* Today in Black History - June 19 * 1809 - The first African Baptist Church in the U.S. became an organized body in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1862 - Slavery is abolished in U.S. territories by Congress. 1864 - In a famous duel between the USS Kearsage and the CSS Alabama off Cherbourg, France, a brave African American sailor, Joachim Pease, displays "marked coolness" and will win a Congressional Medal of Honor. The CSS Alabama will be sunk. 1865 - Although the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, slavery will continue in Texas, until General Gordon Granger arrives in Galveston with Union forces, announcing that all slaves in Texas are free. One third of the people in Texas are slaves. Juneteenth will be celebrated annually with picnics and barbecues at public emancipation grounds, some of which will be used past year 2000. Juneteenth will become a legal Texas state holiday in 1980. "JUNETEENTH" celebrations will come to commemorate the emancipation of African Americans everywhere. It is now a Federal holiday. 1867 - P.B.S. Pinchback urges African Americans to use their franchise privileges. "The Congress of the United States has conferred upon our People the Elective Franchise and it is our important duty to see that we use it well...." 1868 - Maj. Gen. E.R.S. Canby removes the mayor and aldermen of Columbia, South Carolina, and makes new appointments, including three African Americans: C.M. Wilder, Joseph Taylor and William Simonds. 1914 - Ernest Crichlow is born in Brooklyn, New York. Studying at the Art Students League, Crichlow will be associated with the Harlem Art Center during the 1930's as a noted painter and illustrator whose objectives will be to advocate social commentary and communication through art. He will join the ancestors on November 10, 2005. 1926 - DeFord Bailey becomes the first African American musician to perform on Nashville's Grand Ole Opry show. 1936 - Joe Louis is knocked out by Max Schmeling in the 12th round of their heavyweight boxing match. The German boxer earns his victory at Yankee Stadium in New York. 1937 - Bruce Carver Boynton is born in Selma, Alabama. He will become a civil rights leader who inspired the Freedom Riders movement and advanced the cause of racial equality by a landmark supreme court case Boynton v. Virginia. In 1958, Boynton ordered a cheeseburger while sitting in a whites only part of a restaurant at a bus station in Richmond, Virginia. He was arrested for trespassing after he refused to leave the restaurant and spent one night in jail. He was a law student at Howard University at the time, and decided to fight his arrest in court. At trial, he was represented by Martin A. Martin. He lost his case, but decided to appeal, until finally his case reached the U.S. Supreme Court. His case, known as Boynton v. Virginia, was argued by Thurgood Marshall, who later became a justice of the Supreme Court. The court overturned Boynton's conviction, affirming that racial segregation in public transportation was illegal. In 2018, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson said of Boynton: "He did something that very few people would have the courage to do. He said no. To me he's on par with Rosa Parks," referring to the Black woman who did not give up her seat in the front part of a segregated bus to a white man. Summarizing his impact, Thompson went on to say, "All he wanted was a cheeseburger, and he changed the course of history." Boynton's actions inspired the Freedom Rides in 1961, where activists rode interstate buses through the Southern United States to protest segregated bus terminals. While the Freedom Riders were arrested in a few southern states, including Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina, the actions prompted the then President John F. Kennedy to pass orders for a strict enforcement of the federal anti-discrimination laws. Boynton received a law degree from Howard University; however, Alabama refused to give him a law license for six years while they "investigated the circumstances" of Boynton v. Virginia. He was forced to move to Chattanooga, Tennessee to practice law until Alabama granted him a license in 1965. He worked as a civil rights attorney for most of his career until he retired. He served as Alabama's first Black special prosecutor. In 2018, Phillip McCallum, executive director of the Alabama State Bar, issued an apology for the delay in granting Boynton's license. He will join the ancestors on November 23, 2020. 1946 - Joe Louis fights Billy Conn, in New York City, in the first championship prize fight to be televised. 1948 - Phylicia Ayers-Allen Rashad, actress is born in Houston, Texas. She will become an actress, singer and stage director. She will be known for her role as Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show (1984-92), which will earn her Emmy Award nominations in 1985 and 1986. She will be dubbed "The Mother" of the Black community at the 2010 NAACP Image Awards. In 2004, she will become the first Black actress to win the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, which she will win for her role in the revival of "A Raisin in the Sun." Her other Broadway credits will include "Into the Woods" (1988), "Jelly's Last Jam" (1993), "Gem of the Ocean" (2004), and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (2008). She will win a NAACP Image Award when she reprises her "A Raisin in the Sun" role in the 2008 television adaptation. She will also appear in the films "For Colored Girls" (2010), "Good Deeds" (2012), "Creed" (2015), and "Creed II" (2018). 1953 - Albert W. Dent, president of Dillard University, is elected president of the National Health Council. 1953 - A bus boycott begins in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 1959 - Mark DeBarge is born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He will become a recording artist as a member of the rhythm & blues group DeBarge. The group will be composed of three brothers, Randy, James and Eldra and sister Bunny. They will actively perform from 1978 to 1991. 1964 - The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is approved by the Senate, 73-27, after surviving an 83-day filibuster. 1965 - "I Can't Help Myself" by the Four Tops tops the pop and Rhythm & Blues charts. The Motown group will get their second and only other number one hit with "Reach Out I'll Be There" in 1966. Their other hits include: "It's the Same Old Song", "Standing in the Shadows of Love", "Bernadette" and "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)" (their only million seller). The group calls Motown, Detroit, Michigan home and got their start in 1953 as the Four Aims. Levi Stubbs, Renaldo 'Obie' Benson, Lawrence Payton and Abdul 'Duke' Fakir will place 24 hits on the charts from 1964 to 1988. They first recorded as The Four Tops for Leonard Chess and Chess Records in 1956; then went to Red Top and Columbia before signing with Berry Gordy's Motown label in 1963. The Tops, who will have no personnel changes in their more than 35 years together will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. 1968 - Fifty thousand demonstrators participate in Solidarity Day March of the Poor People's Campaign. Marchers walk from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Monument, where they are addressed by Vice President Hubert Humphrey, presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy, Coretta Scott King and Ralph Abernathy. 1969 - Illinois State troopers are ordered to Cairo, by the governor, to quell racially motivated disturbances. 1971 - The mayor of Columbus, Georgia declares a state of emergency due to racial disturbances. 1978 - Zoe Yadira Saldana Nazario is born in Passaic, New Jersey. She will become an actress and dancer. Following her performances with the theater group Faces, she will make her screen debut in a 1999 episode of Law & Order. Her film career will begin a year later with "Center Stage" (2000), where she will play a struggling ballet dancer. In 2002, she will play the love interest of Nick Cannon in "Drumline," a successful movie highlighting the ever popular marching bands of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Her breakthrough will come in 2009 with her first of multiple appearances as Nyota Uhura in the Star Trek film series and her first appearance as Neytiri in the Avatar film series. She will also portrays Gamora in multiple films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with "Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014). 1986 - Len Bias, a senior at the University of Maryland and the 1st-round pick of the Boston Celtics, joins the ancestors after suffering a fatal cocaine-induced seizure. 1990 - Opening statements are presented in the drug and perjury trial of Washington D.C. Mayor Marion S. Barry Jr. Barry is later convicted of a single count of misdemeanor drug possession, and sentenced to six months in prison. He will resume a career in politics after prison, when he is elected to the D.C. City Council representing Ward 8. ______________________________________________________________ Munirah Chronicle is edited by Mr. Rene' A. 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