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Weinermr
Member
08-18-2001
| Sunday, February 15, 2004 - 9:47 pm
Biography of William Grant Still by Joni Etta Boyd (SHS) On May 11, 1895, William Grant Still was born in Woodville, Mississippi. Still, a musical legend of the 1900's, created a beat of his own in the music world. This musician, composer, and instrumentalist was blessed with more fame than any other African-American of his time. Although blacks were not prominent in the musical world in the 1900's, he overcame the discrimination and transcended many other obstacles in his own way to become an important composer of the twentieth century. William Grant Still was the only child of Carrie "Frambo" Still and William Grant Still, Senior. Although Still was of African-American descent, his ancestry also consisted of Scotch-Irish, Spanish, and Cherokee. Both of Still's parents were talented teachers at Alabama A&M College in Huntsville, Alabama (Sewell and Dwight 285). However, Still's father died before Still was four months. Although this tragedy occurred, the Stills moved on. William was nine or ten years of age when his widowed mother married Charles B. Shepperson, who was also a lover of music (Sewell and Dwight 286). Carrie Still knew her son had a musical gift after he began to make toy violins at a young age. She then decided to pay for him to take violin lessons (Sewell and Dwight 286). Still began writing music at age sixteen (Verongos). He was very intelligent in high school, graduating as valedictorian in 1911 (Sewell and Dwight 287). Still's goals were high. Thinking only of music, Still set out to achieve his goal of becoming an accomplished African-American musician. His mother supported her son's decisions. However, she knew African-Americans did not often succeed in the music industry. Her good sense and determination strongly influenced Still's life (Sewell and Dwight 286). Taking his mother's advice, William attended Wilberforce University in Ohio to major in science (Sewell and Dwight 287). After years of completing courses as a science major, he realized this was not his destiny. His desire for music became stronger, and his determination became unbearable. As a result, Still joined the Wilberforce University String Quartet (The Digital Scriptorium). He began arranging and composing for the school band, and a concert was given for his works only. As a bandleader, he had to learn to play different instruments so he could teach others how to play (Sewell and Dwight 287). By Still's senior year at Wilberforce, he was unwilling to give up his amateur musical career (Sewell and Dwight 288). Therefore, in 1916, at twenty-one years of age, Still left Wilberforce University and enrolled at Oberlin College's Conservatory of Music. He did not earn a degree at Oberlin. Instead, he left and went to New York to work professionally (Brown 25). Still's pay was not nearly enough to provide for himself. So, he worked as a waiter and a janitor to make ends meet (Sewell and Dwight 288). In 1918, Still joined the United States Navy and served in World War I (Sewell and Dwight 288). Yet, Still's musical ambition never ceased. After his release from the navy, he became an arranger and musician for W. C. Handy. He created the band's first arrangement of St. Louis Blues and Beale Street Blues (Verongos). William's experience working with Duke Ellington, Paul Whiteman, and WOR radio urged him on (Brown 25). Still wrote seven operas, eight symphonies, ballets, chamber music, chorus music, and orchestra work (Verongos). Still released a poem called Darker America in 1924 (Sewell and Dwight 290). This poem was such a success, he wrote From the Black Belt, which was based on short story sketches (The Digital Scriptorium). These lyrical poems were successful and only the beginnings of his career. William Grant Still's mother, Carrie Still, had a chance to witness her son's creative success to some extent, but Carrie Still died in 1927, a couple of years after his first works were released (Sewell and Dwight 286). His fame steadily rose as the years progressed. Still played in the pit for musical shows and even became the bandleader at the Plantation Club. He wrote arrangements for many entertainers, but his individual work did not halt. Sahdji, a two act ballet based on an African story, was released in 1930 (The Digital Scriptorium). Africa, a poem,was also a work of his in 1930 (Sewell and Dwight 290). In 1931, his most popular work was published, Afro-American Symphony (The Digital Scriptorium). It was the first major piece by an African American to be accepted by the American musical establishment (Akin 133). Still's music was called "Negro-music" by the public. He disliked this term because he felt that having a black person compose and write music on paper did not make it "Negro-music" ("Mississippi-Negroes" Section E). William Still then understood his mother's warnings of rejection. He experienced racism and discrimination but disagreed with the notion that blacks could not succeed in the music world (Brown 27). William Grant Still transcended the barriers and kept pursuing his dreams. In New York City, Still led a radio orchestra of white men. This event was a first for blacks (Sewell and Dwight 290). Still was also the first black to arrange and record (with Don Voorhes) a fantasy on St. Louis Blues (Sewell and Dwight 289). He soon released other works such as Kaintuck (1935), a concerto, and Lenox Avenue (1936), a ballet about life in Harlem (Sewell and Dwight 291). In 1936, Still was the first black conductor to lead a major American Orchestra, appearing with the Rochester Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl (Verongos). William Grant Still knew his work was his life. Yet, something else began taking his attention. In 1939, Verna Arvey, a Russian Jewish musician, turned Still's head away from the music charts (Sewell and Dwight 292). This journalist, pianist, and soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic was soon married to William Grant Still ("Mississippi-Negroes" Section E). Still had married Grace Bundy in 1915 and had four children (The Digital Scriptorium), but Bundy left Still in 1932, taking their children, and beginning a new life without him (Sewell and Dwight 291). Still then married Verna Arvey, and they had two children, Judith and Duncan Still (The Digital Scriptorium). Still never neglected his musical career. Many other works of Still include And They Lynched Him on a Tree (1940), A Bayou Legend (1940), Pastorela (1946), and To You America! (1952) (Sewell and Dwight 291). Still created many shows but the only ones produced were Troubled Island, Highway No. 1. U.S.A., and Bayou Legend ("Mississippi-Negroes" Section E). Verna Arvey Still and William Grant Still were married for thirty-nine years ("Mississippi-Negroes" Section E). Still's death on December 3, 1978, of heart failure, widowed Verna Still. This was definitely a tragedy, not only to the family of William Still, but to the world. The legend of William Grant Still lives on after his death. In 1981, A Bayou Legend was produced for PBS, and in 1984 the premiere of Minette Fontaine was given by the Baton Rouge Opera Company (The Digital Scriptorium). Today Duke University has an exhibit of William Grant Still in their Special Collections Library (The Digital Scriptorium). William Grant Still received many awards and citations during his lifetime. He received The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Prize and the Cleveland Symphony Prize (Brown 26). He received honorary degrees from colleges such as Howard University, Bates College, and Oberlin College. Wilberforce even awarded him a diploma of honor and an honorary Master of Music degree in 1936 (Sewell and Dwight 288). Still was awarded the National Federation of Music Clubs Prize and he also received a commission to write the theme music for the first New York World's Fair (Brown 26). A Guggenheim Fellowship and Governor's Outstanding Mississippian Award were also given to him for his amazing talents. William Grant Still's work is appreciated throughout the United States. A William Grant Still Symposium was held at St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1995, almost twenty years after his death. This event is indicative of the effect a true musician, William Grant Still., had on American music. In 1999 William Grant Still was inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame for his work in classical music. The award was accepted for him posthumously by his granddaughter. William Grant Still
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Essence
Member
01-12-2002
| Monday, February 16, 2004 - 7:14 pm
February 16: 1857 Frederick Douglass elected President of Freedman Bank and Trust. 1923 Bessie Smith makes her first recording, "Down Hearted Blues," which sells 800,000 copies for Columbia Records. 1951 New York City Council passed bill prohibiting racial discrimination in city-assisted housing developments. 1970 Joe Frazier becomes world heavyweight boxing champion. 1972 In his 940th game Wilt Chamberlain became the first NBA player to score 30,000 points.
