*                Today in Black History - January 26                *

1863 - The War Department authorizes the governor of Massachusetts 
	to enlist African American troops to fight in the Civil 
	War. The 54th and 55th Volunteer Infantry are the result.

1897 - At the Battle at Bida, British troops defeat Nupe's army.

1893 - Bessie Coleman is born in Altanta, Texas, the tenth of 
	thirteen children. She will grow up to become the first 
	African American female pilot (June 15, 1921) and the first
	woman to obtain an international flying license (from the 
	Fédération Aéronautique Internationale). She will join the
	ancestors on April 30, 1926, after being thrown from her 
	airplane in Jacksonville, Florida.

1932 - George H. Clements is born in Chicago, Illinois. He will 
	become a priest in the Washington, DC area nationally known 
	for his anti-drug activism and involvement in the group "One 
	Church, One Addict." In 1981, he will gain public attention 
	when he becomes the first Roman Catholic priest to adopt a 
	child. The same year, he will found the "One Church, 
	One Child" Program in Chicago at the Holy Angels Church, a 
	predominantly black Catholic church. His goal will be to 
	recruit black adoptive parents through local churches. Rev. 
	Clements will be named to the National Committee for 
	Adoption's Hall of Fame in 1989 for his outstanding 
	leadership and the great interest he generated in black 
	adoptions. The One Church, One Child program will become a
	national recruiting effort in 1988, and 32 states will use
	all or portions of the program. Its originally envisioned 
	mission is to combine the resources of the church and the 
	state to the end of recruiting black adoptive parents to 
	provide permanent homes for Black children awaiting adoption.

1934 - The Apollo Theatre opens in New York City as a 'Negro 
	vaudeville theatre'. It will become the showplace for many 
	of the great African American entertainers, singers, groups 
	and instrumentalists in the country. The saying will 
	become common "If you made it... you played it..." at the 
	Apollo Theatre. 

1934 - Huey Pierce "Piano" Smith is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He will
	become a Rhythm and Blues pianist and will be best known for
	his recording of "Having a Good Time." His piano playing 
	will incorporate the boogie styles of Pete Johnson, Meade Lux 
	Lewis, and Albert Ammons, the jazz style of Jelly Roll Morton 
	and the rhythm-and-blues style of Fats Domino. AllMusic 
	journalist Steve Huey will note that "At the peak of his game, 
	Smith epitomized New Orleans R&B at its most infectious and 
	rollicking, as showcased on his classic signature tune, 'Don't 
	You Just Know It.'" In 2000, he will be honored with a Pioneer 
	Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.

1943 - Sherian Grace Cadoria is born in Marksville, Louisiana. She will 
	make her career in the United States Army after graduating from 
	Southern University in Louisiana. In 1985, she will be promoted 
	to brigadier general, making her the highest ranking African 
	American woman in the U.S. military. She will be the first woman 
	elevated to that rank in the Provost Marshal Corps. She will 
	eventually become Director of Manpower and Personnel for the 
	Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Cadoria will 
	say that she has "gotten more pressure from being a woman in a 
	man's world than from being black." She will accomplish many 
	firsts: she will be the first woman to command a battalion; the 
	first woman to command a criminal investigation brigade; the 
	first African American woman director for the Joint Chiefs of 
	Staff; and the first woman to attend the Army’s top colleges, 
	Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College. 
	She will be the senior African American female general in the U.S. 
	Armed Forces upon her retirement in November 1990 after serving 
	29 years. Following retirement, General Cadoria will found her 
	own business, Cadoria Speaker and Consultancy Service. On November 
	11, 2002, she will become the first woman and the first African 
	American inducted into the Louisiana Military Veterans Hall of 
	Honor.

1944 - Angela Yvonne Davis is born in Birmingham, Alabama. Active in civil 
	rights demonstrations and in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating 
	Committee, she will be fired twice from the University of California 
	at Los Angeles because of her Communist Party affiliation and she 
	will successfully sue for reinstatement. A philosopher and author, 
	she will flee the law after being implicated in the 1970 Soledad 
	Brothers shooting. After sixteen months in jail, she will be 
	acquitted of all charges.

