*               Today in Black History - March 1                    *

1739 - The British sign a peace treaty with the Black "Chimarrones" 
	in Jamaica.

1780 - Pennsylvania becomes the first state to abolish slavery.

1841 - Blanche Kelso Bruce is born a slave in Prince Edward County, 
	Virginia. During Reconstruction, he will move to Mississippi, 
	where he will become a wealthy landowner of several thousand 
	acres in the Mississippi Delta. He will be appointed to the 
	positions of Tallahatchie County registrar of voters and tax 
	assessor before winning an election for sheriff in Bolivar 
	County. He later will be elected to other county positions, 
	including tax collector and supervisor of education, while he 
	also edits a local newspaper. In February 1874, he will be 
	elected by the state legislature to the U.S. Senate as a 
	Republican, becoming the second African American to serve in 
	the upper house of Congress. He will be the first elected 
	black senator to serve a full term. Hiram R. Revels, also of 
	Mississippi, will be the first African American to serve in 
	the U.S. Senate, but will not serve a full term. On February 
	14, 1879, he will preside over the U.S. Senate, becoming the 
	first African American (and the only former slave) to do so.
	In 1880, James Z. George was elected to succeed him. At the 
	1880 Republican National Convention in Chicago, he will 
	become the first African American to win any votes for 
	national office at a major party's nominating convention, 
	winning 8 votes for vice president. The presidential nominee 
	that year was James A. Garfield, who will win the election.
	In 1881, he will be appointed by President Garfield to be the 
	Register of the Treasury, becoming the first African American 
	to have his signature featured on U.S. paper currency. He will
	be appointed as the District of Columbia recorder of deeds and
	will serve from 1890 to 1893, projected to yield fees of up to 
	$30,000 per year. He will be appointed as Register of the 
	Treasury a second time in 1897 by President William McKinley 
	and will serve until he joins the ancestors on March 17, 1898.

1864 - Rebecca Lee becomes the first African American woman to 
	receive an American medical degree, when she graduates from 
	the New England Female Medical College in Boston. She, along 
	with Rebecca Cole and Susan McKinney, is one of the first 
	African American female physicians.

1871 - James Milton Turner is named minister to Liberia and becomes 
	the first African American diplomat accredited to an African 
	country. James W. Mason was named minister in March, 1870, 
	but never took his post.

1875 - The (first) Civil Rights Bill is passed by Congress. The bill, 
	which gives African Americans equal rights in inns, theaters, 
	public transportation, and other public amusements, will be 
	overturned by the Supreme Court in 1883.

1914 - Ralph Waldo Ellison is born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He 
	will become a well known author, best known for his book 
	"Invisible Man," for which he will win the 1953 National Book
	Award. Writing essays about both the black experience and his 
	love for jazz music, he will continue to receive major awards 
	for his work. In 1969, he will receive the Presidential Medal 
	of Freedom. The following year, he will be made a Chevalier of 
	the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France and become a 
	permanent member of the faculty at New York University as the 
	Albert Schweitzer Professor of Humanities, serving from 1970 to 
	1980. In 1975, he will be elected to The American Academy of 
	Arts and Letters, and his hometown of Oklahoma City will honor 
	him with the dedication of the Ralph Waldo Ellison Library. 
	Continuing to teach, he will publish mostly essays, and in 1984, 
	he will receive the New York City College's Langston Hughes 
	Medal. In 1985, he will be awarded the National Medal of Arts. 
	In 1986, his "Going to the Territory" will be published. This 
	is a collection of seventeen essays that include insight into 
	southern novelist William Faulkner and Ellison's friend Richard 
	Wright, as well as the music of Duke Ellington and the 
	contributions of African Americans to America's national identity.
	He will join the ancestors on April 16, 1994.

1927 - Harry Belafonte is born in New York City. He will become a 
	successful folk singer, actor, and winner of the first Emmy 
	awarded to an African American. His commitment to civil and 
	human rights will lead him to march with Martin Luther King, 
	Jr. in Montgomery, Selma, and Washington, DC. Among his 
	achievements will be Kennedy Center Honors in 1989.