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Essence
Member
01-12-2002
| Monday, February 16, 2004 - 7:23 pm
Ida B. Wells
Ida B. Wells has been described as a crusader for justice, and as a defender of democracy. Wells was characterized as a militant and uncompromising leader for her efforts to abolish lynching and establish racial equality. Wells challenged segregation decades before Rosa Parks, ran for Congress and attended suffrage meetings with the likes of Susan B. Anthony and Jane Addams, yet most of her efforts are largely unknown due to the fact that she is African American and female. Ida B. Wells was born July 16, 1862 in Holly Springs, Mississippi, during the second year of the Civil War (Sterling 61). Her parents, James and Elizabeth Wells, were slaves, and thus Wells, a woman who devoted her life to promoting racial equality, was born a slave. It was from her parents that Wells developed an interest in politics and her unwavering dedication to achieving set goals. After emancipation, Jim Wells became heavily involved in politics. He was a member of the Loyal League (a local black political organization), he attended public "speakings" on the steps of the courthouse, and campaigned for local black political candidates (Sterling 65). Jim Wells' fervent interest in racial justice and political activism no doubt inspired his daughter's later interest in these same issues. Elizabeth Wells was a religious woman and a strict disciplinarian who dictated a strong work ethic. Both Jim and Elizabeth Wells emphasized the importance of education. After the Civil War, 90% of blacks were illiterate. Emancipation brought about the legalization of Negro education, and shortly thereafter, Negro schools were established throughout the south. Shaw University was established in Holly Springs in 1866 to provide education for the large, rural black community of the area (Duster 9). Wells along with her siblings and her mother (who wanted to learn to read the bible) attended Shaw University. She notes in her autobiography that "our job was to go to school and learn all we could" (Duster 9). During her years at Shaw, Wells developed an intense love of words. She reportedly read every book in the school library, from the novels of Louisa May Alcott and Charles Dickens to the Oliver Optic stores, a series of popular books for boys (Sterling 65). Early on in her education, Wells discovered a bias. At Shaw she learned mainly European history, and Wells notes in her autobiography that "I had read the bible and Shakespeare through, but I had never read a Negro book or anything about Negroes" (Duster 22). In 1878, Wells' life changed forever, as a yellow fever epidemic swept through the region, claiming the lives of both her parents and a younger sibling (Sterling 66). Wells was visiting her grandmother's farm when the epidemic hit, and she was urged to remain in the country until the epidemic subsided. However, her devotion to her family prompted her to return home despite the warnings of doctors. In her autobiography Wells recalls her feelings at the time of the tragedy, "the conviction grew within me that I ought to be with them... I am going home. I am the oldest of seven living children. There's nobody but me to look after them now" (Duster 12). Determined to keep the family together, Wells refused all attempts at splitting up her remaining siblings. Instead, she insisted on caring for her five siblings, despite the fact that she was 16, unemployed and poor. At the urging of the local Masonic lodge where her father was a member, she applied for a teaching position in the country. She adjusted her appearance so as to look older than her mere 16 years. She passed the qualifying examine and was given a position six miles away. Friends and relatives stayed with the Wells children during the week when Ida was away at school. In her autobiography, Wells describes the burden of her dual role and caretaker and provider, "I came home every Friday afternoon, riding the six miles on the back of a big mule. I spent Saturday and Sunday washing and ironing and cooking for the children and went back to my country school on Sunday afternoon" (Duster 17). In 1883, Wells moved 40 miles north to Memphis at the urging of her aunt Fannie, who promised ample opportunity for employment and offered to care for Wells' two younger sisters (Duster xvi). Wells accepted the offer, and shortly after her arrival in Memphis, she found employment at a school in Woodstock, Tennessee, about 10 miles outside the city. During her summer vacations, Wells took teachers' training courses at Fisk University and at Lemoyne Institute. By the fall of 1884 she had qualified to teach in the city schools and was assigned a first grade class where she taught for seven years(Sterling 67). Wells' career as a writer was sparked by an incident that occurred on May 4, 1884. On this day, while riding a train back to her job in Woodstock, Wells was asked by the conductor to move from her seat in the ladies' car to the front of the train into the smoking car. When she refused, the conductor attempted to physically remove her from her seat. It took three men to remove Wells from her seat, and rather than move to the smoking car, she got off at the next stop to the cheers of the white passengers on the train (Duster 18). When Wells got back to Memphis, she immediately hired a lawyer to bring suit against the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Company. The court returned a verdict in favor of Wells and awarded her $500 in damages. The judge presiding over the trail stated the railroad company violated the separate but equal clause by forcing blacks to ride in smoking car that was separate but not first class, as Wells had paid for. The railroad appealed the verdict and in 1887, the Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the decision of the lower court, and Wells was ordered to pay court costs. The was the first case of its kind in the south and it generated tremendous public interest. Thrilled with her victory and eager to share her story, Wells wrote an article for The Living Way, a black church weekly. Her article was so well received that the editor of The Living Way asked for additional contributions. As a result, Wells began a weekly column entitled "Iola." Wells described her purpose in writing Iola as "I had an instinctive feeling that the people who have little or no school training should have something coming into their homes weekly which dealt with their problems in a simple, helpful way... so I wrote in a plain, common-sense way on the things that concerned our people (Duster 23-24). By 1886, Wells' articles were appearing in prominent black newspapers across the nation. As she traveled through Tennessee and witnessed the deplorable living conditions of blacks, her voice grew bolder and she began to attacking larger issues of discrimination and inequality, such as poverty and lack of educational opportunities. In 1889 Wells was offered an editorship of a small Memphis newspaper called Free Speech and Headlight and became part-owner (Sterling 75). Wells' flaming editorials condemned white establishments for their continual oppression of blacks. In 1891 she was fired from her teaching position because of her editorials criticizing the Memphis School Board of Education for conditions in "separate" colored schools (Duster 37). During the late 1800's, violence against blacks increased at alarming rates and mob rule was becoming the norm. The KKK established a "reign of terror," murdering and lynching innocent blacks, while most southern whites looked the other way. In 1892, Ida B. Wells was again faced with tragedy in what became known as the "Lynching at the Curve." In March 1892, three close friends of Wells, Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Henry Stewart, opened the People's Grocery Company. The store was located directly across the street from a white-owned grocery store, which had hitherto maintained a monopoly on, what Wells described as, "the trade of this thickly populated colored suburb" (Duster 48). Angered over the loss of business, a