Unlimited Whispers

Besties, business partners and teammates, Venus and Serena Williams are continuously breaking records as successful black business women on and off the tennis court.  Off the court  the duo became the first black women to own a franchise team, Miami Dolphins in 2009. They are also active in philanthropy and social activism.  On the court, ladies have the most Grand Slam titles than any other active player.  Venus and Serena also break records individually as well.  In the brief synopsis’ that follows, we detail what makes these ladies Unlimited Whispers’ black heroes of the day.

We start with the eldest of the duo,Venus Ebony Starr Williams.  Venus, was born June 17, 1980 and is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 133 as of 30th January 2012 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women’s Tennis Association on three separate occasions. She became the World No. 1 for the first time on February 25, 2002, becoming the first black woman to achieve this feat during the open era.

Her 21 Grand Slam titles ties her for twelfth on the all time list and is more than any other active female player except for her younger sister Serena Williams. Venus Williams’ titles consist of: seven in singles, twelve in women’s doubles, and two in mixed doubles. Those seven Grand Slam singles titles ties her with four other women for twelfth place on the all-time list. Her five Wimbledon singles titles ties her with two other women for eighth place on the all-time list. Venus Williams is one of only three women in the open era to have won five or more Wimbledon singles titles. From the 2000 Wimbledon Championships through the 2001 US Open, Williams won four of the six Grand Slam singles tournaments held. She is one of only five women in the open era to win 200 or more main draw Grand Slam singles matches.

Williams has won three Olympic gold medals, one in singles and two in women’s doubles. She has won more Olympic gold medals than any other female tennis player. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Williams became only the second player to win Olympic gold medals in both singles and doubles at the same Olympic Games, after Helen Wills Moody in 1924.

With 43 career singles titles, Williams leads active players on the WTA Tour. Her 35-match winning streak from the 2000 Wimbledon Championships to the 2000 Generali Ladies Linz tournament final is the longest winning streak since January 1, 2000. She is also one of only two active WTA players to have made the finals of all four Grand Slams, the other player being her sister Serena Williams.

Venus Williams has played against her sister Serena Williams in 23 professional matches since 1998, with Serena winning 13 of the 23 matches. They have played against each other in eight Grand Slam singles finals, with Serena winning six times. Beginning with the 2002 French Open, they opposed each other in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, the first time ever in the open era that the same two players played against each other in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, let alone sisters. On the doubles side, the pair have won 12 Grand Slam doubles titles playing alongside each other.

Venus Williams, a former World No. 1 player and past winner at the Family Circle Cup Championship, has entered the field for the 2012 tournament.

In her four prior appearances in Charleston, Williams has accumulated an impressive 11-3 record. In 2004, she captured the Cup title as the number four seed, defeating two-time Champion Conchita Martinez in the final.

The event will be held from March 31 through April 8 at the Family Circle Cup Tennis Center on Daniel Island.

Personal life

Venus for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s “National Wear Red Day”

On December 13, 2007, Williams received her associate degree in Fashion Design from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale with Cum Laude honors and a 3.5 GPA.

Beginning the fall 2011 semester, William’s began pursuing a bachelor’s degree in the school of business through an online degree program at Indiana University East in Richmond, Indiana.  Her ultimate goal is to get an MBA in the near future.

Williams’s longtime boyfriend, pro golfer Hank Kuehne, had been a visible presence since Wimbledon 2007, holding her hand during long rain delays and clapping support from the players’ box along with her parents and younger sister Serena. “He’s a great guy”, Williams said. “He understands competition. He’s very supportive. I love having him here and everyone else in the box, too.” After rumors of engagement, the couple broke up in 2010, after which Kuehne dated and (in May 2011) married his current wife Andy.

In 2003, Venus and Serena Williams’s older sister Yetunde Price, 31, was shot dead in Compton, California near the courts on which the sisters once practiced. Price was the Williams sisters’ personal assistant. The Williams family issued this statement shortly after the death: “We are extremely shocked, saddened and devastated by the shooting death of our beloved Yetunde. She was our nucleus and our rock. She was a personal assistant, confidante, and adviser to her sisters, and her death leaves a void that can never be filled. Our grief is overwhelming, and this is the saddest day of our lives.”^[47]

Williams said her family’s faith as Jehovah’s Witnesses has helped her tremendously.^[48]

In 2011, Williams was forced to withdraw from the US Open before her second-round match, following a Sjögren’s syndrome diagnosis.

Entrepreneur

Williams in July 2010

Williams is the chief executive officer of her interior design firm “V Starr Interiors” located in Jupiter, Florida. Williams’s company designed the set of the Tavis Smiley Show on PBS, the Olympic athletes’ apartments as part of New York City’s failed bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games, and residences and businesses in the Palm Beach, Florida area.

In 2001, Williams was named one of the 30 most powerful women in America by the Ladies Home Journal.^[50]

In 2007, Williams teamed with retailer Steve & Barry’s to launch her own fashion line EleVen. “I love fashion and the idea that I am using my design education to actually create clothing and footwear that I will wear on and off the tennis court is a dream come true for me. The vision has been to create a collection that will allow women to enjoy an active lifestyle while remaining fashionable at the same time. I’m thrilled with everything we’ve created to launch EleVen.”^[51][52]

In June 2009, Venus was named 77th in the Top 100 Most Powerful Celebrities compiled by Forbes magazine.

In August 2009, Venus Williams became part-owners of the Miami Dolphins with sister Serena Williams. The announcement was made during a press conference overlooking the practice field. This made Venus and indeed her sister Serena the first African-American females to obtain ownership in an NFL franchise. Stephan Ross, the majority owner of the Dolphins, said “We are thrilled to have Venus and Serena join the Dolphins as limited partners. They are among the most admired athletes in the world and have become global ambassadors for the game of tennis. Their addition to our ownership group further reflects our commitment to connect with aggressively and embrace the great diversity that makes South Florida a multicultural gem.”

In late June 2010, Venus Williams released her first book, entitled “Come to Win; on How Sports Can Help You Top Your Profession” which she co-wrote with Kelly E. Carter. In promotion of the book she embarked on a tour around America in support of the release, whilst also appearing on several talk shows including The Early Show and Good Morning America. This gave her a place on the top 5 The New York Times Best Seller List.

Recognition

In 2005 Tennis Magazine ranked her as the 25th-best player in 40 years in a controversial article. Since this ranking, however, she has won an additional three Grand Slam singles titles.

In June 2011, she was named one of the “30 Legends of Women’s Tennis: Past, Present and Future” by Time.

 

Now on to Serena:

Read the remainder of this entry »

For Unlimited Whispers’ Black History Month 2012  we will select black history makers who are still doing their thing.  I will feature one individual each day and add their photo to my back drop for the day as well as a brief synopsis on their career and what makes them great.  On March 1^st all 29 photos will be tiled on the back drop and remain there until Black History Month 2013.  Harry Belafonte will kick off  Unlimited Whispers’ Black Hero Month 2012.

Before we kick this off I want to reiterate how Black History came about.  Over the years we’ve heard the comments that Black History was chosen in February because it’s the shortest month.  Well, this isn’t factual at all.   Once you read this you’ll actually see how silly that theory is and you may wish you never even said it.  BTW, we have 29 days this year.  Read on to learn about the history of Black History Month.

The story of Black History Month begins in Chicago during the late summer of 1915. An alumnus of the University of Chicago with many friends in the city, Carter G. Woodson traveled from Washington, D.C. to participate in a national celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of emancipation sponsored by the state of Illinois. Thousands of African Americans traveled from across the country to see exhibits highlighting the progress their people had made since the destruction of slavery. Awarded a doctorate in Harvard three years earlier, Woodson joined the other exhibitors
with a black history display.

Despite being held at the Coliseum, the site of the 1912 Republican convention, an overflow crowd of six to twelve thousand waited outside for their turn to view the exhibits. Inspired by the three-week celebration, Woodson decided to form an organization to promote the scientific study of black life and history before leaving town.  On September 9th, Woodson met at the Wabash YMCA with A. L. Jackson and three others and formed the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH).

