will name her one of the 20th century's most influential
people in fashion in 2008.
1958 - Cheryl Anne Norton is born in Los Angeles, California. She will
become a R&B singer who will gain fame in the mid-1980s. She will
be better known by her stage name Cherrelle. Her signature hits
will include "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On", "Where Do I Run To",
"Everything I Miss at Home", and duets with R&B singer Alexander
O'Neal such as "Saturday Love" and "Never Knew Love Like This."
1961 - Derek Ricardo Harper is born in Elberton, Georgia. He will become
a professional basketball player. A Second-Team All-American at
the University of Illinois, he will be the 11th overall pick of
the 1983 NBA draft and will spend 16 seasons as a point guard in
the National Basketball Association with the Dallas Mavericks,
New York Knicks, Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers. He will be
widely regarded as one of the best players to never have been
selected to an All-Star game.
1962 - Crystal Walker is born in Chicago, Illinois. She will become an
actress and singer professionally known as T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh.
In addition to her status as an original cast member of the Fox
sketch comedy series "In Living Color" (1990–1994), she will be
also known for her roles as Erica Lucas on the CBS sitcom "Cosby"
(1996–2000), and as Tanya Baxter on the Disney Channel sitcom
"That's So Raven (2003–2005).
1962 - Jerry Lee Rice is born in Crawford, Mississippi. He will
become a professional football player, selected as the
16th pick overall in the first round of the NFL draft by the
San Francisco 49ers in 1985. He will retire as the leader in
a number of statistics. His 1,549 receptions were 448 receptions
ahead of the second place record held by Cris Carter. His 22,895
receiving yards were 7,961 yards ahead of the second place spot
held by his Raiders teammate Tim Brown. His 197 touchdown
receptions were 67 scores more than Carter's 130, and his 207
total touchdowns were 32 scores ahead of Emmitt Smith's second
place spot of 175. He will be selected to the Pro Bowl 13 times
(1986-1996, 1998, 2002) and named All-Pro 12 times in his 20 NFL
seasons. He will win three Super Bowl rings playing for the
49ers and an AFC Championship with the Oakland Raiders. He will
be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on August 12,
2006. He will retire from the NFL on August 24, 2006. He will be
inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio on
August 7, 2010. On November 4, 2010, he will be chosen by NFL
Network's NFL Films production "The Top 100: NFL's Greatest
Players" as the greatest player in NFL history. As of 2016 he
will hold over 100 NFL records, the most of any player by a wide
margin.
1963 - Colin Channer is born in Kingston, Jamaica. He will become a
writer, often referred to as "Bob Marley with a pen," due to the
spiritual, sensual, social themes presented from a literary
Jamaican perspective. Indeed, his first two full-length novels,
"Waiting in Vain" and "Satisfy My Soul," bear the titles of well
known Marley songs. He will also write the short story collection
"Passing Through," and the novellas "I'm Still Waiting" and "The
Girl with the Golden Shoes." Some of his short stories will be
anthologized.
1965 - Reginald Ballard is born in Galveston, Texas. He will become a
character actor and comedian who will be best known for his
recurring roles as Bruh-Man in the sitcom "Martin" and W.B. on
"The Bernie Mac Show," which both will air on Fox. After
graduation from Ball High School, where he will be an all
district linebacker, he will earn a full football scholarship to
Southern Methodist University, where he will also be a theatre
major. Just before his senior year, he will transfer to the
University of Missouri, where he will continue to play football,
while continuing to act, appearing in a university production of "
A Soldier's Story" in the role of C.J. Memphis. Spurning overtures
from pro-football, he will head to Hollywood to pursue his acting
career. He will appear in many different television shows, such as
"Veronica Mars" (the episode "Return of the Kane"), "The Bernie
Mac Show," "The Parkers," "Sister, Sister," "Just Jordan," the
short-lived show, "Crumbs," and "Raven's Home." He will co-star in
the independent film "Big Ain't Bad" as Butch. He will perform
stand-up comedy. He will also be featured in Big Sean's music video
for "Play No Games" as his own character "Bruh Man" mouthing Ty
Dolla $ign's part in the song.
