Today in OUR Story - 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. 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 1930s 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 Nashvilles 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. 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 (best known for playing the part of Clair opposite Bill Cosby on the long- running Cosby Show) is born in Houston, Texas. 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. 1962 - Paula Julie Abdul, singer/choreographer, is born in Van Nuys, California. 1964 - The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is approved by the Senate, 73-27, after surviving an 83-day filibuster. 1965 - I Cant 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 Ill Be There in 1966. Their other hits include: Its the Same Old Song, Standing in the Shadows of Love, Bernadette and Aint No Woman (Like the One Ive 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 Gordys 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 Peoples 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. 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 DC City Council representing Ward 8.
Posted on: Thu, 19 Jun 2014 14:55:08 +0000
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