Carter G. Woodson believed that publishing scientific history would transform race relations by dispelling the wide-spread falsehoods about the achievements of Africans and peoples of African descent.  He hoped that others would popularize the findings that he and other black intellectuals would publish in The Journal of Negro History, which he established in 1916.  As early as 1920, Woodson urged black civic organizations to promote the achievements that researchers were uncovering.  A graduate member of
Omega Psi Phi, he urged his fraternity brothers to take up the work. In 1924, they responded with the creation of Negro History and Literature Week, which they renamed Negro Achievement Week.  Their outreach was significant, but Woodson desired greater impact.  As he told an audience of Hampton
Institute students, “We are going back to that beautiful history and it is going to inspire us to greater achievements.”  In 1925, he decided that the Association had to shoulder the responsibility.  Going forward it would both create and popularize knowledge about the black past. He sent out a press release announcing Negro History Week in February, 1926.

Woodson chose February for reasons of tradition and reform.  It is commonly said that Woodson selected February to encompass the birthdays of two great Americans who played a prominent role in shaping black history, namely Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, whose birthdays are the 12^th and the 14th, respectively.  More importantly, he chose them for reasons of tradition.  Since Lincoln’s
assassination in 1865, the black community, along with other Republicans, had been celebrating the fallen President’s birthday.  And since the late 1890s, black communities across the country had been celebrating Douglass’.  Well aware of the pre-existing celebrations, Woodson built Negro History Week around traditional days of commemorating the black past.  He was asking the public to extend their study
of black history, not to create a new tradition.  In doing so, he increased his chances for success.

Yet Woodson was up to something more than building on tradition. Without saying so, he aimed to reform it from the study of two great men to a great race.  Though he admired both men, Woodson had never been fond of the celebrations held in their honor. He railed against the “ignorant spellbinders” who addressed large, convivial gatherings and displayed their lack of knowledge about the men and their contributions to history.  More importantly, Woodson believed that history was made by the people, not simply or primarily by great men.  He envisioned the study and celebration of the Negro as a race, not simply as the producers of a great man. And Lincoln, however great, had not freed the slaves—the Union Army, including hundreds of thousands of black soldiers and sailors, had done that. Rather than focusing on two men, the black community, he believed, should focus on the countless black men and women who had contributed to the advance of human civilization.

From the beginning, Woodson was overwhelmed by the response to his call.  Negro History Week appeared across the country in schools and before the public.  The 1920s was the decade of the New Negro, a name given to the Post-War I generation because of its rising racial pride and consciousness.
Urbanization and industrialization had brought over a million African Americans from the rural South into big cities of the nation.  The expanding black middle class became participants in and consumers of black literature and culture.  Black history clubs sprang up, teachers demanded materials to instruct their pupils, and progressive whites stepped and endorsed the efforts.

Woodson and the Association scrambled to meet the demand.  They set a theme for the annual celebration, and provided study materials—pictures, lessons for teachers, plays for historical performances, and posters of important dates and people.  Provisioned with a steady flow of knowledge, high schools in progressive communities formed Negro History Clubs.  To serve the desire of history buffs to participate in the re-education of black folks and the nation, ASNLH formed branches that stretched from coast to coast.  In 1937, at the urging of Mary McLeod Bethune, Woodson established
the Negro History Bulletin, which focused on the annual theme. As black populations grew, mayors issued Negro History Week proclamations, and in cities like Syracuse progressive whites joined Negro History Week with National Brotherhood Week.

Like most ideas that resonate with the spirit of the times, Negro History Week proved to be more dynamic than Woodson or the Association could control.  By the 1930s, Woodson complained about the intellectual charlatans, black and white, popping up everywhere seeking to take advantage of the public interest in black history.  He warned teachers not to invite speakers who had less knowledge than the students themselves.  Increasingly publishing houses that had previously ignored black topics and authors rushed to put books on the market and in the schools.  Instant experts appeared everywhere, and non-scholarly works appeared from “mushroom presses.”  In America, nothing popular escapes either commercialization or eventual trivialization, and so Woodson, the constant reformer, had his hands full in promoting celebrations worthy of the people who had made the history.

Well before his death in 1950, Woodson believed that the weekly celebrations—not the study or celebration of black history–would eventually come to an end.  In fact, Woodson never viewed black history as a one-week affair.  He pressed for schools to use Negro History Week to demonstrate what students learned all year.  In the same vein, he established a black studies extension program to reach adults throughout the year.  It was in this sense that blacks would learn of their past on a daily basis that he looked forward to the time when an annual celebration would no longer be necessary. Generations
before Morgan Freeman and other advocates of all-year commemorations, Woodson believed that black history was too important to America and the world to be crammed into a limited time frame.  He spoke of a shift from Negro History Week to Negro History Year.

In the 1940s, efforts began slowly within the black community to expand the study of black history in the schools and black history celebrations before the public.  In the South, black teachers often taught Negro History as a supplement to United States history.  One early beneficiary of the movement reported that his teacher would hide Woodson’s textbook beneath his desk to avoid drawing the wrath of the
principal.  During the Civil Rights Movement in the South, the Freedom Schools incorporated black history into the curriculum to advance social change.  The Negro History movement was an intellectual insurgency that was part of every larger effort to transform race relations.

The 1960s had a dramatic effect on the study and celebration of black history.  Before the decade was over, Negro History Week would be well on its way to becoming Black History Month.  The shift to a month-long celebration began even before Dr. Woodson death.  As early as 1940s, blacks in West Virginia, a state where Woodson often spoke, began to celebrate February as Negro History Month.  In Chicago, a now forgotten cultural activist, Fredrick H. Hammaurabi, started celebrating Negro History
Month in the mid-1960s.  Having taken an African name in the 1930s, Hammaurabi used his cultural center, the House of Knowledge, to fuse African consciousness with the study of the black past.  By the late 1960s, as young blacks on college campuses became increasingly conscious of links with Africa, Black History Month replaced Negro History Week at a quickening pace.  Within the Association, younger intellectuals, part of the awakening, prodded Woodson’s organization to change with the times.
They succeeded.  In 1976, fifty years after the first celebration, the Association used its influence to institutionalize the shifts from a week to a month and from Negro history to black history. Since the mid-1970s, every American president, Democrat and Republican, has issued proclamations endorsing the Association’s annual theme.

What Carter G. Woodson would say about the continued celebrations is unknown, but he would smile on all honest efforts to make black history a field of serious study and provide the public with thoughtful celebrations.

“Shortly after ten o’clock, when the bell sounded for the first round, the atmosphere in Yankee Stadium (45,000 in attendance) was something close to business as usual…..In his corner,  Louis, dancing a slow fighter’s ballet. looked impassive, almost bored.  As a professional he had known only victories and he had become accustomed to throwing punches and knocking opponents senseless…..In the other corner Schmeling appeared tense – not afraid, but curious, like a man about to watch a play with an unknown ending.”

“The bell rang.  Louis moved across the ring like a workman who was in no hurry to finish the jog early.  His first punch a left jab, landed high on Schmeling’s cheek and Max countered with a a right that fell a touch short.  For Schmeling the two punches were the opening noted for a symphony….”exert from Joe Louis

Joe went down in the 12th round losing to Max with his moms in the audience crying.  Needless to say watching that fight broke her heart. Mayhem had begun……………

The journalist had gotten cocky.  The Jackson Clarion – Ledger -”German Stages Wild Upset By Whipping Negro;”  The Raleigh News and Observer – HAH, HAH! Booms Max- Joe Can’t Talk.”

Then the rumors whirled….Joe was on doped, his marriage was on the rocks and countless other stories loomed.  The press and the rumors were relentless.  That was 1936……..

The rematch

He met Max again in NY, 1938 and again at Yankee Stadium, but this time 75,000 people attended.  They estimate 30,000+of those were from out of town. of those who were in attendance were  Cab Calloway, Duke Elington, Louis Armstrong, Jack Johnson and Henry Armstrong…Joe asked them to be there personally.

Here we are again 10pm…”The bell rang Louis moved directly toward Schmeling, landing several stiff jabs and a leaping left hook….. Driving Max into the ropes and closing the distance, Louis forces the fight affording Max no time to get set.  Max tried one punch and it did no damage to Joe……

Before the round was a minute old, Louis lashed out with a right hook causing Max to grab some rope to steady himself. Joe hemmed Max up with continuous body blows.  Max still hugging the ropes and Joe still giving him the whipping of a lifetime.  One punch landed so hard to his side that pieces of his vertebrae broke off, two of his ribs and his third lumbar vertebrae went into his kidney.

