Today In Black History • April 14, 1816 The Bussa Rebellion, the first of three large-scale rebellions in the British West Indies that shook public faith in slavery, started in Barbados. The rebellion was led by an enslaved man named Bussa who had been born free in Africa but was captured by African slave merchants and brought to Barbados. Bussa commanded approximately 400 freedom fighters and was killed in battle. In 1985, the Bussa Emancipation Statue was unveiled in Barbados and in 1999 Bussa was named the first national hero of Barbados. • April 14, 1887 Flournoy Earkin Miller, composer, singer and actor, was born in Nashville, Tennessee. Miller appeared in vaudeville with Aubrey Lyles as Miller and Lyles from 1906 to 1929. In 1915, they appeared in “Charlot’s Revue” in England. Miller and Lyles wrote the book for “Shuffle Along,” a Broadway musical with music by Eubie Blake and lyrics by Noble Sissle. They also appeared in the Broadway production of “Runnin’ Wild” in 1923. After their breakup, Miller also appeared on Broadway in “Lew Leslie’s Revue” (1930) and “Harlem on the Prairie” (1937). Miller died June 6, 1971. He was posthumously nominated for the Tony Award for Best Score in 1979 for his contribution to the Broadway musical “Eubie.” • April 14, 1907 Francois Duvalier, former President of the Republic of Haiti, was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Duvalier earned a degree in medicine from the University of Haiti in 1934 and spent a year at the University of Michigan studying public health. In 1943, he became active in a program to control the spread of contagious tropical diseases in Haiti and his patients began to affectionately call him “Papa Doc.” In 1946, Duvalier was appointed director general of the National Public Health Service and in 1949 became minister of health and labor. In 1950, after a coup d’etat, Duvalier was forced into exile until 1956 when he returned to Haiti and in 1957 was elected president. He served in that capacity until his death April 21, 1971. Biographies of Duvalier include “Duvalier: Caribbean Cyclone” (1967) and “Papa Doc” (1969). • April 14, 1927 John Wesley Cromwell, historian, educator and lawyer, died. Cromwell was born enslaved September 5, 1846 in Portsmouth, Virginia. After his father gained the family’s freedom, Cromwell graduated from the Institute for Colored Youth (now Cheney University) in 1864. In 1873, he graduated from Howard University Law School and the next year was admitted to the District of Columbia bar. In 1876, he founded the weekly paper The People’s Advocate. On December 22, 1887, Cromwell became the first African American lawyer to argue a case before the Interstate Commerce Commission when he served as counsel for the plaintiff in William H. Heard v. Georgia Railroad Company. A gifted organizer, Cromwell helped organize the Virginia Educational and Historical Association and the National Colored Press Association. He was a founder of the Bethel Literary and Historical Association in 1897 and was a founding member of the American Negro Academy, an organization created to stimulate and demonstrate intellectual capabilities among African Americans. In 1914, Cromwell published his most influential work, “The Negro in American History: Men and Women Eminent in the Evolution of the American of African Descent” which influenced Carter G. Woodson to found the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History the following year. Cromwell also published “The First Negro Churches in The District of Columbia” in 1917. • April 14, 1928 Henry Beard Delany, the second African American bishop elected in the United States, died. Delany was born enslaved February 5, 1858 in Saint Mary’s, Georgia. He graduated in theology from Saint Augustine’s School (now college) in 1885. After graduating, he joined the faculty of the school where he taught until 1908. Delany joined Ambrose Episcopal Church and steadily rose in the Episcopal Church hierarchy, becoming a deacon in 1889, a priest in 1892, an archdeacon in 1908, and a bishop in 1918, the first African American bishop elected in North Carolina. Delany was also active in promoting education among North Carolina’s African American community, helping to organize schools for Black people throughout the state. He also worked to bring educational opportunities to Black prisoners in local jails. Although not formally trained as an architect, in 1895 Delany designed Saint Augustine’s chapel, the only surviving 19th century building on campus. In 1911, Shaw University awarded Delany an honorary Doctorate of Divinity degree. Delany was the father of Sadie and Bessie Delany who in 1993 published their joint autobiography “Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years.” • April 14, 1943 Joseph Charles Jenkins became the first officially recognized African American commissioned officer in the United States Coast Guard. Jenkins was born in 1914 in Detroit, Michigan. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from the University of Michigan and his Master of Business Administration degree from Wayne State University. In the late 1930s, Jenkins helped organize what would become the 1279th Combat Engineer Battalion of the Michigan National Guard. Jenkins enlisted in the coast guard in 1942 as a boatswain’s mate first class and was quickly promoted to chief. After completing officer training, on this date Jenkins was commissioned as an ensign. Jenkins completed active duty with the coast guard in 1945 and returned to the Michigan National Guard in the African American Engineering Unit where he rose to the rank of captain. He resigned from the guard in 1947 and went to work for the Michigan State Highway Department where he was the assistant director of the Metropolitan Detroit area when he died July 28, 1959. • April 14, 1955 Cleveland Leigh “Cleve” Abbott, hall of fame coach and educator, died. Abbott was born December 9, 1892 in Yankton, South Dakota. He earned his bachelor’s degree from South Dakota State College in 1916 and soon after was hired by Tuskegee Institute to teach agricultural history. In 1917, Abbott joined the United States Army where he served with the American Expeditionary Forces in France during World War I. In 1923, he returned to Tuskegee as director of physical education and athletics, a position he held for more than 30 years. In that capacity, he coached all of Tuskegee’s athletic teams. As head football coach, Abbott had a career record of 202 wins, 97 losses, and 27 ties. This included six undefeated seasons. As the women’s track coach, he led them to 14 Amateur Athletic Union National team titles, including eight in a row. His teams included many of the sport’s legends, including Alice Coachman, Mildred McDaniel, and Nell Jackson, who have all been inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame. Abbott was posthumously inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2005, Abbott was posthumously honored with the Trailblazer Award by the American Football Coaches Association. Cleve L. Abbott Memorial Alumni Stadium at Tuskegee and Abbott Hall, a residential hall at South Dakota State, are named in his honor. • April 14, 1963 Cynthia Lynne Cooper, hall of fame basketball player, was born in Chicago, Illinois. Cooper played collegiate basketball at the University of Southern California and led them to National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament Championships in 1983 and 1984. After leaving college, she played professional basketball in Spain and Italy from 1986 to 1996. During that time, she was also a member of the United States Women’s Basketball Team that won the Gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games and the Bronze medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. Cooper joined the Houston Comets of the Women’s National Basketball Association in 1997 and over her four season career in that league, won four WNBA championships, was Most Valuable Player in 1997 and 1998, and was named the Sportswoman of the Year by the Women’s Sports Foundation in 1998. After retiring as a player, Cooper coached the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA and the women’s team at Prairie View A & M. While at Prairie View, she earned her bachelor’s degree in 2005. Cooper is currently the head coach of the University of Southern California women’s basketball team. Cooper was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010, the first WNBA player to be inducted. Cooper published her autobiography, “She Got Game: My Personal Odyssey,” in 2000. • April 14, 1976 William Henry Hastie, lawyer, judge, educator and civil rights advocate, died. Hastie was born November 17, 1904 in Knoxville, Tennessee. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Amherst College in 1925, graduating first in his class and magna cum laude. He then earned his Bachelor of Laws degree and his Doctor of Judicial Studies degree from Harvard Law School in 1930 and 1933, respectively. In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Hastie to the United States District Court for the Virgin Islands, making him the first African American federal judge. In 1939, Hastie resigned from the court to become dean of the Howard University School of Law. During World War II, Hastie worked as a civilian aide to the Secretary of War where he advocated for equal treatment of African Americans in the army. In 1943, he resigned the position in protest against segregated training facilities. Also that year, Hastie was awarded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Spingarn Medal. In 1946, President Harry S. Truman appointed Hastie territorial Governor of the Virgin Islands and in 1949 nominated him to the U. S. Court of Appeals. On July 19, 1950, Hastie was confirmed as Judge of the Third U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the first African American federal circuit judge. In 1952, he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science. In 1968, Hastie became Chief Judge of the Third Circuit Appellate Court, a position he held for three years. Hastie was awarded over 20 honorary doctorate degrees. Since 1973, the University of Wisconsin Law School has offered the William H. Hastie Fellowship Program to provide lawyers of color an opportunity to prepare for a career teaching law. • April 14, 2011 Isaiah Edward Robinson, Jr., the first African American president of the New York Board of Education, died. Robinson was born February 17, 1924 in Birmingham, Alabama. He graduated from the Tuskegee Institute Flight School in 1944 and was commissioned a pilot in the United States Army Air Force. He resigned from military service in 1946. Robinson graduated from the Art Center School in 1949 and worked as the art director for a printing company from 1958 to 1969. In the early 1960s, he was an active participant in the efforts to integrate New York City schools. Robinson was appointed to the New York City Board of Education in 1969 and chaired the Decentralization Committee from 1969 to 1970. He served as president of the board from 1971 to 1972 and 1975 to 1976. After leaving the board in 1978, he served as chairman of the New York City Commission on Human Rights from 1978 to 1984. Robinson worked for the Community Trust’s Office of University and Corporate Affairs from 1984 to 1986. He became chairman of Freedom National Bank in 1988 but could not prevent the failure of the bank in 1990.
Posted on: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 12:33:37 +0000
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