white mob gathered to run the black grocers out of town. Warned about the encroaching mob, the black men armed themselves, and in the ensuing confrontation, wounded three white men who had invaded the store. The next day, white newspapers printed exaggerated accounts of the previous day's events, claiming that "Negro desperadoes" had shot white men (Sterling 78). These sensationalized depiction's gave rise to another mob that stormed the jail cells of the three black men and killed them. Wells responded to this atrocious act of violence by writing an editorial in the Free Speech urging blacks to leave Memphis. She wrote "There is therefore only one thing left to do; save our money and leave a town which will neither protect our lives and property, nor give us a fair trial in the courts, but takes us out and murders us in cold blood when accused by white persons." In two month's time, six thousand black people left Memphis, many relocating to the Oklahoma Territory. Those who remained, including Wells, organized boycotts of white owned businesses in response to the lynchings (Sterling 80). The Lynching at the Curve marked the beginning of Wells' anti-lynching campaign. She continued to write scathing editorials against lynching, gave public speakings on the subject and began to organize and mobilize blacks in an effort to abolish the practice. Wells also began a comprehensive study of lynching. In 1892 Wells spoke at a conference of black women's clubs, where she was given $500 to investigate lynching and publish her findings. Wells began investigating the fraudulent charges given as reasons to lynch black men. She found that many blacks were hung, shot and burned to death for trivial things such as not paying a debt, disrespecting whites, testifying in court, stealing hogs, and public drunkenness. Her findings were published in a pamphlet entitled Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases. In particular, Wells found that one third of the charges against black men were for the rape of white women. The violence was thus "justified" in that it was protecting "white womanhood." Wells found that in many of these "rape" cases there was evidence of a consensual relationship between black men and white women. Wells' implications caused outrage among the white community. A mob destroyed the office of her newspaper and threatened to kill her. Wells was speaking in Philadelphia at the time of the mob. Unable to return to her home, she re-settled in Chicago and continued her anti-lynching campaign. The New York Age began printing her articles after the demise of The Free Speech, and Wells launched a lecturing tour throughout the northeast to further spread her message on the horrors of lynching. In 1893, Wells took her anti-lynching campaign overseas. For two months Wells toured England, Scotland and Wales, giving speeches and meeting with leaders. Wells was impressed by the progressive activities and civic groups of British women. She wrote to her readers back home urging them to become more active in the affairs of their community, city and nation through organized civic clubs. While In England, Wells established the London Anti-Lynching Committee. Back home in the US, she continued her organizing efforts by establishing the first Negro women's civic clubs in Chicago and Boston, and was influential in the formation of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs. Also during this period, Wells was also becoming more active in the suffrage movement. She became a familiar face at various suffrage meetings around the country, befriending both Susan B. Anthony and Jane Addams. Later that year, Wells collaborated with Frederick Douglass and others, including her future husband, in writing a pamphlet entitled "Reasons Why the Colored American is not in the World's Colombian Exposition" which documented the progress of blacks since their arrival in America. The pamphlet was in response to the exclusion of blacks in the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and was distributed to over 20,000 people (Sterling 93). In 1894, Wells embarked on another speaking tour through England. On her return, she published A Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynchings in the United States, 1892-1894. This 100 page book expanded on her earlier research and documented the history of lynching since the Emancipation Proclamation. In order not to be accused of exaggeration, Wells took her information from a white source. She tabulated the number of lynchings reported in the Chicago Tribunal and tallied the various charges given. Her findings documented the alarming high occurrence of lynchings and the rather ridiculous charges filed against black men. For example, she found that in 1894 "197 persons were put to death by mobs who gave the victims no opportunity to make a lawful defense" (Duster xxii). Furthermore, she found that over two-thirds of lynchings were for incredibly petty crimes such as stealing hogs and quarreling with neighbors. In 1895, at the age of 33, Wells married Ferdinand L. Barnett, a Chicago lawyer, activist and editor. Barnett was the owner and founder of the first black newspaper in Chicago, the Conservator. After their marriages, Wells bought the Conservator from Barnett and took over the duties of editor. Wells gave nightly addresses up until a week to the day she was married (Duster 241). Her marriage caused quite a stir in the Chicago area and abroad. Many were concerned she would abandon her cause and resign herself to the home and children. Wells gave birth to her first child in 1896. Throughout her son's infancy, she continued to travel, write and encourage women to organize. The following year she gave birth to another son, and as she states in her autobiography, "all this public work was given up and I retired to the privacy of my home to give my attention to the training of my children" (Duster 250). Wells had two more children, both girls, born 1901 and 1904. On her return to public life, Wells continued her organizing efforts. In 1910 she formed the Negro Fellowship League. The NFL was housed in a three-story building on Chicago's south side. It served as a fellowship house for new settlers from the south. The NFL also provided a space for religious services, an employment office, and served as a homeless shelter for men. The remaining years of Ida B. Wells' career were filled with more writing, activism and organizing. In 1909 she became one of the founders of the NAACP. In 1913 Wells established the first black women's suffrage club, called the Alpha Suffrage Club. That same year she marched in a suffrage parade in Washington DC and met with president McKinley about a lynching in South Carolina. The years following World War I she covered various race riots in Arkansas, East St. Louis and Chicago and published her reports in pamphlets and in the Conservator and newspapers nationwide. In 1928 Wells began her autobiography, stating that "the history of this entire period which reflected glory on the race should be known. Yet most of it is buried I oblivion... and so, because our youth are entitled to the facts of race history which only the participants can give, I am thus led to set forth the facts" (Duster 5). In 1930, her impatience with politicians and her growing concern for Chicago's black ghetto led Wells to run for the Illinois state senate, which she lost to the incumbent. Ida B. Wells died March 25, 1931. She left behind a legacy of activism, dedication and hope for change. Wells' accomplishments are truly extraordinary given the time and social context in which they occurred. Wells traveled throughout the United States and Europe with her anti-lynching message, she wrote extensively throughout her life on the injustices faced by blacks, and she engaged in a never-ending effort to organize women and blacks. Toward the end of her life she became an ardent community activist, determined to change the path of poverty and crime in Chicago's inner city. Wells work as a writer, social researcher, activist, and organizer, mark her as one of this century's most dynamic and remarkable women.
