* Today in Black History - November 8 *
1876 - Frank L. Gillespie is born in Osceola, Arkansas. He will
become a businessman who will create the first African
American-owned life insurance agency outside of the
U.S. southern states. He will be an agent at Royal
Life Insurance Company, a white-owned insurance agency,
working in the "department for colored people" and
notice his customers were offered "inferior products."
He will meet with a group of prominent Black businessmen
in Chicago and they will work together to create an
insurance company catering towards Chicago's professional
African American population. His company, originally
called Liberty Life Insurance—later called Supreme
Liberty Life Insurance Company and finally Supreme Life
Insurance Company—will be incorporated in 1919 in
Chicago. The company will offer whole life insurance to
individuals, not just industrial policies. He will work
hard to hire and train well-educated black agents,
though sometimes he will have to rely on part-timers
who also work in the postal service or the ministry.
The company's headquarters, the Supreme Life Building,
will be built in 1921 by architect Albert Anis and will
be a designated Chicago landmark. He will join the
ancestors as he was setting up the National Insurance
Association, a professional association of Black
insurance firms on May 8, 1925.
1920 - Esther Rolle is born in Pompano Beach, Florida. She
will become an actress, primarily on television. She
will win an Emmy Award for her role in "Summer of My
German Soldier". She will be best-known, however, for
her role as Florida, in the television sit-com, "Good
Times." Even though she will play characters who
worked as maids, off-stage, she will be a tireless
crusader against Black stereotypes in Hollywood. She
will join the ancestors on November 17, 1998 at the
age of 78. Editor's Note: At the time of her transition,
her manager will give her date of birth as November 8,
1920, though some references list the year as 1922.
1932 - The NAACP's Spingarn Medal is awarded to Robert R. Moton,
president of Tuskegee Institute, for his "thoughtful
leadership in conservative opinion and action."
1934 - Dock Green, Jr. is born in New York, New York. He will become
a Rhythm & Blue singer best known as a member of The Drifters
(1958-1962). He will begin singing on Harlem street corners
as a youngster and will join the group sometime after it was
formed. The singers, whose hits were to include “There Goes
My Baby,” “Sweets for My Sweet,” “Under the Boardwalk,” and
“Up on the Roof,” initially called themselves Clyde McPhatter
and the Drifters during the late 1950s. The name will be
later shortened to The Drifters. According to the anthology
“Who’s Who in Rock,” the name will be used because so many
of the members “drifted” back and forth to other groups. The
original group will break up in the late 1960s, although a
variety of acts will continue to use the name. He will join
the ancestors on March 10, 1989.
1938 - Crystal Bird Fauset of Philadelphia, is elected to the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives. She is the first
African American woman elected to a state legislature.
1947 - Minnie Ripperton is born in Chicago, Illinois. She will
study opera under Marion Jeffrey. She will spend months
and months learning how to breathe and listening to and
holding vowels. Eventually, she will begin singing
operas and operettas with a show tune every so often.
Despite her natural talent (a pure five to six octave
soprano) for opera, Minnie will be more attracted to
"Rock N Roll" and the promise of a touring career. She
will eventually discontinue her classical training to
follow her dream of becoming a famous songstress. It
will, however, be her classical training which will
bring her recording success. She will be best known for
her recording of "Loving You." She will join the
ancestors on July 12, 1979 at the age of 31 after
succumbing to breast cancer.
1951 - Gerald Alston is born in Henderson, North Carolina. He will
become a Rhythm & Blues singer and the lead singer with the
Manhattans. Between 1988 and 1995, he will leave the group
to record five albums (later recording his tribute to Sam
Cooke in 2008) and ten solo singles, including "Take Me
Where You Want To," "Slow Motion," a remake of Atlantic
Starr's "Send for Me", and "Activated", most of which will
be for Motown Records. He will join the Manhattans in 1970,
shortly after the death of their former lead singer George
Smith and will help the group remain a fixture on the R&B
top ten as lead on songs like "Kiss and Say Goodbye",
"There's No Me Without You", and "Shining Star." He will
rejoin the group in 1995 after finding that "his solo career
wasn't what he thought it would have been".