1958 - Anita Baker is born in Toledo, Ohio. A singer of ballads and jazz-
	inspired Rhythm and Blues, her 1986 album "Rapture" will sell five 
	million copies and earn her a 1987 Grammy. She will win two more in 
	1989.

1970 - Kirk Franklin is born in Ft. Worth, Texas. He will become a Grammy 
	Award winning, platinum-selling musician who will blend gospel, hip 
	hop, and Rhythm & Blues in the 1990s. He will release his first gospel 
	album, "Kirk Franklin & Family," in 1993, and will be known as the 
	leader of contemporary gospel choirs such as Kirk Franklin & the 
	Family, Kirk Franklin's Nu Nation, God's Property and Kirk Franklin 
	Presents 1NC. He will integrate hip hop styles with gospel themes in 
	albums such as "The Nu Nation Project and God's Property, which will 
	achieve success on the Billboard Pop Album, Rhythm & Blues and gospel 
	charts. He will collaborate with the biggest names in gospel music, 
	including Mary Mary, Tonex, Donnie McClurkin, Richard Smallwood, Crystal 
	Lewis, Pastor Shirley Caesar, tobyMac, Jaci Valesquez, and Willie Neal 
	Johnson. He will also display a willingness to collaborate with artists 
	from the secular realm, including Bono, Mary J. Blige, and R. Kelly on 
	the hit single from his album Nu Nation Project, "Lean on Me."

1990 - Elaine Weddington Steward is named assistant general manager of the 
	Boston Red Sox. She becomes the first African American female executive 
	of a professional baseball organization.

2003 - Serena Williams defeats Venus Williams (7-6, 3-6, 6-4) at the 91st Women's 
	Australian Open.

2005 - Dr. Condoleezza Rice is confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Secretary of State. 
	She becomes the first African American woman to hold this post.

2010 - Paul R. Jones, a collector of African American art who donated thousands of 
	works to universities in Delaware and Alabama, joins the ancestors in 
	Atlanta, Georgia, at the age of 81. "My goal has been to incorporate 
	African American art into American art," he told The Tuscaloosa News in 
	2008 when he made his donation to the University of Alabama with a plan for
	it to be part of the curriculum. He embraced the school even though he was 
	turned down by the University of Alabama Law School in 1949 after it 
	discovered he was Black.

2020 - Kobe Bryant, future NBA Hall of Famer joins the ancestors in a helicopter 
	crash. At 9:06 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter departed 
	from John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, with nine people aboard: 
	Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, six family friends, and the pilot. The 
	helicopter was registered to the Fillmore-based Island Express Holding Corp., 
	according to the California Secretary of State business database. The group was 
	traveling to Camarillo Airport in Ventura County for a basketball game at 
	Bryant's Mamba Academy in Thousand Oaks. Due to light rain and fog that morning, 
	the Los Angeles Police Department helicopters and most other air traffic were 
	grounded. The flight tracker showed that the helicopter circled above the L.A. 
	Zoo due to heavy air traffic in the area. At 9:30 a.m. the pilot contacted the 
	Burbank Airport's control tower, notifying the tower of the situation and was 
	told he was "flying too low" to be tracked by radar. At that time, the helicopter 
	experienced extreme fog and turned south towards the mountains. At 9:40 a.m. the 
	helicopter climbed rapidly from 1,200 to 2,000 feet (370 to 610 m), flying at 161 
	knots (298 km/h; 185 mph). At 9:45 a.m., the helicopter crashed into the side of 
	a mountain in Calabasas, about 30 miles (48 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, 
	and began burning. Bryant, his daughter, and the other seven occupants were killed.
	Initial reports indicated that the helicopter crashed in the hills above Calabasas 
	in heavy fog. Witnesses reported hearing a helicopter struggling before crashing.

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