AROUND THE REGION WEEK OF MAY 7 TO MAY 13
Black Facts
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May 7 1800 - On this date in 1800, Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable, frontier trader, fur trapper, farmer, businessman and “father” of Chicago sold all his property for $1,200 and left the area. He died 18 years later, almost penniless, and was buried in St. Charles, Missouri. 1867 - Black demonstrators staged ride-in to protest segregation on New Orleans streetcars. Similar demonstrations occurred in Mobile, Ala., and other cities. 1878 - J. R. Winters receives a patent for the fire escape ladder. 1885 - Dr. John E. W. Thompson, graduate of the Yale University Medical School, named minister to Haiti. 1976 - William H. Hastie inaugurated as the first Black governor of the Virgin Islands.
tion owner and a free Black woman. He becomes one of the leading Black politicians of the Reconstruction era, especially in Louisiana. After the Civil War, he became lieutenant governor of Louisiana and actually served as governor for 43 days. He was later elected to both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. He would also play a significant role in the establishment of Southern University and a major Black newspaper known as the Louisianan. 1950 – Baseball great Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to be featured on the cover of Life magazine. 1994 – After being released from 27 years of imprisonment for his battles against the racist system of apartheid, Nelson Mandela is elected the first Black president of South Africa.
May 8 1858 - John Brown held antislavery convention, which was attended by twelve whites and thirty-four Blacks, at Chatham, Canada. The Escape was the first play by an African American published by William Wells Brown. 1925 - The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the trailblazing black labor union, was organized by A. Philip Randolph. 1945 - Germany surrendered on V-E Day. 1958 - President Eisenhower ordered federalized National Guard removed from Central High School, Little Rock.
May 11 1968 – Nine caravans of protesters arrive in Washington, D.C. for the first phase of the Poor Peoples Campaign – an anti-poverty effort conceived by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The campaign aimed to united Black, white and Hispanic poor people in an effort to pressure the government to do more to eliminate poverty in America. King had been assassinated the previous April, so the campaign was led by his lieutenant Rev. Ralph Abernathy. The campaign erected a Resurrection City near the Lincoln Monument and held daily demonstrations in Washington from May 14th to
May 9 1952 – The boxer-turned-actor Canada Lee dies in New York City at the age of 45. Second only to the legendary Paul Robeson, Lee was the leading serious (non comedic) Black actor of the 1940’s. He gave impressive performances in Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller “Lifeboat” (1944), the boxing classic “Body and Soul” (1947) and “Cry, The Beloved Country” (1951). However, like Robeson, Lee’s film career came to an end during the McCarthy Era when a host of Black and white stars, who were also social activists, were labeled communists and denied jobs.
June 24th. 1981 – The King of Reggae Bob Marley passes away in Miami, Florida. He was 36. May 12 1940 – Jazz singer Al Jarreau was born on this day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 1966 – Mervyn Dymally, the first black to serve in the California State Senate and the first foreign-born black to serve in the United States Congress born in Cedros, Trinidad and Tobago (Caribbean.) May 13 1865 – The last battle of the Civil War ends. Ironically, it appears the Confederate troops won the battle at Palmetto Ranch, Texas. However, it was the actions and bravery of the 62nd Regiment of United States Colored Troops that prevented the defeat from turning into a rout. The Confederates had actually underestimated the fighting prowess of the Blacks assuming they would run in fear when the fighting started. Instead, what occurred was the rapid defeat of two white regiments but the Black soldiers of the 62nd held firm. The Confederates would later surrender. 1950 – Singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder is born Stevland Judkins in Saginaw, Michigan. Wonder has recorded 30 Top Ten hits and has won 24 Grammy awards – a record for any living artist.
Stevie Wonder
May 10 1837 – P.B.S. Pinchback is born in Macon, Georgia to a white planta-
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6 May 7 - May 13, 2015
The Washington Informer
www.washingtoninformer.com