1967 - Derrick Moore is born in Albany, Georgia. He will be a professional
American football running back for three seasons in the NFL for
the Detroit Lions and Carolina Panthers. He will set the NAIA single
season rushing record in 1991. He will be featured in the TV Land
reality series "The Big 4-0" in 2008. He will serve as the team
chaplain for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team, often
delivering pre-game motivational speeches to the players. He will
also film motivational speeches for the Atlanta Falcons during their
2017 playoff run.
1968 - Tisha Michelle Campbell is born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She will
be raised in Newark, New Jersey and will become an actress, singer,
and dancer. She will make her screen debut appearing in the 1986 rock
musical comedy film "Little Shop of Horrors," and will later go on to
star on the short-lived NBC musical comedy drama "Rags to Riches"
(1987–1988). She will appear in films including "School Daze" (1988),
"Rooftops" (1989), "Another 48 Hrs." (1990), "Boomerang" (1992), and
"Sprung" (1997). She will receive Independent Spirit Award for Best
Supporting Female nomination for her performance in the 1990 comedy
film "House Party," and will later star in its two sequels; "House
Party 2" (1991), and "House Party 3" (1994). On television, she will
star as Gina Waters-Payne in the Fox comedy series "Martin" from 1992
to 1997 and as Janet "Jay" Marie Johnson-Kyle in the ABC comedy
series "My Wife and Kids" (2001–2005), for which she will receive
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series. She will
later have regular roles on "Rita Rocks" (Lifetime, 2008–2009), "The
Protector" (Lifetime, 2011), and "Dr. Ken" (ABC, 2015–2017).
1969 - Rhonda Mapp is born in Asheville, North Carolina. She will become a
a professional basketball player. She will play 13 professional seasons,
including time in Spain, Italy, France, Turkey, Israel, and Korea. A
dominant low-post player, she will be named to the first-team All-ACC
squad in 1991 and 1992. She will help lead the Wolfpack to a three-year
record of 67-25 as well as NCAA Tournament appearances in 1989 and 1991.
In 1991, she will held lead the Wolfpack to win the ACC Championship
and be named to the first-team All-tournament team and shoot 57.6
percent for the season. State will finish with a No. 7 final national
ranking by the Associated Press and 10th by USA Today. In her final
season in 1992, she will lead the ACC in scoring (22.0) and rebounding
(9.8) and finished her collegiate career with 1,553 points, which still
ranks 10th on the Wolfpack career scoring list. She also ranks 5th at
NC State in career scoring average (17.6), 9th in career field goals
made (625), 4th in career field goal percentage (.578), 9th in rebounds
(810) and 6th in career double-doubles (37). She will played five
seasons professionally in the WNBA with the Charlotte Sting (1997–99)
and Los Angeles Sparks (2001, 2003).
1970 - Mel Jackson is born in Chicago, Illinois. He will become an actor,
producer, spoken word artist and R&B musician. He will be known for
his roles in "Living Single" (1997–98), "Soul Food" (1997), "The
Temptations" (1998), "Deliver Us from Eva" (2003), and "Abduction of
Jesse Bookman" (2008). In 2003, he will appear with Deborah Cox in a
stage play called "Love on Lay-Away."