The pain was so great that Max screamed…..spectators said it made them ill hearing him scream.  They said it was high pitched and vaguely non-human, like the sound of an animal in a slaughterhouse.  I cringe while I type and while I skipped over the vivid details of the beat-down, but I digress…..  They say his eyes were in a  state of fear.  Descriptions of this fight were relentless.  The descriptions were so vast that you would never know that all the things went down in one round.  Needless to say, Max went down for the count in the 1st round.  First an 8 count.   He went down again for the final count and that was all she wrote.  Joe had redeemed himself in 2min:4 secs, retaining the heavyweight title and the rest is history.

Max vs Joe 1938 rematch weigh in

I’d like to thank Ivan Lett of Yale University Press for sending me this book to help me celebrate Black History.   Some references from the above are from the book.

Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981), better known as Joe Louis, was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949. He is considered to be one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, Louis helped elevate boxing from a nadir in popularity in the post-Jack Dempsey era by establishing a reputation as an honest, hardworking fighter at a time when the sport was dominated by gambling interests. Louis’s championship reign lasted 140 consecutive months, during which he participated in 27 championship fights, 26 championship fights during his reign; the 27th, against Ezzard Charles, was a challenge to Charles’ heavyweight title and so is not included in Louis’ reign. All in all, Joe was victorious in 25 successful title defenses, a record for the heavyweight division. In 2005, Louis was named the greatest heavyweight of all time by the International Boxing Research Organization and was ranked number one on The Ring’s list of 100 Greatest Punchers of All Time.

Louis’s cultural impact was felt well outside the ring. He is widely regarded as the first African American to achieve the status of a nationwide hero within the United States, and was also a focal point of anti-Nazi sentiment leading up to and during World War II. He also was instrumental in integrating the game of golf, breaking the sport’s color barrier in America by appearing under a sponsor’s exemption in a PGA event in 1952.

In all, Louis made 25 defenses of his heavyweight title from 1937 to 1948, and was a world champion for 11 years and 10 months. Both are still records in the heavyweight division, the former in any division. His most remarkable record is that he knocked out 23 opponents in 27 title fights, including 5 world champions. In addition to his accomplishments inside the ring, Louis uttered two of boxing’s most famous observations: “He can run, but he can’t hide” and “Everyone has a plan until they’ve been hit.”

Louis is also remembered in sports outside of boxing. An indoor sports venue is named after him in Detroit, the Joe Louis Arena, where the Detroit Red Wings play their NHL games. In 1936, a beat writer for the Winnipeg Tribune used Joe Louis’s nickname to refer to the Winnipeg Football Club after a game. From that point, the team became known popularly as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

His recognition also transcends the sporting world. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Joe Louis on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans. On August 26, 1982, Louis was posthumously approved for the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award given to civilians by the U.S. legislative branch. Congress stated that he “did so much to bolster the spirit of the American people during one of the most crucial times in American history and which have endured throughout the years as a symbol of strength for the nation.” Following Louis’ death, President Ronald Reagan said, “Joe Louis was more than a sports legend — his career was an indictment of racial bigotry and a source of pride and inspiration to millions of white and black people around the world.”

A memorial to Louis was dedicated in Detroit (at Jefferson Avenue & Woodward) on October 16, 1986. The sculpture, commissioned by Time, Inc. and executed by Robert Graham, is a 24-foot-long (7.3 m) arm with a fisted hand suspended by a 24-foot-high (7.3 m) pyramidal framework. It represents the power of his punch both inside and outside the ring. Because of his efforts to fight Jim Crow laws, the fist was symbolically aimed toward the south.

On February 27, 2010, an 8-foot (2.4 m) bronze statue of Louis was unveiled in his Alabama hometown. The statue sits on a base of red granite outside the Chambers County Courthouse.

In 1993, he became the first boxer to be honored on a postage stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service.

Various other facilities have been named after Joe Louis. A street near Madison Square Garden is named in his honor. The former Pipe O’ Peace Golf Course in Riverdale, Illinois, (a Chicago suburb) was in 1986 renamed “Joe Louis The Champ Golf Course”.^[111] American Legion Post 375 in Detroit is also named after Joe Louis.

In one of the most widely-quoted tributes to Louis, New York Post sportswriter Jimmy Cannon was known for the following statement (interjecting to another person’s characterization of Louis as “a credit to his race”); “Yes, Joe Louis is a credit to his race—the human race.”^[112]

In 2009, the band Yeasayer came out with a song titled “Ambling Alp” which imagines what advice Joe Louis’s father might have given him prior to becoming a prizefighter. The song references adversities and opponents, including Max Schmeling and Primo Carnera, Louis had to overcome in his career.

 

 

Source: Wikipedia and Joe Louis by Randy Roberts

 

 

This was another big biography.  This one reminded me a little of the movie Momma Flora’s Family.   Go to the Wikipedia page to read more info.

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an intellectual leader in the United States as sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, and editor. Biographer David Levering Lewis wrote, “In the course of his long, turbulent career, W. E. B. Du Bois attempted virtually every possible solution to the problem of twentieth-century racism—scholarship, propaganda, integration, national self-determination, human rights, cultural and economic separatism, politics, international communism, expatriation, third world solidarity.”

Born in Massachusetts, Du Bois graduated from Harvard, where he earned his Ph.D in History, the first African-American to earn a doctorate at Harvard. Later he became a professor of history and economics at Atlanta University. As head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1910, he was founder and editor of the NAACP’s journal The Crisis. Du Bois rose to national attention in his opposition of Booker T. Washington’s alleged ideas of accommodation with Jim Crow separation between whites and blacks and disfranchisement of blacks in the South, campaigning instead for increased political representation for blacks in order to guarantee civil rights, and the formation of a Black elite who would work for the progress of the African-American race.

In 1895, Du Bois became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University. After teaching at Wilberforce University in Ohio, he worked at the University of Pennsylvania. He taught while undertaking field research for his study The Philadelphia Negro. Next he moved to Georgia, where he established the Department of Social Work at Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University Whitney M. Young school of Social Work). He also taught at The New School in Greenwich Village, New York City.

Du Bois wrote many books, including three major autobiographies. Among his most significant works are The Philadelphia Negro (1899), The Souls of Black Folk (1903), John Brown (1909), Black Reconstruction (1935), and Black Folk, Then and Now (1939). His book The Negro (1915) influenced the work of several pioneer Africanist scholars, such as Drusilla Dunjee Houston.^[9] and William Leo Hansberry.^[10][11]

During his time in Atlanta, he also saw the overwhelmingly rural agricultural areas of Georgia, where most blacks worked on others’ land as laborers and sharecroppers. Reflecting on their lives was part of what he expressed in The Souls of Black Folk, a meditation on the problems of race in American culture, which he defined as the problem of the twentieth century.

In the New York Times review of The Souls of Black Folk, the anonymous book reviewer wrote, “For it is the Jim Crow car, and the fact that he may not smoke a cigar and drink a cup of tea with the white man in the South, that most galls William E. Burghardt Du Bois of the Atlanta College for Negroes.”

While some prominent white scholars denied African-American cultural, political and social relevance to American history and civic life, in his epic work Black Reconstruction, Du Bois documented how black people were central figures in the American Civil War and Reconstruction, and also showed how they made alliances with white politicians. He provided evidence to disprove the Dunning School theories of Reconstruction, showing the coalition governments established public education in the South, as well as many needed social service programs. He demonstrated the ways in which Black emancipation — the crux of Reconstruction — promoted a radical restructuring of United States society, as well as how and why the country failed to continue support for civil rights for blacks in the aftermath of Reconstruction.^[13] This theme was taken up later and expanded by Eric Foner and Leon F. Litwack, the two leading late twentieth-century scholars of the Reconstruction era.

In 1940, at Atlanta University, Du Bois founded Phylon magazine. In 1946, he wrote The World and Africa: An Inquiry into the Part That Africa Has Played in World History. In 1945, he helped organize the historic Fifth Pan-African Conference in Manchester, Great Britain.^[14] In total, Du Bois wrote 22 books, including five novels. He helped establish four academic journals.