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Monday, February 16, 2004 - 7:44 pm
Arthur Ashe
1992 Sportsman of the Year Birth: 10 July 1943 Birthplace: Richmond, Virgnia Death: 6 February 1993 (AIDS) Best Known As: The first black man to win the U.S. Open As a tennis player, Arthur Ashe was one of the most prominent players of his time; an all-out competitor who rarely beat himself. His legacy, however, will be the positive changes he helped bring about and the causes he championed, both within tennis and in society as a whole. Though at his best he was for many the very definition of tennis, tennis never defined Arthur Ashe. As a child growing up in segregated Richmond, Virginia, Arthur’s physical stature did little to indicate his future career as a professional athlete. "Skinny as a straw," Arthur derived countless hours of pleasure reading and listening to music with his mother, Mattie. He also showed a surprising flair for tennis from the first time he picked up a racquet. At the age of six, Mattie passed away suddenly. Though heartbroken, Arthur’s memory of his beloved mother was a source of inspiration throughout his life. Upon graduation from high school, Arthur was good enough to earn a tennis scholarship to UCLA. It was at UCLA that Arthur became recognized for his tennis ability on a national level, culminating with an individual and team NCAA championship in 1965. He was growing as a person as well, graduating in 1966 with a BA in Business Administration. Ashe was selected in 1963 to represent the United States in Davis Cup play, an honor in which he took great pride. In doing so, he also became the first African-American to be selected to play for the American team. In actuality, Arthur Ashe was a trailblazer for African-American males in tennis every time he succeeded on the court, in much the same fashion as Althea Gibson had for African-American females some 10 years earlier. The relevancy of these accomplishments was not lost on Ashe. His determination to succeed "despite" being an outcast in a historically white sport was put to an even greater test in 1969. In a year (1969) when he was basking in the international fame he had gained the previous year after winning the US Open and playing a key role on the United States winning Davis Cup team, two separate issues came to the forefront and helped shape Arthur the activist, a role he never ran from throughout his life if he believed in the cause. At a time when tennis’ popularity was growing by leaps and bounds, the amount of prize money being offered to the players, the "drawing cards," was lagging disproportionately behind. Ashe and several other players formed in 1969, what later became known as the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals). It is from this small and visionary beginning that today's top players enjoy the large sums of prize money for which they compete. Later that year, as the #1-ranked American and one of the best players in the world, Arthur applied for a visa to play in the South African Open, a prestigious event. His visa was denied because of the color of his skin. Though Arthur was well aware that this would probably be the case, he decided to take a bold stand. His call for expulsion from South Africa from the tennis tour and Davis Cup play was quickly supported by numerous prominent individuals and organizations, both in and out of the tennis world. In effect, he raised the world’s awareness to the oppressive form of government (apartheid) of South Africa. Buoyed by Arthur Ashe’s initial efforts, blacks in South Africa slowly but surely began to see change come about in their country. By the mid-1970’s, people began to whisper that perhaps Arthur was spending too much time on his causes and not enough time on his game. It was from these doubts that Arthur began to refocus on his game, determined to reach the level of play he once enjoyed. In 1975, at the age of 31, Arthur Ashe enjoyed one of his finest seasons ever and one of the shining moments of his career by winning Wimbledon. He also attained the ultimate ranking of #1 in the world. Following his retirement in 1980 and unexpected heart surgeries in 1979 and 1983, Arthur began reaping awards and branching off into other professional areas, including journalism, the media, and philanthropic endeavors. Included among those were jobs as a commentator for HBO Sports and ABC Sports, as a columnist for The Washington Post and Tennis magazine, the publishing of Arthur’s 3-volume body of work, A Hard Road To Glory, a stint as captain of the US Davis Cup team, a well-deserved election to the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985, and the founding of numerous charitable organizations, including the National Junior Tennis League, the ABC Cities Tennis Program, the Athlete-Career Connection, and the Safe Passage Foundation. Arthur looked to be making a smooth transition into the second-half of his life, even becoming a father in 1986, when his daughter Camera Elizabeth arrived. During a doctor’s exam in 1988, however, the Ashe’s lives were irrevocably changed. While in the hospital for brain surgery, Arthur received the overwhelming news that he was HIV-Positive. He had contracted the virus through a tainted transfusion during his two heart surgeries, almost certainly the second in 1983. Wishing to maintain his and his family’s privacy, and well-aware of the prejudice and paranoia that was often associated with the disease during it’s first years of existence, the Ashe’s, with help from close friends and trusted medical advisors, were able to keep the startling information from the public’s awareness. At issue were Arthur and Jeanne’s desire to raise their daughter Camera in as normal an environment as possible, a desire that would have been made impossible with a public disclosure. Because of pressure from a national newspaper that was indicating they had on good record that he had AIDS, Arthur, rather than let the rumors persist, elected to make his condition known to the world through a scheduled a press conference on the morning of April 8, 1992. The knowledge that his life and the lives of his family members would forever be altered was foremost on Arthur’s mind. After his admission to the world, an outpouring of compassion and support arrived, inspiring Arthur to begin AAFDA. This outpouring can only perhaps be compared to the day Lou Gehrig announced his retirement and contraction of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Arthur Ashe passed away on February 6, 1993, having raised awareness of AIDS to a level where paranoia was no longer the overriding emotion. For Arthur Ashe, tennis was a means to an end. What began on the public recreation courts in Richmond, Virginia, ultimately became a lucrative, illustrious 10-year career. In between were many honors and awards, including three Grand Slam singles titles and over 800 career victories. But for Arthur, it was always more than personal glory and individual accolades. Rather, it was the knowledge that his status as an elite tennis player afforded him a unique and worldwide platform to speak out about inequities, both in the tennis world and society as a whole. That in and of itself was unique, but not outstanding. Arthur stood out when he chose to utilize his status to bring about change. That is what makes his legacy so unique and important. © Arthur Ashe c/o CMG Worldwide CMG Biography CNN/SI Biography
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Essence
Member
01-12-2002
| Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 7:04 am
February 17: 1870 Congress passed resolution readmitting Mississippi on condition that it would never change its constitution to disenfranchise Blacks. 1966 At a press conference held in Miami, Florida, Muhammad Ali announces his views against the military involvement in the Viet Nam War. 1973 The Navy frigate USS Jesse L. Brown was commissioned. The ship was named for Ensign Jesse L. Brown, the first African American naval aviator killed in combat over Korea. 1997 Virginia House of Delegates votes unanimously to retire the state song, "Carry me back to old Virginia", a tune which glorifies slavery.