1975 - Brandon and Brian Casey are born in Hartford, Connecticut. They are
identical twins and will become lead singers for the Rhythm & Blues
group, Jagged Edge. Jagged Edge will be a R&B group signed through
Jermaine Dupri's So So Def Recordings. Their biggest hit singles will
be "Let's Get Married" and "Where the Party At", many of which were
produced by Jermaine Dupri. The group's members include identical
twin lead singers Brandon and Brian Casey as well as Kyle Norman and
Richard Wingo. The group's name derives from Track 12 - "Snake" from
rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard's debut album Return to the 36 Chambers: The
Dirty Version. More specifically, the beginning of The RZA's verse
which states, "Jagged Edge, Rockhead God, hard as Stonehenge..." The
group will release their eighth studio album titled "J.E. Heartbreak
2" on October 27, 2014. On May 15th, will release their first single
titled "Hope." The song will be co-written by brothers Brian and
Brandon Casey. In November 2016, they will release a new greatest
hits album, featuring re-recorded versions of their biggest hit
singles. In 2017, they will record an episode of TV One's Unsung
series, which will premier on July 9. They will also announce the
release of their ninth studio album "Layover" set for release on the
same day. However, it will bed delayed and finally released a day
later. In late 2018, they will announce a new single "He Ain't
Sh*t" featuring Ty Dolla Sign. In 2019, the group will release the
single "Closest Thing to Perfect" and announce they are working on
their 10th album. On June 12th, the group will announce on their
official Instagram that their 10th studio album "A Jagged Love Story"
will be releasing on July 15, 2019.
1979 - Clarence Muse joins the ancestors in Perris, California at
the age of 90. He was a pioneer film and stage actor who
appeared in 219 films. His first film was the second talking
movie ever made.
1980 - Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas is born in Glen Cove, New York. She will
become a singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, and actress.
She will be first discovered as a teenager and later signed to Murder
Inc. in 2002. That year, she will be featured on Fat Joe's "What’s
Luv?" and Ja Rule's "Always on Time", both of which become two of the
biggest hit songs of 2002; Ashanti will become the first female
artist to occupy the top two positions on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100
chart simultaneously when "Foolish" and "What's Luv?" were at numbers
one and two, respectively. In 2002, she will release her eponymous
debut album, which will sell over 505,000 copies throughout the U.S.
in its first week of release. The album will earn her many awards,
including eight Billboard Music Awards, two American Music Awards,
and a Grammy Award in 2003 for Best Contemporary R&B Album. The
album will since be certified triple platinum in the United States
and sell six million copies worldwide. The lead single for the album,
"Foolish", will be a critical and commercial success; it will reach
number one on the Billboard Hot 100. With "Foolish", she will become
the second artist (after The Beatles) to have their first three chart
entries in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously. She
will write and sing for Jennifer Lopez's "Ain't It Funny (Murder
Remix)", which will also reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2003, she will release her second album, "Chapter II," which will
debut at number one on the Billboard 200, with first-week sales of
326,000 copies in the U.S. The album will go platinum, selling over
1.5 million copies in U.S. since its release. The album's singles,
"Rock wit U (Awww Baby)" and "Rain On Me", will be both commercial
successes, peaking at number two and number seven on the Billboard
Hot 100 chart, respectively. Chapter II will be nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album, and "Rock wit U (Awww
Baby)" and "Rain on Me" will each be nominated in the categories of
Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. In November
2003, she will released a Christmas album titled "Ashanti's
Christmas," which will be a modest commercial success. In 2004, she
will release her third studio album, "Concrete Rose," the title of
which took on Tupac Shakur's pseudonym "The Rose That Grew from
Concrete". The album will debut at number seven in the U.S., with
first-week sales of 254,000 copies, and become her third platinum
certified album. The first single, "Only U", will reach number
thirteen on the Billboard Hot 100 and will become her biggest hit
in the United Kingdom, peaking at number two. A second single, the
ballad "Don't Let Them", garnered little chart success after Def Jam
refuses to fund a music video due to Irv Gotti's legal troubles
during his money laundering trial. Her subsequent albums, including
"The Declaration" (2008) and "Braveheart" (2014), the latter of which
will be released independently, will be less successful. Throughout
her career, she will sell over 15 million records worldwide. Aside
from music, she will also act in various productions. In 2005, she
will make her feature film debut in "Coach Carter" alongside Samuel
L. Jackson, as well as starring as Dorothy Gale in the made-for-
television film "The Muppets' Wizard of Oz," which will pull in
nearly 8 million viewers when it premiers. She will also appear in
the films "John Tucker Must Die" (2006) and "Resident Evil:
Extinction" (2007).
2000 - Isiah Thomas and Bob McAdoo are enshrined into the Basketball
Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.
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