Du Bois was one of a number of African-American leaders investigated by the FBI, which claimed in May 1942 that, “his writing indicates him to be a socialist”. He was chairman of the Peace Information Center at the start of the Korean War, and among the signers of the Stockholm Peace Pledge, which opposed the use of nuclear weapons.

In 1950, at the age of 82, Du Bois ran for U.S. Senator from New York on the American Labor Party ticket and polled a little over 200,000 votes, about 4% of the total. Although he lost, Du Bois remained committed to the progressive labor cause. In 1958, he would join with Trotskyites, ex-Communists and independent radicals in proposing the creation of a united left-wing coalition to challenge for seats in elections for the New York State Senate and Assembly.

On March 16, 1953, upon the death of Joseph Stalin, Du Bois wrote of him in The National Guardian:

Joseph Stalin was a great man; few other men of the 20th century approach his stature. He was simple, calm and courageous. He seldom lost his poise; pondered his problems slowly, made his decisions clearly and firmly; never yielded to ostentation nor coyly refrained from holding his rightful place with dignity. He was the son of a serf but stood calmly before the great without hesitation or nerves. But also—and this was the highest proof of his greatness—he knew the common man, felt his problems, followed his fate.

While Stalin had fallen into disfavor among some of the American Left of that era, and Communism had come to be regarded as “the god that failed” in the eyes of some African-American intellectuals as Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright, Du Bois persisted in his admiration for Stalin. He was frequently challenged for his support of Stalin, particularly after Khrushchev’s 1956 “Cult of Personality” speech. Having once, after a 1920s visit to Russia, observed that, “Russia is the victim of a determined propaganda of lies”, he remained persistently skeptical of American media reports regarding the USSR; when challenged as to his beliefs on Stalin in 1956, in one instance he conceded that, “[Stalin] was probably too cruel; but… he conquered Hitler.”

In regards to Soviet intervention in Hungary in 1956, the 88-year-old Du Bois defended the USSR, suggesting that the Hungarian Revolution was the work of, “landlords and fascists”. Regarding this, one scholar said he was “one of the great pioneers of anti-colonialist scholarship”, he was, “a headstrong idealist: he idealized Stalinism… He saw what he wished and needed to see, and thus he replicated the hard, domineering consciousness he condemned.”

Du Bois visited Communist China during the Great Leap Forward. He was questioned before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) about his alleged communist sympathies. He was indicted in the United States under the Foreign Agents Registration Act and acquitted for lack of evidence.^{[citation needed]} In 1959 Du Bois received the Lenin Peace Prize. In 1961, at the age of 93, he joined the Communist Party USA, at a time when it was long past its peak of membership.

Just forty days before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at an event marking the hundredth anniversary of Du Bois’ birth, at Carnegie Hall in New York City:

We cannot talk of Dr. Du Bois without recognizing that he was a radical all of his life. Some people would like to ignore the fact that he was a Communist in his later years. It is worth noting that Abraham Lincoln warmly welcomed the support of Karl Marx during the Civil War and corresponded with him freely. In contemporary life, the English speaking world has no difficulty with the fact that Sean O’Casey was a literary giant of the twentieth century and a Communist, or that Pablo Neruda is generally considered the greatest living poet though he also served in the Chilean Senate as a Communist. It is time to cease muting the fact that Dr. Du Bois was a genius and chose to be a Communist. Our irrational obsessive anti-communism has led us into too many quagmires to be retained as if it were a mode of scientific thinking. …Dr. Du Bois’ greatest virtue was his committed empathy with all the oppressed and his divine dissatisfaction with all forms of injustice.

Du Bois was invited to Ghana in 1961 by President Kwame Nkrumah to direct the Encyclopedia Africana, a government production, and a long-held dream of his. When, in 1963, he was refused a new U.S. passport, he and his wife, Shirley Graham Du Bois, became citizens of Ghana. Contrary to some opinions (including David Levering Lewis’s Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Du Bois), he never renounced his US citizenship, even when denied a passport to travel to Ghana. Du Bois’ health had declined in 1962, and on August 27, 1963, he died in Accra, Ghana at the age of ninety-five, one day before Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.^[49] At the March on Washington, Roy Wilkins informed the hundreds of thousands of marchers and called for a moment of silence.  Du Bois is buried at the Du Bois Memorial Centre in Accra.

Personal life

Du Bois was married twice: first to Nina Gomer Du Bois (m. 1896, d. 1950) with whom he had two children, Burghardt (who died as a baby) and Yolande; then to the author, playwright, composer, and activist Shirley Graham Du Bois (m. 1951, d. 1977) with whom he emigrated to Ghana. The second volume of David Levering Lewis’s Pulitzer-winning biography controversially presented evidence for extramarital relationships, describing Du Bois as “a priapic adulterer”,^[51] though a subsequent biography, Dubois and His Rivals by Raymond Wolters, cast doubt on this, based on the lack of direct corroboration from Du Bois’s alleged lovers.

Pronunciation and spelling

Du Bois’s name is sometimes misspelled “DuBois,” “du Bois,” or “duBois”; the correct spelling separates the two syllables and capitalizes each.

Although the name is of French origin, Du Bois himself pronounced it /duːˈbɔɪs/, unlike the French [dybwa].

Check out Ella’s official site HERE

Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996), also known as the “First Lady of Song” and “Lady Ella,” was an American jazz and song vocalist.^[1] With a vocal range spanning three octaves (Db3 to Db6), she was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing and intonation, and a “horn-like” improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing.

She is considered to be a notable interpreter of the Great American Songbook.^[2] Over a recording career that lasted 59 years, she was the winner of 13 Grammy Awards and was awarded the National Medal of Art by Ronald Reagan and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George H. W. Bush.

Big-band singing

In January 1935, Fitzgerald won the chance to perform for a week with the Tiny Bradshaw band at the Harlem Opera House. She met drummer and bandleader Chick Webb here. Webb had already hired singer Charlie Linton to work with the band and was, The New York Times later wrote, “reluctant to sign her….because she was gawky and unkempt, a diamond in the rough.“^[4] Webb offered her the opportunity to test with his band when they played a dance at Yale University.

She began singing regularly with Webb’s Orchestra through 1935 at Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom. Fitzgerald recorded several hit songs with them, including “Love and Kisses” and “(If You Can’t Sing It) You’ll Have to Swing It (Mr. Paganini)”. But it was her 1938 version of the nursery rhyme, “A-Tisket, A-Tasket”, a song she co-wrote, that brought her wide public acclaim.

Chick Webb died on June 16, 1939, and his band was renamed “Ella Fitzgerald and her Famous Orchestra” with Ella taking the role of bandleader. Fitzgerald recorded nearly 150 sides during her time with the orchestra, most of which, like “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” were “novelties and disposable pop fluff.”^[4]

The Decca years

In 1942, Fitzgerald left the band to begin a solo career. Now signed to the Decca label, she had several popular hits while recording with such artists as the Ink Spots, Louis Jordan, and the Delta Rhythm Boys.

With Decca’s Milt Gabler as her manager, she began working regularly for the jazz impresario Norman Granz, and appeared regularly in his Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP) concerts. Fitzgerald’s relationship with Granz was further cemented when he became her manager, although it would be nearly a decade before he could record her on one of his many record labels.

With the demise of the Swing era and the decline of the great touring big bands, a major change in jazz music occurred. The advent of bebop caused a major change in Fitzgerald’s vocal style, influenced by her work with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band. It was in this period that Fitzgerald started including scat singing as a major part of her performance repertoire. While singing with Gillespie, Fitzgerald recalled, “I just tried to do [with my voice] what I heard the horns in the band doing.”^[8]

Her 1945 scat recording of Flying Home (arranged by Vic Schoen) would later be described by The New York Times as “one of the most influential vocal jazz records of the decade….Where other singers, most notably Louis Armstrong, had tried similar improvisation, no one before Miss Fitzgerald employed the technique with such dazzling inventiveness.”^[4] Her bebop recording of “Oh, Lady be Good!” (1947) was similarly popular and increased her reputation as one of the leading jazz vocalists.

Perhaps responding to criticism and under pressure from Granz, who felt that Fitzgerald was given unsuitable material to record during this period, her last years on the Decca label saw Fitzgerald recording a series of duets with pianist Ellis Larkins, released in 1950 as Ella Sings Gershwin.