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Essence
Member
01-12-2002
| Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 7:16 am
Joseph Hayne Rainey
Congressman. Rainey was born a slave in Georgetown to Edward L. Rainey and his wife Gracia on June 21, 1832. His father, a barber, purchased the family’s freedom, and they moved to Charleston in about 1846. The elder Rainey also purchased two slaves. By 1860 Joseph Rainey had become a barber at Charleston’s fashionable Mills House hotel. In 1859 Rainey traveled to Philadelphia where he married Susan (maiden name unknown). During the Civil War, Rainey was compelled to serve as a steward on a blockade runner, and then to work on Confederate fortifications. He fled with his wife to Bermuda in 1862 on a blockade runner and resumed barbering, first in St. George and then in Hamilton. In 1865 he returned to Charleston and-accompanied by his elder brother Edward-participated in the Colored People’s Convention at Zion Presbyterian Church. Attendees sought ways in which to advance “the interests of our people.” Rainey was also elected to represent Georgetown in the 1868 constitutional convention. Rainey was one of the more conservative black leaders during Reconstruction. He favored implementing a poll tax as a requirement for voting if the revenues were devoted to public education. He also supported an effort to legalize the collection of debts contracted before the Civil War including debts incurred in the purchase of slaves. Neither measure passed in the 1868 state constitution. In 1870 Georgetown voters elected Rainey to the state senate, where he became chair of the Finance Committee. He was also a brigadier general in the state militia, and he served as an agent with the ill-fated State Land Commission. He attended the 1869 State Labor Convention, which lobbied the General Assembly for pro-labor legislation to protect black workers. Rainey was the first black man to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. He took his seat in December 1870, filling the unexpired term of Benjamin F. Whittemore. He was reelected four times to the first district seat, serving from 1870 to 1879. In Congress Rainey advocated passage of the 1872 Ku Klux Klan Act as a means to rid the state of that terrorist organization. He supported an amnesty bill to remove remaining liabilities on former Confederates while simultaneously promoting a civil rights bill sponsored by Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner. The amnesty bill passed in 1874 and the civil rights bill was enacted in 1875. From 1879 to 1881, Rainey was an agent with the Internal Revenue Service in South Carolina. An active entrepreneur, he invested in the Columbia and Greenville Railroad and was a director of the Enterprise Railroad, a black-owned corporation organized in 1870 to transport freight by horse-drawn street railway between the Charleston wharves and the railroad depot. In the early 1880s Rainey attempted unsuccessfully to manage a brokerage and banking business in Washington, D.C. He died in Georgetown on August 2, 1887 and was buried in the Baptist Cemetery.
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Tishala
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 10:11 am
Richard Allen - Founder and First Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church
Richard Allen was born into slavery in 1760. Had he been born a decade or two earlier, he might have been born free. Previously, anyone born in the colonies was born free. Due to economic influence, laws were passed to change this, making children born of slaves into slaves themselves, regardless of the father's social status. Richard Allen overcame his unnatural condition by purchasing his freedom. As the story goes, Richard Allen's owner had bought him along with family members in 1777. The Allen's were moved to Delaware where the farmer lived. This farmer was converted to Methodist faith by a peripatetic preacher, Freeborn Garretson. Freeborn convinced the farmer that the judgement of God would not be in favor of slaveowners. Who says religion is all bad? Allen became a licensed exhorter, preaching the Methodist view to all who listened from New York to South Carolina. This attracted attention from the white leaders of the Methodist Church. Frances Asbury, first American Bishop of the Methodist Church, worked to appoint Allen as an assistant minister in Philadelphia. This was in 1786 at St. George's Methodist Church. With Absalom Jones and others including Quakers, Richard Allen formed the Free African Society. This benevolence organization was chartered to assist free blacks. Later, in 1794, when Allen turned down the pastor's job at St. Thomas's African Episcopal Church, Absalom Jones took the job instead. Absalom did not break with the Anglican Church, while Allen pursued his own Black Reformation. The reserved Quaker philosophy left some energetic Methodists like Allen underwhelmed. In an attempt to keep the tradition they developed, and to respond to white racism in the Anglican church, Allen created his own all-black congregation in south Philadelphia. Opened in 1794, the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church was approved by Bishop Asbury (who attended the opening). At the same time the blacks were acting in a separatist fashion and continued to develop their own religious style. By 1799 Asbury appointed Allen as deacon of the Methodist Church, and by 1813 the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church had grown to 1,200 congregationalists. The organization of the Bethel Society led, in 1816, to the election of Allen as its first bishop. Allen's followers were known as Allenites.
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Tishala
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 10:14 am
Here is Allen's church, at the corner of 6th and Lombard in Philadelphia.