1940 - Richard Wright's "Native Son" is published by Harper and 
	Brothers.

1949 - Joe Louis retires as heavyweight boxing champion after holding 
	the title for a record eleven years and eight months. 

1960 - Four national chain stores announce that on October 17, food 
	counters in about 150 stores in 112 cities in North Carolina, 
	Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Texas, Tennessee, Missouri, 
	Maryland, Florida and Oklahoma will be integrated.

1960 - The Alabama State Board of Education expels nine Alabama State 
	University students for participating in sit-in demonstrations.

1960 - Montgomery, Alabama, police break up a protest demonstration 
	on the Alabama State University campus and arrest thirty-five 
	students, a teacher and her husband.

1960 - San Antonio, Texas, becomes the first major Southern city to 
	integrate lunch counters.

1960 - Pope John elevates Bishop Laurian Rugambwa of Tanganyika to 
	the College of Cardinals, the first cardinal of African 
	descent in the modern era.

1963 - Carl T. Rowan is named United States ambassador to Finland.

1967 - The House of Representatives votes to expel Adam Clayton 
	Powell, Jr. from the 90th Congress. (The Supreme Court will 
	rule in 1969 that Powell will have to be seated after being
	re-elected by his constituency.)

1968 - Richard Serrell is born in Oakland, California. He will become
	a rapper, fashion designer, television personality, figure 
	skater, singer, actor and author. He will be better known by 
	his stage name Richie Rich. He will first enter music in the 
	late 1980s with the group 415. With D-Loc, DJ Daryl, and JED, 
	he will craft a Bay Area album in 1989 called "41Fivin," which 
	will sell well around the Bay Area and will spawn a solo 
	album in 1990, titled "Don't Do It." His rapping style will
	have an influence on Snoop Dogg. In Snoop's own words, �The 
	reason I formed 213 with Warren G and Nate Dogg is because 
	Richie Rich had a group called 415. I was lovin' his style and 
	voice which I incorporated into my style when I first started 
	rapping." He will begin appearing on tracks by 2Pac and the 
	Luniz. He will soon find himself being in the middle of a 
	bidding war between Def Jam Records and Relativity Records. He 
	will choose to go on Russell Simmons' label Def Jam. Before 
	forming his own label, Oakland Hills 41510, he will release his 
	second solo album in 1996, "Half Thang," which will peak on the 
	Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums at number 57. By 1995, he will
	become the first Bay Area rapper to sign with New York's Def 
	Jam Records, and his major-label album, "Seasoned Veteran," will
	be released in late 1996. "Seasoned Veteran" will do rather well 
	on the charts, and music videos will soon be released for three 
	songs on the album. Just as Rich's career is booming, a merger 
	at Def Jam (with PolyGram) will leave him without much direction. 
	He will have plans to release a second album on Def Jam, although 
	it will keep getting pushed back. He will soon have the decision 
	to stay or go, he decided to go. He will then start his own 
	label with partner Lev Berlak, named Ten-Six Records. Four years 
	after "Seasoned Veteran," his fourth album "The Game" will be
	released. The album will sell over 300,000 units independently. 

1972 - Wilt Chamberlain is the first NBA player to score 30,000 points.

1981 - Duke Ellington's musical "Sophisticated Ladies" opens at the 
	Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City for 767 performances.

1996 - Lenny Wilkens, winningest coach in the NBA, coaches his 1,000th 
	victory.

2014 - U.S. President Barack Obama warns Russian President Vladimir 
	Putin regarding Russian involvement in the Ukraine.

______________________________________________________________
           Munirah Chronicle is edited by Mr. Rene' A. Perry
              "The TRUTH shall make you free"

   E-mail:   <[log in to unmask]>
   Archives: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/Munirah.html
             http://blackagenda.com/cybercolonies/index.htm
   _____________________________________________________________
   To SUBSCRIBE send E-mail to: <[log in to unmask]>
   In the E-mail body place:  Subscribe Munirah Your FULL Name
   ______________________________________________________________
   Munirah(TM) is a trademark of Information Man. Copyright 1997 - 2016,
   All Rights Reserved by the Information Man in association with
   The Black Agenda.