Source: Wikipedia

Dorothy Jean Dandridge (November 9, 1922 – September 8, 1965) was an American actress and popular singer, and was the first African American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.^[1]

She performed as a vocalist in venues such as the Nathan Featherston and the Apollo Theater. In 1954, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Carmen Jones, and, in 1959, was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Porgy and Bess. In 1999, she was the subject of the HBO biopic Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. She has been recognized on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Dandridge was married and divorced twice, first to dancer and entertainer Harold Nicholas (the father of her daughter, Harolyn Suzanne) and then to Jack Denison. Dandridge died of an accidental drug overdose, at the age of 42.

Dorothy Dandridge’s first screen appearance was a bit part in a 1935 Teacher’s Beau.^[8] In 1937, she appeared as one of the many singers in the Marx Brothers feature film, A Day at the Races.^[9] The following year Dorothy, her sister Vivian, and Etta Jones would make a brief appearance in Going Places. In 1940, Dandridge played a murderer in the race film, Four Shall Die. This film provided Dandridge with her first credited film role as Helen Fielding. And though the part was a supporting role and the film was somewhat of a success, Dorothy wouldn’t get another big role until a few years later.

The following year Dorothy was cast opposite John Wayne in Lady From Louisiana, playing the small, but somewhat fair part of Felice. That same year she teamed with her future husband Harold Nicholas to film a brief role in Sun Valley Serenade. Dorothy, Harold, and Harold’s brother Fayard Nicholas, appeared in a part described as “Speciality act”. In 1942 Dorothy won another supporting role as Princess Malimi in Drums of the Congo. In her next few films Dorothy would play mainly in bit parts, but she managed to get a small role in Hit Parade of 1943. In 1944 Dandridge would play two uncredited roles in Since You Went Away and Atlantic City. In the following year of 1945 she would play again a small role in the musical Pillow to Post. By 1946 Dorothy’s luck for winning small roles in films had disappeared. She would only rarely appear in nightclubs and wouldn’t make any films.

In 1951 Dorothy now 28 got cast as Melmendi, Queen of the Ashuba in Tarzan’s Peril, starring Lex Barker as Tarzan and Virginia Huston as Jane. And though Dorothy’s role was somewhat on the small side she would be noticed by many. One night while at a party, Dorothy was introduced to music manager, Earl Mills. Mills had agreed to get Dorothy a big career started as a singer. But Dandridge didn’t want to keep her singing career going all that strong, instead she rather make a big comeback in the motion picture industry. Even though Earl and Dorothy disagreed on how her career should be, Dandridge signed Mills as her agent. She would next appear as Ann Carpenter in The Harlem Globetrotters. In this film Dandridge really only makes a co-starring appearance, but receives second billing.

It was after the release of The Harlem Globetrotters, that Dorothy’s career fell again. It was then after this fall that Earl arranged for Dorothy to make her first appearance at the Mocambo. She continued to perform in nightclubs around the country, through most of 1952. In December 1952 a Metro Goldwyn Mayer studio agent noticed Dorothy performing in a Hollywood nightclub, and cast her in the lead role in Bright Road, co-starring Philip Hepburn and Harry Belafonte. The film tells the story of how a teacher will do anything to get her students to learn. The film contains nearly an all-black cast. And though Bright Road became a box office flop, Dorothy won a supporting role as herself in Remains to Be Seen.

20th Century Fox and Carmen Jones

In 1954, Dorothy signed a three movie deal with 20th Century Fox. Soon after director and writer Otto Preminger cast Dandridge along with Harry Belafonte, Pearl Bailey, Brock Peters, Diahann Carroll, Madame Sul-Te-Wan (uncredited), and Joe Adams, in his all-black production of Carmen Jones.^[10] However, Dandridge’s singing voice was dubbed by opera singer Marilyn Horne.^[11]

Upon release in 1954, Carmen Jones grossed $60,000 during its first week and $47,000 in its second week.^{[citation needed]} The film received favorable reviews, and Dandridge was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming only the third African American to receive a nomination in any Academy Award category (after Hattie McDaniel and Ethel Waters)but the first African American to be nominated for best actress. Grace Kelly won the award for her performance in The Country Girl. At the awards ceremony, Dandridge presented the Academy Award for Film Editing to Gene Milford for On the Waterfront.

And though Carmen Jones became a box office smash hit, it looked as if Dorothy’s success had come and left. She wasn’t being offered any roles from Fox, nor from any other studios.

In 1955 20th Century Fox choose Dandridge to play the supporting role of Tuptim in The King and I. The character was a slave, which made Dorothy say “no.” But after some convincing from Fox chief, Darryl F. Zanuck, that the role was a good one, Dorothy said “yes.” But when Dorothy’s previous director, Otto Preminger told her the role was too small, and that she had just shown the world that she could handle a starring role in a major motion picture. And so he suggested she turn the role down. Dorothy once again turned the part down. Not making this film started the slow, but steady decline of her career.

After Carmen and Career Decline

By 1956, still under contract to Fox, Dandridge hadn’t made any films since Carmen Jones. Fox still believed that Dorothy was a star, but just didn’t know how to promote her. One of the head chiefs at Fox once said “She’s a star, but we don’t have any films to put her in or leading men to cast her opposite.” In 1957 Dorothy’s luck came back when Darryl F. Zanuck cast Dandridge as Margot, a restless young West Indian woman,^[12] in his controversial film version of Island in the Sun, co-starring stars such as James Mason, Harry Belafonte, Joan Fontaine, Joan Collins, Michael Rennie, and Stephen Boyd. This film was a success which brought Dandridge back to the public eye.

Though Island in the Sun was a success, Dandridge didn’t get another film until she was cast in the low-budget foreign production Tamango, which teamed her with Curt Jürgens.^[13] The film received fair reviews, but failed to amount greatly at the box office. Dandridge believed that the film failed because she played a slave, a part she vowed she’d never play. Tamango was filmed in Europe in 1958 and would be legally released on January 24, 1958 in France, but the film wouldn’t be officialy released in the United States until September 16, 1959.

In July 1958, Dandridge flew to Italy to see if there happened to be any films for her; there were not, but just before she was ready to leave she got word that there was to be a casting for a film and she was being considered for the lead. She went and tested and got the lead role of Mahia in The Decks Ran Red with former co-star James Mason.^[13] This film won minor box office success. Soon after the film was released Dorothy returned to Hollywood.

Determined to reinvent her career, she decided to wait on Fox to call for her to make a film. In 1959 Columbia Pictures cast Dorothy in the lead role of Bess in Porgy and Bess; Dorothy was again nominated for a award, this time for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, for her performance in Porgy and Bess. Dorothy was again eager to see if she was to win the award, but she once again lost. A few weeks later Dorothy was released from her 20th Century Fox contract. And though had been with Fox for about five and a half years, she had only made two films (her contract stated she was committed to making three), that was released by them, Carmen Jones (1954), and Island in the Sun (1957).

In 1960 Dorothy managed to get the lead role as European girl with an Italian name (Gianna) in Malaga, another low-budget forgettable film that was filmed in Europe and came and vanished quickly. This film proved to be Dorothy’s last completed film. She made her last film appearance the next year in The Murder Men. Dandridge played the lead as Norma Sherman, though most of her footage was archival. By the end of 1961 Dorothy had began performing frequently in nightclubs to pay off debt and household bills.

Recordings

Dandridge first gained fame as a solo artist from her performances in nightclubs, usually accompanied by Phil Moore on piano. As well-known as she became from renditions of songs such as “Blow Out the Candle”, “You Do Something To Me”, and “Talk Sweet Talk To Me”, she recorded very little on vinyl. Whether it was because of personal choice or lack of opportunity is unknown.

Source: Wikipedia

Not to take away from his legacy, but there are so many things left murky about his death.  Plus, check out his legacy; it includes Tupac, Kanye, The Roots and Spike Lee.   Read on.