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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 11:34 am
Gwendolyn Brooks
(b. June 7, 1917, Topeka, Kan., U.S.), American poet whose works deal with the everyday life of urban blacks. She was the first black poet to win the Pulitzer Prize, and in 1968 she was named the poet laureate of Illinois. Brooks graduated from Wilson Junior College in 1936. Her early verses appeared in the Chicago Defender, a newspaper written primarily for the black community of Chicago. Her first published collection, A Street in Bronzeville (1945), reveals her talent for making the ordinary life of her neighbours extraordinary. Annie Allen (1949), for which she won the Pulitzer Prize, is a loosely connected series of poems related to a black girl's growing up in Chicago. The same theme was used for Brooks's novel Maud Martha (1953). The Bean Eaters (1960) contains some of her best verse. Her Selected Poems (1963) was followed in 1968 by In the Mecca, half of which is a long narrative poem about people in the Mecca, a vast, fortresslike apartment building erected on the South Side of Chicago in 1891, which had long since deteriorated into a slum. The second half of the book contains individual poems, among which the most noteworthy are "Boy Breaking Glass" and "Malcolm X." Brooks also wrote a book for children, Bronzeville Boys and Girls (1956). The autobiographical Report from Part One (1972) was an assemblage of personal memoirs, interviews, and letters. Later works include Primer for Blacks (1980), Young Poets' Primer (1980), and Blacks (1987), a collection of her published works. In 1985-86 Brooks was Library of Congress consultant in poetry. In 1990 she became professor of English at Chicago State University. The Bean Eaters Gwendolyn Brooks ( from the Academy of American Poets) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair. Dinner is a casual affair. Plain chipware on a plain and creaking wood, Tin flatware. Two who are Mostly Good. Two who have lived their day, But keep on putting on their clothes And putting things away. And remembering . . . Remembering, with twinklings and twinges, As they lean over the beans in their rented back room that is full of beads and receipts and dolls and cloths, tobacco crumbs, vases and fringes. From The Bean Eaters by Gwendolyn Brooks, published by Harpers. © 1960 by Gwendolyn Brooks. Biography
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 11:36 am
I just want all of the contributors to this thread to know that I do read it everyday and thanks to everyone for their contributions!!
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Tishala
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 11:53 am
Me too, Mocha! I have learned SO much.
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Hippyt
Member
09-10-2001
| Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 12:34 pm
I do too. I think it's great to use this forum for education as well as entertainment.
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Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 12:41 pm
I have been reading it every day, too, and learned many new things. I was disappointed to be unable to hear the slave recordings from the Library of Congress, though - they were unintelligible to me for the most part because of the scratchy 78 recordings. I was particularly interested in hearing the old Gullah recordings, but couldn't get sufficient volume on them to be heard.
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Tishala
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 8:00 pm
with all my love to ella.... Ella Fitzgerald: The First Lady of Song
b. Ella Jane Fitzgerald, 25 April 1917, Newport News, Virginia, USA, d. 15 June 1996, Beverly Hills, California, USA. Following the death of her father, Fitzgerald was taken to New York City by her mother. At school she sang with a glee club and showed early promise, but preferred dancing to singing. Even so, chronic shyness militated against her chances of succeeding as an entertainer. Nevertheless, she entered a talent contest as a dancer, but owing to last-minute nerves, she was unable to dance and was therefore forced to sing. Her unexpected success prompted her to enter other talent contests, and she began to win frequently enough to persevere with her singing. Eventually, she reached the top end of the talent show circuit, singing at the Harlem Opera House where she was heard by several influential people. In later years many claimed to have "discovered" her, but among those most likely to have been involved in trying to establish her as a professional singer with the Fletcher Henderson band were Benny Carter and Charles Linton. These early efforts were unsuccessful, however, and she continued her round of the talent shows. An appearance at Harlem's Apollo Theatre, where she won, was the most important stepping-stone in her career. She was heard by Linton, who sang with the Chick Webb band at the Savoy Ballroom. Webb took her on, at first paying her out of his own pocket, and for the fringe audience she quickly became the band's main attraction. She recorded extensively with Webb, with a small group led by Teddy Wilson, with the Ink Spots and others, and even recorded with Benny Goodman. Her hits with Webb included "Sing Me A Swing Song", "Oh, Yes, Take Another Guess", "The Dipsy Doodle", "If Dreams Come True", "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" (a song on which she collaborated on the lyric), "F.D.R. Jones" and "Undecided". After Webb's death in 1939 she became the nominal leader of the band, a position she retained until 1942. Fitzgerald then began her solo career, recording numerous popular songs, sometimes teaming up with other artists, and in the late 40s signing with Norman Granz. It was Granz's masterly and astute control of her career that helped to establish her as one of America's leading jazz singers. She was certainly the most popular jazz singer with non-jazz audiences, and through judicious choice of repertoire, became the foremost female interpreter of the Great American Popular Song Book. With Granz she worked on the "songbook" series, placing on record definitive performances of the work of America's leading songwriters, and she also toured extensively as part of his Jazz At The Philharmonic package. Fitzgerald had a wide vocal range, but her voice retained a youthful, light vibrancy throughout the greater part of her career, bringing a fresh and appealing quality to most of her material, especially "scat" singing. However, it proved less suited to the blues, a genre that, for the most part, she wisely avoided. Indeed, in her early work the most apparent musical influence was Connee Boswell. As a jazz singer, Fitzgerald performed with elegantly swinging virtuosity and her work with accompanists such as Ray Brown, to whom she was married for a time (they had an adopted son, Ray Brown Jnr, a drummer), Joe Pass and Tommy Flanagan was always immaculately conceived. However, her recordings with Louis Armstrong reveal the marked difference between Fitzgerald's approach and that of a singer for whom the material is secondary to his or her own improvisational skills. For all the enviably high quality of her jazz work, it is as a singer of superior popular songs that Fitzgerald remains most important and influential. Her respect for her material, beautifully displayed in the "songbook" series, helped her to establish and retain her place as the finest vocalist in her chosen area of music. Due largely to deteriorating health, by the mid-80s Fitzgerald's career was at a virtual standstill, although a 1990 appearance in the UK was well received by an ecstatic audience. In April 1994 it was reported that both her legs had been amputated because of complications caused by diabetes. She lived a reclusive existence at her Beverly Hills home until her death in 1996. Fitzgerald's most obvious counterpart among male singers was Frank Sinatra and, with both singers now dead, questions inevitably arise about the fate of the great popular songs of the 30s and 40s. While there are still numerous excellent interpreters in the 90s, and many whose work has been strongly influenced by Fitzgerald, the social and artistic conditions that helped to create America's First Lady of Song no longer exist, and it seems highly unlikely, therefore, that we shall ever see or hear her like again. It is not accidental that the Society of Singers named its award the "Ella" and that it was first presented to its namesake. Or that its second presentation was to Sinatra.
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Reiki
Member
08-12-2000
| Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 8:13 pm
I like reading these too. Some of the stories I knew already. Quite a few I did not. Thank everyone for expanding my knowledge and introducing me to some great Americans.
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Essence
Member
01-12-2002
| Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 6:18 am
February 18: 1688 First formal protest against slavery by organized white body in English America made by Germantown (Pa.) Quakers at monthly meeting. The historic "Germantown Protest" denounced slavery and the slave trade. 1965 Malcolm X makes his last radio appearance and last formal speech at Columbia University. 1992 The movie "X", directed by Spike Lee, an autobiography of Malcolm X. premiers nation wide.