1952 - Alfre Woodard is born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She will
become an actress after her education at Boston
University, School of Fine Arts. She will receive a
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television
Miniseries/Movie, an Emmy Award for Best Actress, as
well as ACE and Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best
Actress for her performance in the 1997 HBO original
movie, "Miss Evers' Boys." Woodard's many feature
film credits include "Star Trek: First Contact,"
"Heart and Souls," "Primal Fear" opposite Richard Gere,
the ensemble film "How to Make An American Quilt," Spike
Lee's family drama, Crooklyn," Dr. Maya Angelou's "Down
in the Delta" starring Wesley Snipes, and "Passionfish,"
for which she will receive a 1998 Golden Globe Nomination
for Best Actress. In 1984, she will receive an Academy
Award nomination for her performance in Martin Ritt's
"Cross Creek."
1959 - Elgin Baylor of the Minneapolis Lakers, scores 64 points
and sets a National Basketball Association scoring record.
1960 - Otis M. Smith is elected auditor general of Michigan and
becomes the first African American chosen in a statewide
election since Reconstruction.
1966 - Edward W. Brooke (Republican, Massachusetts), is elected
to the U.S. Senate and becomes the first African American
senator since Reconstruction and the first African
American senator elected by popular vote.
1966 - Frank Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles, the American
League's batting and home-run champion, is named the
league's Most Valuable Player.
1966 - John H. Johnson, publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines,
is awarded the NAACP's Spingarn Medal "for his productive
imagination...in the perilous field of publishing" and
"for his contributions to the enhancement of the Negro's
self-image through his publications."
1970 - Diana King is born in Spanish Town, St. Catherine, Jamaica.
She will become a singer-songwriter who will perform a
mixture and fusion of reggae, reggae fusion and dancehall.
She will be best known for her hit 1995 single "Shy Guy"
and her remake of "I Say a Little Prayer" which will be
featured on the soundtrack to "My Best Friend's Wedding."
After making an appearance on The Notorious B.I.G.'s 1994
song "Respect", from his album "Ready to Die," she will
sign a recording contract with Sony Music. Her first
release will be a remake of the Bob Marley song "Stir It
Up" (#53 R&B) for the "Cool Runnings" soundtrack that
same year. Her next single, "Shy Guy", co-written and
produced by Andy Marvel will be released in 1995. The
song, which will only take them 10 minutes to write, will
become a hit, reaching #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and be
certified gold by the RIAA in the U.S.; the single will also
hit No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart, as well as reaching No.
1 on the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles chart, going on to sell
nearly five million singles worldwide. "Shy Guy" will also
be ranked by the Japanese radio station J-Wave as the No. 1
song of 1995. In the UK, it will have a place in the top 10
for seven weeks. It will serve as a single from the
soundtrack to the 1995 film, "Bad Boys" in addition to being
the lead release off her debut album "Tougher Than Love"
which will be released on April 25, 1995. The album will
peak at No. 1 on Billboard's Reggae, No. 85 on R&B, and No.
179 on the Billboard 200 charts. Two follow-up singles "Love
Triangle" (#85 R&B) and "Ain't Nobody" (#94 Pop, No. 63 R&B)
will follow that same year. In 1996, she will collaborate
with Nahki on the single "I'll Do It". Also in 1996, her
version of "Piece of My Heart" will be included on the
soundtrack to the film "The First Wives Club." In 1997, she
will also score another hit on the Billboard Hot 100 (#38)
and the Hot Dance Club Play (#8) with her cover version of
the song "I Say a Little Prayer" (originally recorded by
Dionne Warwick in 1967), which will be featured on the
soundtrack to the film, "My Best Friend's Wedding." Her
second album "Think Like a Girl" will be released on
September 30, 1997, and enter the Billboard Top Reggae Albums
chart at No. 1. The album will spawn two more US singles with
"L-L-Lies" and "Find My Way Back" in addition to "Supa-Lova-
Bwoy" which will be released exclusively in Japan. She will
also be featured on the 1997 soundtrack to the documentary
"When We Were Kings," where she will perform the title track
with Brian McKnight. In 1998, she will join Celine Dion and
Brownstone on stage to perform the hit "Treat Her Like a
Lady" previously written and recorded by King from "Tougher
Than Love" at the Essence Awards. That year, she will also
appear on Soul Train, The RuPaul Show, and VIBE to promote
"Think Like a Girl." She will also collaborate with artists
such as Toots Hibbert, Ziggy Marley, Buju Banton, Ini Kamoze,
Maxi Priest, Shaggy, Tony Rebel, I-Three, Brian Gold, Handel
Tucker, Lowell 'Sly' Dunbar & Mikey Bennett on the charity
single "Rise Up" with Jamaica United.