Samuel Cook^[1] (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an African-American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music.^[2] He is commonly known as the King of Soul for his unmatched vocal abilities and influence on the modern world of music. His contribution in pioneering Soul music led to the rise of Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and popularizing the likes of Otis Redding and James Brown.^[3][4][5]

Cooke had 29 top-40 hits in the U.S. between 1957 and 1964. Major hits like “You Send Me”, “A Change Is Gonna Come”, “Chain Gang”, “Wonderful World”, and “Bring It on Home to Me” are some of his most popular songs. Cooke was also among the first modern black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. He also took an active part in the American Civil Rights Movement.^[6]

On December 11, 1964, Cooke was shot dead by the manager of the Hacienda Motel (now Polaris Motel) in Los Angeles, California at the age of 33. At the time, the courts ruled that Cooke was drunk and distressed, and the manager killed Cooke in what was later ruled a justifiable homicide. Since that time, the circumstances of his death have been widely questioned.

Cooke was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He later added an “e” onto the end of his name, though the reason for this is disputed.^[7] He was one of eight children of Annie Mae and the Reverend Charles Cook, a Baptist minister. He had a brother, L.C., who some years later would become a member of the Doo Wop band Johnny Keyes and the Magnificents. The family moved to Chicago in 1933. Cooke attended Wendell Phillips Academy High School in Chicago, the same school that Nat “King” Cole had attended a few years earlier.^[7]

Cooke began his career singing gospel with his siblings in a group called The Singing Children. He first became known as lead singer with the Highway QC’s as a teenager. In 1950, Cooke replaced gospel tenor R.H. Harris as lead singer of the landmark gospel group The Soul Stirrers. Under Cooke’s leadership, the group signed with Specialty Records and recorded the hits “Peace in the Valley”, “How Far Am I From Canaan?”, “Jesus Paid the Debt”, and “One More River”, among many other gospel songs.

Crossover pop success

His first pop single, “Lovable” (1956), was released under the alias “Dale Cooke”^[2] in order not to alienate his gospel fan base (he sang with the Soul Stirrers until 1957); there was a considerable stigma against gospel singers performing secular music. However, it fooled no one^[8] – Cooke’s unique and distinctive vocals were easily recognized. Art Rupe, head of Specialty Records, the label of the Soul Stirrers, gave his blessing for Cooke to record secular music under his real name, but he was unhappy about the type of music Cooke and producer Bumps Blackwell were making. Rupe expected Cooke’s secular music to be similar to that of another Specialty Records artist, Little Richard. When Rupe walked in on a recording session and heard Cooke covering Gershwin, he was quite upset. After an argument between Rupe and Blackwell, Cooke and Blackwell left the label.

In 1957, Cooke appeared on ABC’sThe Guy Mitchell Show. That same year, he signed with Keen Records. His first release “You Send Me”, (the B-side of a reworking of George Gershwin’s “Summertime”)^[2][9] spent six weeks at #1 on the Billboard R&B chart. The song also had mainstream success, spending three weeks at #1 on the Billboard pop chart.^[10]

In 1961, Cooke started his own record label, SAR Records, with J.W. Alexander and his manager, Roy Crain.^[11] The label soon included The Simms Twins, The Valentinos, Bobby Womack, and Johnnie Taylor. Cooke then created a publishing imprint and management firm, then left Keen to sign with RCA Victor. One of his first RCA singles was the hit “Chain Gang”. It reached #2 on the Billboard pop chart and was followed by more hits, including “Sad Mood”, “Bring it on Home to Me” (with Lou Rawls on backing vocals), “Another Saturday Night” and “Twistin’ the Night Away”.

Like most R&B artists of his time, Cooke focused on singles; in all he had twenty-nine top-40 hits on the pop charts, and more on the R&B charts. In spite of this, he released a well received blues-inflected LP in 1963, Night Beat, and his most critically acclaimed studio album Ain’t That Good News, which featured five singles, in 1964.

Tragedy strikes for the first time

Tragedy struck the Cooke family in 1963 when beloved son Vincent, only 18 months old, wandered away from his family’s supervision and drowned in the pool, while Sam was away from the home. With a marriage already in trouble, largely due to Sam’s philandering, the split became wider and permanent, as Sam blamed his wife Barbara for the loss of his first-born. Cooke retreated into a deep depression and asked that no one wear black to the child’s funeral. He found his escape in out-of-town performances, which he agreed to at every opportunity.

Death

Cooke died at the age of thirty-three on December 11, 1964, at the Hacienda Motel at 9137 South Figueroa Street in Los Angeles, California. Bertha Franklin, manager of the motel, told police that she shot and killed Cooke in self-defense because he had attacked her. Police found Cooke’s body in Franklin’s apartment-office, clad only in a sports jacket and shoes, but no shirt, pants or underwear^. The shooting was ultimately ruled a justifiable homicide.^[8] His funeral was held in Chicago at A.R Leak Funeral Home, where thousands of fans had lined up for over four city blocks to view his body. Cooke was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Some posthumous releases followed, many of which became hits, including “A Change Is Gonna Come”, an early protest song that is generally regarded as his greatest composition. After Cooke’s death, his widow, Barbara, married Bobby Womack. Cooke’s daughter, Linda, later married Bobby’s brother, Cecil.

Just know that there was controversy and it looks like it’s still going on this day

Controversy 1

In March 1965, just three months after Sam Cooke‘s death, Womack created scandal by marrying Cooke’s widow, Barbara Campbell. Womack claimed he married her for fear that, if she were left alone, she would “do something crazy.”  They divorced in 1970.

Womack’s younger brother, Cecil, married Cooke and Campbell’s daughter Linda. The controversy derailed Womack’s career for some time. Womack and Linda collaborated on the hit song “Woman’s Gotta Have It” and he applied background vocals for his brother and Linda as the pair teamed up as Womack & Womack.^[7]

Controversy 2

The details of the case involving Cooke’s death are still in dispute. The official police record states that Cooke was shot dead by Bertha Franklin, manager of the Hacienda Motel, where Cooke had checked in earlier that evening. Franklin claimed that Cooke had broken into the manager’s office-apartment in a rage, wearing nothing but a shoe and a sports coat demanding to know the whereabouts of a woman who had accompanied him to the hotel. Franklin said that the woman was not in the office and that she told Cooke this, but the enraged Cooke did not believe her and violently grabbed her, demanding again to know the woman’s whereabouts. According to Franklin, she grappled with Cooke, the two of them fell to the floor, and she then got up and ran to retrieve her gun. She said that she then fired at Cooke, in self-defense, because she feared for her life. Cooke was struck once in the torso, and according to Franklin, he exclaimed, “Lady, you shot me,” before mounting a last charge at her. She said that she beat him over his head with a broomstick before he finally fell, mortally wounded by the gunshot.

According to Franklin and the motel’s owner, Evelyn Carr (whose last name is identified by some sources as Card, rather than Carr^[7]), they had been on the telephone together at the time of the incident. Thus, Carr claimed to have overheard Cooke’s intrusion and the ensuing conflict and gunshots. Carr called the police to request that they go to the motel, informing them that she believed a shooting had occurred.

A coroner‘s inquest was convened to investigate the incident. The woman who had accompanied Cooke to the motel was identified as Elisa Boyer, who had also called the police that night shortly before Carr. Boyer had called the police from a telephone booth near the motel, telling them she had just escaped being kidnapped.

Boyer told the police that she had first met Cooke earlier that night and had spent the evening in his company. She claimed that after they left a local nightclub together, she had repeatedly requested that he take her home, but he instead took her against her will to the Hacienda Motel. She claimed that once in one of the motel’s rooms, Cooke physically forced her onto the bed and that she was certain he was going to rape her. According to Boyer, when Cooke stepped into the bathroom for a moment, she quickly grabbed her clothes and ran from the room. She claimed that in her haste, she had also scooped up most of Cooke’s clothing by mistake. She said that she ran first to the manager’s office and knocked on the door seeking help. However, she said that the manager took too long in responding, so, fearing Cooke would soon be coming after her, she fled the motel altogether before the manager ever opened the door. She claimed she then put her own clothing back on, hid Cooke’s clothing, and went to the telephone booth from which she called police.

Boyer’s story is the only account of what happened between the two that night; however, her story has long been called into question. Inconsistencies between her version of events and details reported by other witnesses, as well as circumstantial evidence (e.g., thousands in cash that Cooke was reportedly carrying was never recovered, and Boyer was soon after arrested for prostitution),^] invited speculation that Boyer may have gone willingly to the motel with Cooke, then slipped out of the room with Cooke’s clothing in order to rob him, rather than to escape an attempted rape^.