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Essence
Member
01-12-2002
| Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 6:26 am
Thurgood Marshall
Born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 2, 1908, Thurgood Marshall was the grandson of a slave. His father, William Marshall, instilled in him from youth an appreciation for the United States Constitution and the rule of law. After completing high school in 1925, Thurgood followed his brother, William Aubrey Marshall, at the historically black Lincoln University in Chester, Pennsylvania. His classmates at Lincoln included a distinguished group of future Black leaders such as the poet and author Langston Hughes, the future President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, and musician Cab Calloway. Just before graduation, he married his first wife, Vivian "Buster" Burey. Their twenty-five year marriage ended with her death from cancer in 1955. In 1930, he applied to the University of Maryland Law School, but was denied admission because he was Black. This was an event that was to haunt him and direct his future professional life. Thurgood sought admission and was accepted at the Howard University Law School that same year and came under the immediate influence of the dynamic new dean, Charles Hamilton Houston, who instilled in all of his students the desire to apply the tenets of the Constitution to all Americans. Paramount in Houston's outlook was the need to overturn the 1898 Supreme Court ruling, Plessy v. Ferguson which established the legal doctrine called, "separate but equal." Marshall's first major court case came in 1933 when he successfully sued the University of Maryland to admit a young African American Amherst University graduate named Donald Gaines Murray. Applauding Marshall's victory, author H.L. Mencken wrote that the decision of denial by the University of Maryland Law School was "brutal and absurd," and they should not object to the "presence among them of a self-respecting and ambitious young Afro-American well prepared for his studies by four years of hard work in a class A college." Thurgood Marshall followed his Howard University mentor, Charles Hamilton Houston to New York and later became Chief Counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). During this period, Mr. Marshall was asked by the United Nations and the United Kingdom to help draft the constitutions of the emerging African nations of Ghana and what is now Tanzania. It was felt that the person who so successfully fought for the rights of America's oppressed minority would be the perfect person to ensure the rights of the White citizens in these two former European colonies. After amassing an impressive record of Supreme Court challenges to state-sponsored discrimination, including the landmark Brown v. Board decision in 1954, President John F. Kennedy appointed Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In this capacity, he wrote over 150 decisions including support for the rights of immigrants, limiting government intrusion in cases involving illegal search and seizure, double jeopardy, and right to privacy issues. Biographers Michael Davis and Hunter Clark note that, "none of his (Marshall's) 98 majority decisions was ever reversed by the Supreme Court." In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson appointed Judge Marshall to the office of U.S. Solicitor General. Before his subsequent nomination to the United States Supreme Court in 1967, Thurgood Marshall won 14 of the 19 cases he argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of the government. Indeed, Thurgood Marshall represented and won more cases before the United States Supreme Court than any other American. Until his retirement from the highest court in the land, Justice Marshall established a record for supporting the voiceless American. Having honed his skills since the case against the University of Maryland, he developed a profound sensitivity to injustice by way of the crucible of racial discrimination in this country. As an Associate Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall leaves a legacy that expands that early sensitivity to include all of America's voiceless. Justice Marshall died on January 24, 1993.
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 7:45 am
Paul Lawrence Dunbar
1872-1906 Paul Laurence Dunbar was the first African-American poet to garner national critical acclaim. Born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1872, Dunbar penned a large body of dialect poems, standard English poems, essays, novels and short stories before he died at the age of 33. His work often addressed the difficulties encountered by members of his race and the efforts of African-Americans to achieve equality in America. He was praised both by the prominent literary critics of his time and his literary contemporaries. Dunbar was born on June 27, 1872, to Matilda and Joshua Dunbar, both natives of Kentucky. His mother was a former slave and his father had escaped from slavery and served in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and the 5th Massachusetts Colored Calvary Regiment during the Civil War. Matilda and Joshua had two children before separating in 1874. Matilda also had two children from a previous marriage. The family was poor, and after Joshua left, Matilda supported her children by working in Dayton as a washerwoman. One of the families she worked for was the family of Orville and Wilbur Wright, with whom her son attended Dayton's Central High School. Though the Dunbar family had little material wealth, Matilda, always a great support to Dunbar as his literary stature grew, taught her children a love of songs and storytelling. Having heard poems read by the family she worked for when she was a slave, Matilda loved poetry and encouraged her children to read. Dunbar was inspired by his mother, and he began reciting and writing poetry as early as age 6. Dunbar was the only African-American in his class at Dayton Central High, and while he often had difficulty finding employment because of his race, he rose to great heights in school. He was a member of the debating society, editor of the school paper and president of the school's literary society. He also wrote for Dayton community newspapers. He worked as an elevator operator in Dayton's Callahan Building until he established himself locally and nationally as a writer. He published an African-American newsletter in Dayton, the Dayton Tattler, with help from the Wright brothers. His first public reading was on his birthday in 1892. A former teacher arranged for him to give the welcoming address to the Western Association of Writers when the organization met in Dayton. James Newton Matthews became a friend of Dunbar's and wrote to an Illinois paper praising Dunbar's work. The letter was reprinted in several papers across the country, and the accolade drew regional attention to Dunbar; James Whitcomb Riley, a poet whose works were written almost entirely in dialect, read Matthew's letter and acquainted himself with Dunbar's work. With literary figures beginning to take notice, Dunbar decided to publish a book of poems. Oak and Ivy, his first collection, was published in 1892. Though his book was received well locally, Dunbar still had to work as an elevator operator to help pay off his debt to his publisher. He sold his book for a dollar to people who rode the elevator. As more people came in contact with his work, however, his reputation spread. In 1893, he was invited to recite at the World's Fair, where he met Frederick Douglass, the renowned abolitionist who rose from slavery to political and literary prominence in America. Douglass called Dunbar "the most promising young colored man in America." Dunbar moved to Toledo, Ohio, in 1895, with help from attorney Charles A. Thatcher and psychiatrist Henry A. Tobey. Both were fans of Dunbar's work, and they arranged for him to recite his poems at local libraries and literary gatherings. Tobey and Thatcher also funded the publication of Dunbar's second book, Majors and Minors. It was Dunbar's second book that propelled him to national fame. William Dean Howells, a novelist and widely respected literary critic who edited Harper's Weekly, praised Dunbar's book in one of his weekly columns and launched Dunbar's name