* Today in Black History - January 17 *
1759 - Paul Cuffee is born in Cuttyhunk, Massachusetts. He will
become a successful ship owner, philanthropist, and a force
in the movement for African Americans' repatriation to
Africa. He was of Aquinnah Wampanoag and African Ashanti
descent and helps to colonize Sierra Leone. He will build a
lucrative shipping empire and establish the first racially
integrated school in Westport, Massachusetts. He will join
the ancestors on September 9, 1817.
1874 - Armed white Democrats seize the Texas government and put an
end to Radical Reconstruction in Texas.
1917 - The United States pays Denmark $ 25 million for the Virgin
Islands.
1923 - The NAACP's Spingarn Medal is awarded to George Washington
Carver, head of the department of research, Tuskegee
Institute, for his pioneering work in agricultural
chemistry.
1923 - The first session of the Third Pan-African Congress convenes
in London, England. The second session will be held in
Lisbon, Portugal.
1924 - Jewel Plummer Cobb is born in Chicago, Illinois. She will
be a prominent cancer research biologist before becoming a
professor and administrator at Connecticut College and
Rutgers University and, in 1990, president of California
State University, Fullerton, the first African American
woman to hold such a position in the CSU system. Cobb's
legacy includes her support in providing resources and
programs to increase the representation of students and
faculty of color in the universities she worked, including
Connecticut College and Cal State Fullerton. She will join
the ancestors on January 1, 2017.
1927 - Eartha Mae Keith is born in North, South Carolina. She will
start her career at the age of 16 as a professional dancer
with the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe, which will take her
to Paris, where she will tour as a nightclub singer. She
will become known as Eartha Kitt. She will eventually
return to the United States and roles on Broadway and in
films. In 1968, her career will take a sudden turn when, at
a White House luncheon hosted by Lady Bird Johnson, she will
speak out against the Vietnam War. For many years afterward,
she will be blacklisted by many in the U.S. entertainment
industry and be forced to work abroad where her status will
remain undiminished. In 2007, She will celebrate her 80th
birthday. This remarkable milestone will be celebrated with
a special performance at New York's Carnegie Hall in June.
She will join the ancestors on December 25, 2008.
1931 - James Earl Jones is born in Arkabutla, Mississippi. He will
become renowned as an actor, both on the stage and the
screen, earning a Tony award in 1969 for his portrayal of
boxing great Jack Johnson in the "The Great White Hope" as
well as acclaim for his Broadway roles in "A Lesson From
Aloes," "Fences," and many others. Among his film and
television credits will be the voice of Darth Vader in
"Star Wars" and leading roles in "Paris" and "Gabriel's
Fire."
1931 - Lawrence Douglas Wilder is born in Richmond, Virginia. He
will graduate from Virginia Union University and serve in
the U.S. Army in Korea, where he will receive the Bronze
Star for heroism. He will attend and graduate from, the
Howard University School of Law and become a successful
trial attorney. In 1969, he will be elected as Virginia's
first African American state senator since Reconstruction.
In 1985, he will become Virginia's first African American
Lieutenant Governor. He will make history for a third time
on January 13, 1990, when he takes office as the first
elected African American governor in U.S. history.
1942 - Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. is born in Louisville, Kentucky.
Early in his boxing career, he will convert to Islam. As
Muhammad Ali, he will be one of the first African American
athletes to intermingle political and social consciousness
with sports. He will become the dominant heavyweight boxer
of the 1960s and 1970s, winning an Olympic gold medal,
capturing the professional world heavyweight championship
on three separate occasions, and defend his title
successfully 19 times. His extroverted, colorful style, both
in and out of the ring, will introduce a new mode of media-
conscious athletic celebrity. Through his strong assertions
of Black pride, his conversion to the Muslim faith, and his
outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War, he will become a
highly controversial symbol of the turbulent 1960s. In 1966,
two years after winning the heavyweight title, he will further
antagonize the white establishment by refusing to be drafted
into the U.S. military, citing his religious beliefs and
opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam War. He will
eventually be arrested, found guilty of draft evasion charges
and stripped of his boxing titles. He will successfully appeal
to the U.S. Supreme Court, which will overturn his conviction
in 1971 by a vote of 8-0. By that time, he had not fought for
nearly four years, losing a period of peak performance as an
athlete. His actions as a conscientious objector to the war
made him an icon for the larger counter-culture generation. He
will be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in
1990. In 1996, he will have the honor of lighting the flame at
the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He will be the
recipient of the 1997 Arthur Ashe Courage Award. He will be the
recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal on January 8, 2001,
presented by President Bill Clinton. He will receive a star on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in 2002.
His star will be the only one to be mounted on a vertical
surface, out of deference to his request that his name not be
walked upon. He will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom
on November 9, 2005, presented by President George W. Bush. He
will receive the Otto Hahn Peace Medal, presented by the UN
Association of Germany on December 17, 2005 for his work with the
U.S. civil rights movement and the United Nations. He will be the
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's inaugural Double Helix Medal
Honoree on November 9, 2006 for his fight against Parkinson's
disease. On June 5, 2007, he will receive an honorary doctorate of
humanities degree at Princeton University's 260th graduation
ceremony. He will join the ancestors on June 3, 2016 after
succumbing to septic shock.
1961 - Patrice Lumumba, African revolutionary and first Congolese
Premier of the Republic of Congo, joins the ancestors after
being murdered at the age of 36, by the secessionist
Tshombe's soldiers.
1963 - Wilt Chamberlain of NBA San Francisco Warriors scores 67 points vs
Los Angeles Lakers.
1966 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. opens his civil rights campaign
in Chicago, Illinois. This marks the first time, during the
civil rights movement, that the campaign takes place in a
northern city.
1970 - John M. Burgess is installed as bishop of the Protestant
Episcopal diocese of Massachusetts.
1970 - The Sporting News names Willie Mays as Player of the Decade for
the 1960s.
1977 - President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire is in Belgium on an official
visit to discuss his country's economy.
1978 - Dr. Ronald McNair is named by NASA as a participant on a
space mission.
1983 - Nigeria expels 2 million illegal aliens, mostly Ghanaians.
1988 - Leslie Manigay is elected president of Haiti.
1989 - The Phoenix Suns/Miami Heat game is cancelled, due to racial
unrest in Miami.
1990 - The Four Tops, Hank Ballard, and The Platters are inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
1996 - Former U.S. Representative Barbara Jordan joins the ancestors
in Austin, Texas, at the age of 59.
1997 - The National Basketball Association suspends Dennis Rodman
indefinitely for kicking a cameraman.
1998 - Louis Stokes, the first African American congressman from the
state of Ohio, announces his retirement from Congress at the
age of 73. He has been a congressman for three decades.
2000 - Nearly 50,000 people march to South Carolina's Statehouse on
Martin Luther King Day to demand the Confederate battle flag
be taken down. They are protesting the Confederate flag as a
symbol of slavery and racism.
2002 - Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
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