Such questions were ultimately deemed beyond the scope of the inquest, whose purpose was to establish the circumstances of Franklin’s role in the shooting, not to determine precisely what had transpired between Cooke and Boyer preceding the event. Boyer’s leaving the motel room with almost all of Cooke’s clothing, regardless of exactly why she did so, combined with the fact that tests showed Cooke was inebriated at the time, provided what inquest jurors deemed a plausible explanation for Cooke’s bizarre behavior and state of dress, as reported by Franklin and Carr. This explanation, in conjunction with the fact that Carr’s testimony corroborated Franklin’s version of events, and the fact that police officials testified that both Boyer and Franklin had passed lie detector tests,^[7][16][17] was enough to convince the coroner’s jury to accept Franklin’s explanation, and return a verdict of justifiable homicide. With that verdict, authorities officially closed the case on Cooke’s death.

Some of Cooke’s family and supporters, however, have rejected Boyer’s version of events, as well as those given by Franklin and Carr. They believe that there was a conspiracy to murder Cooke and that the murder took place in some manner entirely different from the three official accounts. In her autobiography, Rage to Survive, singer Etta James claimed that she viewed Cooke’s body in the funeral home and that the injuries she observed were well beyond what could be explained by the official account of Franklin alone having fought with Cooke. James described Cooke as having been so badly beaten that his head was nearly separated from his shoulders, his hands were broken and crushed, and his nose mangled.

No concrete evidence supporting a conspiracy theory has been presented to date.

Legacy and cultural impact

The song “A Change Is Gonna Come” was played upon the death of Malcolm X, and was featured in Spike Lee’s film Malcolm X. It also serves as title for a season six episode of The West Wing in which James Taylor performs a version of the song.

Rapper Tupac Shakur references Cooke in a line of the song “Thugz Mansion”, and Nas references him in the song “We Major” with Kanye West. The Roots’ song “Stay Cool” suggests, “I got the soul of a young Sam Cooke.” The Irish rock-group Jetplane Landing have a song named “Sam Cooke”. Canadian punk band The Riptides pay homage to Cooke in “Change Gonna Come”. Steve Perry makes reference to Cooke’s tragic death in “Captured by the Moment”.

The Night Beats, a band from Seattle Washington, claim to have borrowed their name from Cooke’s album “Night Beat”.^[26]

He is once again mentioned by Nas on the song “Blunt Ashes”. The rapper talks about the marriage between Bobby Womack and Sam Cooke’s widow, suggesting Cooke’s discontent with the affair in the afterlife.

Rock star Rod Stewart once revealed to VH-1 that as a teen in the UK, he would lock himself in his room and spend hours studying Cooke’s vocal phrasings.

A fictional version of Cooke (portrayed by Paul Mooney) appeared briefly in the 1978 film, The Buddy Holly Story, leaving the stage at the Apollo Theater before Buddy and The Crickets went on. After being featured prominently in the 1985 film Witness,^[27] the song “Wonderful World” gained further exposure. “Wonderful World” was featured in one of two concurrently running Levi’s Jeans commercials in 1985 and became a hit in the United Kingdom because of this, reaching #2 in re-release. Two of Cooke’s songs, “Cupid” and “Twistin’ the Night Away” were also prominently featured in the 1987 movie, Innerspace. Other movies that featured his music are Animal House (“Wonderful World” and “Twistin’ the Night Away”), An American Werewolf in London, and Cadence (“Chain Gang”).

Cooke’s songs “Bring It on Home to Me” and “A Change is Gonna Come” were both featured in the 2001 film Ali. The opening scene of the movie consisted of a live reenactment of “Bring It on Home to Me”. Al Green’s cover of “A Change Is Gonna Come” is featured during the death scene of Malcolm X.

Alternative rock band The Wallflowers song “Sleepwalker” off of their 2000 album (Breach) featured the lyric “Cupid don’t draw back your bow/Sam Cooke didn’t know what I know.” The words are a reference to Cooke’s song, Cupid.

John Cougar Mellencamp’s song “Ain’t Even Done With the Night” contains the line “You got your hands in my back pockets, and Sam Cooke’s singin’ on the radio.”

R. Kelly performed “A Change Gonna Come”, during the “Ladies Make Some Noise Tour” in September 2009 in New York City, New York.

Colin Meloy of The Decemberists released a tour-only EP entitled Colin Meloy Sings Sam Cooke. The album was released to accompany his 2008 solo tour, and features five cover songs. “Cupid”, “Summertime”, “Thats Where Its At”, “Good Times”, and “Bring it on Home to Me”

Source: Wikipedia

This article was originally written in 1999 by Ebony Magazine,  “The 20 Most Important Events – in African American History.”   I took the liberty of editing it to include President Barack Obama as the 21st most important event in Black History.  A lot of the names on this list I’ve already featured, so I guess were going in right direction.  There are so many amazing accomplishments that are unknown to our youth and even we as adults are oblivious to the information that is so readily available to us.  These kids need to know more about the struggle.

In closing, I’d like to also say that I really enjoy doing this and I will continue to post a great a achievement in Black History regularly.  Clearly 28 days isn’t enough.  Enjoy, soak it all in and stay proud.

1. May 31, 1909

Approximately 300 Blacks and Whites met at the United Charities Building in New York City and organized the NAACP. James Weldon Johnson became the first Black secretary in 1920.

2. 1915

Great Migration to the North changed the demographics and the future of Black and White America, bringing millions of African-Americans to Chicago, Pittsburgh, Harlem and other Northern industrial centers.

3. Nov. 6, 1928

Oscar DePriest elected to 71st Congress from Chicago’s South Side, becoming the first Black congressman from the North and the first Black in Congress since the end of the first Reconstruction. By 2000, there were 39 Blacks in Congress, including 14 women.

4. Oct. 29, 1929

Collapse of stock market and beginning of “The Great Depression” traumatized Black America, which suffered astronomically high unemployment rates. The event also had a marked and lasting effect on the climate for Black businesses, which made extraordinary progress, especially in banking and insurance, before the Crash.

5. World War II

World War II forced fundamental changes in the world’s racial climate. In response to widespread protests over discrimination in war industries and the armed services, and a threat of a March on Washington, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 on June 25, 1941, banning racial and religious discrimination in war industries, government training programs and government industries. This was the first major action by the federal government in favor of Blacks since the Civil War. On July 26, 1948, in response to widespread Black protests and a threat of civil disobedience, President Harry Truman issued two executive orders, ending racial discrimination in federal employment and requiring equal treatment in the armed services. During the World War II period, which inaugurated a new world in Africa, Asia and the West Indies, Blacks made gains in most areas. More than 1,150,000 Blacks were inducted or drafted into the armed services. There were 7,768 Black commissioned officers on August 31, 1945, including the first Black general in the regular army, B.O. Davis Sr. Postwar racial conflicts, the GI bill, which helped create a new middle class, and the rising tide of color in the world changed the American racial dialogue.

6. Oct. 15-21, 1945

Fifth Pan-African Congress met in Manchester, England, and set the stage for the rebirth of independent states in Africa and the West Indies. W.E.B. DuBois, a pioneer of the Pan-African Movement, was elected president.

7. April 15, 1947

Jackie Robinson made his debut at Ebbets Field as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team and became the first Black in the Major Leagues in modern times. The event marked the beginning of integration in professional sports and other areas of American life.

8. Sep. 18, 1948

Ralph J. Bunche named acting United Nations mediator in Palestine. On September 22, 1950, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his successful mediation of the Israeli-Palestine conflict. He was the first Black to win the Nobel Prize.

9. May 17, 1954

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court outlawed legal segregation in the public school system. Landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, pressed by the NAACP and Black parents groups, sounded death knell for legal segregation in the United States. The decision was not strictly enforced and a great White backlash in the ’80s and ’90s turned the clock back in efforts to enforce desegregation in public school systems.

10. December 5, 1955

Historic bus boycott started in Montgomery, Ala., marking the emergence of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. and the beginning of the end of segregation on buses in Southern cities. This marked the beginning of the Freedom Movement, which continued through the ’60s with the Sit-In Movement and Freedom Rides.

11. March 6, 1957

Independence ceremony in Ghana marked the beginning of the end of colonial rule in Africa.