into the most respected literary circles across the country. A New York publishing firm, Dodd Mead and Co., combined Dunbar's first two books and published them as Lyrics of a Lowly Life. The book included an introduction written by Howells. In 1897, Dunbar traveled to England to recite his works on the London literary circuit. His national fame had spilled across the Atlantic. After returning from England, Dunbar married Alice Ruth Moore, a young writer, teacher and proponent of racial and gender equality who had a master's degree from Cornell University. Dunbar took a job at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. He found the work tiresome, however, and it is believed the library's dust contributed to his worsening case of tuberculosis. He worked there for only a year before quitting to write and recite full time. In 1902, Dunbar and his wife separated. Depression stemming from the end of his marriage and declining health drove him to a dependence on alcohol, which further damaged his health. He continued to write, however. He ultimately produced 12 books of poetry, four books of short stories, a play and five novels. His work appeared in Harper's Weekly, the Sunday Evening Post, the Denver Post, Current Literature and a number of other magazines and journals. He traveled to Colorado and visited his half-brother in Chicago before returning to his mother in Dayton in 1904. He died there on Feb. 9, 1906. Bio Selected Poems Recorded Paul Lawrence Dunbar Digital Text Collection Archive
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 7:48 am
Love's Pictures by Paul Lawrence Dunbar Like the blush upon the rose When the wooing south wind speaks, Kissing soft its petals, Are thy cheeks. Tender, soft, beseeching, true, Like the stars that deck the skies Through the ether sparkling, Are thine eyes. Like the song of happy birds, When the woods with spring rejoice, In their blithe awak'ning, Is thy voice. Like soft threads of clustered silk O'er thy face so pure and fair, Sweet in its profusion, Is thy hair Like a fair but fragile vase, Triumph of the carver's art, Graceful formed and slender, Thus thou art. Ah, thy cheek, thine eyes, thy voice, And thy hair's delightful wave Make me, I'll confess it, Thy poor slave ! Songs by Paul Lawrence Dunbar I love the dear old ballads best, That tell of love and death, Whose every line sings love's unrest Or mourns the parting breath. I love those songs the heart can feel, That make our pulses throb; When lovers plead or contrites kneel With choking sigh and sob. God sings through songs that touch the heart, And none are prized save these. Though men may ply their gilded art For fortune, fame, or fees, The muse that sets the songster's soul Ablaze with Lyric fire, Holds nature up, an open scroll, And builds art's funeral pyre.
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Heyltslori
Member
09-15-2001
| Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 9:53 am
Mike Atkins, MD 1957-2001 Mike was born June 5, 1957 at Selfridge Air Force Base in Mt. Clemens, MI. He attended Wayne State University where he received a BA in Communications. He was then accepted into Michigan State University College of Human Medicine where he received his degree in medicine in March of 1983. He continued his training at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, MI. After accepting a position with EDI Emergency Medical Services, he relocated to Big Rapids, MI where he worked at Mecosta County Hospital for 13 years. He served as Chief of Staff at the hospital for 4 years. Mike became board certified in emergency medicine in 1998 and was a duly elected member of the American College of Emergency Physicians. After leaving Big Rapids, he served as Medical Director at Oakwood Hospital Heritage Center in Detroit, where he was employed at the time of his death. Mike was a faithful and dedicated physician with a wonderful sense of humor. He touched many, many people's lives. I was blessed enough to have him as my best friend for 13 years. It was truly an honor. 
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 11:34 am
Aww Lori. I know he must have been a wonderful person. ((((Hugs))))
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Heyltslori
Member
09-15-2001
| Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 3:46 pm
He was the best! Thanks. 
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Essence
Member
01-12-2002
| Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 7:42 am
Lori, what a great way to remember your friend.
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Essence
Member
01-12-2002
| Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 7:45 am
February 19: 1919 Pan-African Congress, organized by W.E.B. DuBois, met at the Grand Hotel, Paris. There were 57 delegates--16 from the United States and 14 from Africa as well as others from 16 countries and colonies. 1942 "The Tuskegee Airmen" The Army Air Corps' all African American 100th Pursuit Squadron, later designated a fighter squadron, was activated at Tuskegee Institute. The squadron served honorably in England and in other regions of the European continent during World War II. 1992 John Singleton,the first African American director to be nominated for the Academy Award is nominated for best director and best screenplay for his first film Boyz N the Hood. 2002 Vonetta Flowers became the first black gold medalist in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. She and partner Jull Brakken won the inagural women's two-person bobsled event.
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Essence
Member
01-12-2002
| Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 7:54 am
John H. Johnson
John H. Johnson was born January 19, 1918 in rural Arkansas City, Arkansas, to Leroy Johnson and Gertrude Jenkins Johnson. His father was killed in a sawmill accident when "young Johnny" was eight years of age. He attended the community's overcrowded, segregated elementary school. In the early 1930s, there was no public high school for African-Americans in Arkansas. His mother heard of greater opportunities for African-Americans in Chicago and as a result they became a part of the African-American Great Migration of 1933. Johnson enrolled in DuSable High School and proved to be an excellent student. Because of his achievements, Johnson was invited, in 1936, to speak at a dinner held by the Urban League. Harry Pace, the President of the Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company, was so impressed with Johnson's speech that he offered him a job and a scholarship to attend college part-time. But his interest focused primarily on the operations at the insurance firm and eventually he dropped his studies at the University of Chicago. In 1941, he married Eunice Walker and assumed a full-time position at Supreme Liberty Life. One of Johnson's duties at Supreme Liberty Life was to collect news and information about African-Americans and prepare a weekly digest for Pace. He thought that a "Negro newspaper" could be sold and marketed. In 1942, Johnson made a loan and published the first issue of Negro Digest, a magazine patterned after Reader's Digest. It featured articles about the social inequalities in the United States and gave a voice to the concerns of African-Americans. Within eight months Negro Digest reached 50,000 a month in sales. In 1945, Johnson launched his second publication, Ebony, that focused on the diverse achievements and successes of African-Americans. Six years later he created Jet, a pocket-sized weekly publication that highlighted news of African-Americans in the social limelight, political arena, entertainment, business, and the sports world. In ensuing years, Johnson added other enterprises to his lucrative empire, including new magazine ventures, book publishing, Fashion Fair cosmetics, several radio stations, and majority ownership in Supreme Liberty Life Insurance. By 1990, Johnson's personal wealth was estimated at $150 million. Johnson's hard work and tenacity has established several communication resources all African-Americans can utilize and benefit from. John H. Johnson rose from the humblest origins to fame by servicing the African-American community with news about Black life, achievement, and entertainment.
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