1977 - Jullyann Inderia Gordon is born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She
will become a singer-songwriter, producer and actress. She will
be professionally known as Jully Black. She will collaborate and
write for many artists, including Nas, Saukrates, Choclair,
Kardinal Offishall, Destiny's Child, and Sean Paul. She will be
chosen by CBC Music as one of "The 25 Greatest Canadian Singers
Ever" and will be dubbed "Canada's Queen of Rhythm & Blues" by
her fans and peers. At age 21, she will be discovered by Warner/
Chappell Music who will immediately sign her. Shortly after, she
will be courted by Universal Music Canada where she will be
offered a deal to help propel her career. She will capitalize on
these opportunities, which will see her garner her first Juno
Award nomination in 1997 and continue to be nominated almost
every year thereafter as well as having the opportunities to
collaborate with and/or write for other well-known artists such
as Nas, Destiny's Child, Sean Paul, Kardinal Official, and many
others. She will have a Top 40 hit on the Canadian charts with
1998's "Rally'n". Subsequent singles also will chart, such as
"You Changed" and "Between Me and U." In the same year, she will
be invited to contribute to Rascalz' groundbreaking hip hop
single, "Northern Touch", but will be unable to participate due
to other commitments. In 1999, she will appear on 2Rude's single
"Dissin Us", which will win the MuchMusic Video Award for Best
R&B/Soul Video in 2000. Her debut album will be originally
scheduled for release in 2003 on MCA Records, under the title "I
Traveled," however, will be shelved after MCA folded that same
year. In Summer 2005, a newly recorded album, "This Is Me," will
be released by Universal Music Canada. The album will include the
hit singles "Sweat of Your Brow" and "5x Love". According to a
piracy report by IFPI there will be "2.8 million illegal file
swapping requests for her music in the first two weeks of her
album's release." Also in the same year, she will play the Preacher
in the theatre production of "Da Kink in My Hair" at the Princess
of Wales Theatre in Downtown Toronto. The play will be a critical
success as it sold out all of its 106 performances, being extended
5 times. This will lead to the weekly TV series on the Global
Television Network, with her singing the opening theme and
featuring two episodes. In Summer 2007, a new single, "Seven Day
Fool", will be released, becoming her first Top 10 hit in Canada.
Her second album, "Revival," will be released on October 16, 2007,
and will be awarded the Juno for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year,
where she will perform the song live. She will be selected to
perform and open for Celine Dion at the 2012 Jamaica Jazz and Blues
Festival honouring Jamaica's 50th Anniversary of Independence in
2012.
1983 - W. Wilson Goode of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Harvey Gantt
of Charlotte, North Carolina, and James A. Sharp, Jr. of
Flint, Michigan, are the first African Americans elected
mayor of their respective cities.
1990 - Solána Imani Rowe is born in St. Louis, Missouri. She will become
a singer and songwriter, professionally known as SZA. In October
2012, she will self-release her debut EP, "See.SZA.Run," which
she will then follow up with her second EP, "S," in April 2013.
In July 2013, she will sign with the hip hop record label Top
Dawg Entertainment, through which she will release "Z," her third
EP and first retail release, in April 2014. SZA's debut studio
album, "Ctrl," will be released on June 9, 2017, to universal
acclaim from music critics. It will debut at number three on the
US Billboard 200 and will be eventually certified platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "The Weekend"
from her Ctrl album will peak at #29 which will be her highest
charting solo song. The album and its songs will be nominated for
four Grammy Awards, while she will be nominated for Best New
Artist at the 60th annual ceremony. "Ctrl" will be ranked as the
best album of 2017 by Time. She will collaborate with Maroon 5
for their 2017 record "What Lovers Do," earning SZA her first US
Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. She will later follow that by
featuring on the 2018 "Black Panther" record with Kendrick Lamar,
"All the Stars," which will peak at number 7 in the US and will
also be nominated for the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for
Best Original Song. SZA will be a neo soul singer, whose music
will be described as alternative R&B, with elements of soul, hip
hop, minimalist R&B, cloud rap, witch house, and chillwave. Her
lyrics will be described as "unravelling" and her songs will
often revolve around themes of sexuality, nostalgia, and
abandonment. SZA cites a variety of artists as influences,
including Ella Fitzgerald, Meelah, Björk, Jamiroquai, and Lauryn
Hill, among others. She will also take influence from non-musical
artists, including filmmaker Spike Lee.
2011 - Dwight Arrington Myers, better known as rapper "Heavy D",
joins the ancestors at the age of 44. He was rushed to a
Los Angeles hospital after collapsing at his Beverly Hills
home.
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