12. Sept. 25, 1957

Nine Little Rock, Ark., schoolchildren were escorted to Central High School by federal troops, ending widepread efforts to stop court-enforced desegregation. On Oct. 1, 1962, James Meredith, escorted by 12,000 federal troops, entered the University of Mississippi.

13. Aug. 6, 1962

Jamaica proclaimed independent. Trinidad-Tobago celebrated its independence on August 31.

14. Aug. 28, 1963

Some 300,000 people participated in the March on Washington, the largest civil rights demonstration to that date.

15. July 2, 1964

Civil Rights Bill, with public accommodations and fair employment sections, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

16. March 21, 1965

Thousands of marchers, led by Martin Luther King Jr. and protected by federal troops, completed the first leg of the Selma-to-Montgomery March, which forced the landmark Voting Rights Bill and changed the political landscape of the South, leading, among other things, to the election of two White Southern presidents.

17. Aug. 11, 1965

Insurrection in Watts section of Los Angeles raised the stakes and forced a reappraisal of racism in America.

18. Nov. 7, 1967

Carl Stokes of Cleveland and Richard Hatcher of Gary, Ind., became the first Black elected mayors of major U.S. cities, inaugurating an era of major elections and major political appointments for Blacks. By 1974, the Joint Center for Political Studies reported 2,991 Black elected officials, including 108 Black mayors.

19. April 4, 1968

Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tenn., triggered a national crisis with rioting in more than 100 cities and calls for racial renewal and repentance. In response to massive pressure, President Ronald Reagan signed on Nov. 2, 1983, a bill making the third Monday in January a national holiday in his honor.

20. May 2, 1994

Nelson Mandela inaugurated as president of South Africa, formally ending White governments in Black Africa.

21. 2008

Barack Hussein Obama II,  born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned after his election to the presidency in November 2008.  He is also a Noble Peace Prize recipient.

 

Source: Ebony Magazine, 1999

Mahalia Jackson October 26, 1911^[1] – January 27, 1972) was an African-American gospel singer. Possessing a powerful contralto voice,^[2] she was referred to as “The Queen of Gospel”.^[1][3][4] Jackson became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world, and was heralded internationally as a singer and civil rights activist; entertainer Harry Belafonte called her “the single most powerful black woman in the United States”.^[5] She recorded about 30 albums (mostly for Columbia Records) during her career, and her 45 rpm records included a dozen “golds”—million-sellers.

1950s – 1970s

In 1950 she became the first gospel singer to perform at New York’s Carnegie Hall when Joe Bostic produced the “Negro Gospel and Religious Music Festival”. She started touring Europe in 1952 and was hailed by critics as the “world’s greatest gospel singer”. In Paris she was called the Angel of Peace, and throughout the continent she sang to capacity audiences. The tour, however, had to be cut short due to exhaustion. Jackson began a radio series on CBS and signed to Columbia Records in 1954. Down Beat music magazine stated on November 17, 1954: “It is generally agreed that the greatest spiritual singer now alive is Mahalia Jackson.”^[13] Her debut album for Columbia was The World’s Greatest Gospel Singer, recorded in 1954, followed by a Christmas Album called Sweet Little Jesus Boy, and Bless This House in 1956.

With her mainstream success, Jackson was criticized by some gospel purists who felt she had watered down her sound for popular accessibility. Jackson had many notable accomplishments during this period, including her performance of many songs in the 1958 film, St. Louis Blues, and singing “Trouble of the World” in 1959′s Imitation of Life; recording with Percy Faith. When Mahalia Jackson recorded with Percy Faith in the Power and the Glory album, the Orchestra arched their bows to honor her in solemn recognition of her great voice. She was the main attraction in the first gospel music showcase at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1957, which was organized by Joe Bostic and recorded by the VOICE OF AMERICA, and performed again in 1958 (Newport 1958). She was also present at the opening night of Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music in December 1957.^[14] In 1961 she sang at U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration. She recorded her second Christmas album Silent Night (Songs for Christmas) in 1962. By this time, she had also become a familiar face to British television viewers as a result of short films of her performing that were occasionally shown. Historian Noel Serrano stated; “God touched the vocal chords of this Great Woman and placed a special elixir to sing for His honor and Glory!”^{[citation needed]}

At the March on Washington in 1963, she sang in front of 250,000 people “How I Got Over” and “I’ve Been ‘Buked, and I’ve Been Scorned”. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech there. She also sang “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” at his funeral after he was assassinated in 1968. Jackson sang to crowds at the 1964 New York World’s Fair and was accompanied by “wonderboy preacher” Al Sharpton.^[15] She toured Europe again in 1961 (Recorded Live in Europe 1961), 1963–1964, 1967, 1968 and 1969. In 1970, she performed for Liberian President William Tubman.

Her last album was What The World Needs Now (1969). She ended her career in 1971 with a concert in Germany, and when she returned, made one of her final television appearances on The Flip Wilson Show. Jackson devoted much of her time and energy to helping others. She established the Mahalia Jackson Scholarship Foundation for young people who wanted to attend college. For her efforts in helping international understanding, she received the Silver Dove Award. Chicago remained her home until the end. She opened a beauty parlor and a florist shop with her earnings, while also investing in real estate ($100,000 a year at her peak).^[16]

Mahalia Jackson died in Chicago on January 27, 1972 of heart failure and diabetes complications. Two cities paid tribute, Chicago and New Orleans. Beginning in Chicago, outside the Greater Salem Baptist Church, 50,000 people filed silently past her mahogany, glass-topped coffin in final tribute to the queen of gospel song.^[17] The next day, as many as could — 6,000 or more — filled every seat and stood along the walls of the city’s public concert hall, the Arie Crown Theater of McCormick Place, for a two-hour funeral service. Mahalia’s pastor, the Rev. Leon Jenkins, Mayor Richard J. Daley, Mrs. Coretta Scott King eulogized Mahalia during the Chicago funeral as “a friend – proud, black and beautiful”. Sammy Davis, Jr. and Ella Fitzgerald paid their respects. Dr. Joseph H. Jackson, president of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., delivered the eulogy at Chicago funeral. Aretha Franklin closed the Chicago rites with a moving rendition of “Precious Lord, Take My Hand”.

Three days later, a thousand miles away, the scene repeated itself: again the long lines, again the silent tribute, again the thousands filling the great hall of the Rivergate Convention Center in downtown New Orleans this time. Mayor Moon Landrieu and Louisiana Governor John J. McKeithen joined gospel singer Bessie Griffin; Dick Gregory praised ‘Mahalia’s “moral force” as main reason for her success”, and Lou Rawls sang “Just a Closer Walk With Thee”. The funeral cortège of 24 limousines drove slowly past her childhood place of worship, Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, where her recordings played through loudspeakers. It made its way to Providence Memorial Park in Metairie, Louisiana where Jackson was entombed.^[18] Despite the inscription of Jackson’s birth year on her headstone as 1912, she was actually born in 1911. Among Mahalia’s surviving relatives is her great-nephew, Indiana Pacers forward Danny Granger.

Jackson’s estate was reported at “more than a million dollars”. Some reporters estimated that record royalties, TV and movie residuals, and various investments made it worth more. The bulk of the estate was left to a number of relatives — many of whom cared for Mahalia during her early years. Among principal heirs were relatives including her half-brother John Jackson and aunt Hannah Robinson. Neither ex-husband, Isaac Hockenhull (1936–1941) or Sigmund Galloway (1964–1967), was noted in her will.^[19]

Legacy and honors

Mahalia Jackson’s music was never played widely on any but traditional gospel and traditional Christian radio stations. Her music was heard for decades on Family Radio. Her good friend Martin Luther King Jr said, “A voice like hers comes along once in a millennium.” She was a close friend of Doris Akers, one of the most prolific gospel composers of the 20th century. In 1958, they co-wrote the hit, “Lord, Don’t Move The Mountain”. Mahalia also sang many of Akers’ own compositions such as, “God Is So Good To Me”, “God Spoke To Me One Day”, “Trouble”, “Lead On, Lord Jesus”, and “He’s A Light Unto My Pathway”, helping Doris to secure her position as the leading female Gospel composer of that time. In addition to sharing her singing talent with the world, she mentored the extraordinarily gifted Aretha Franklin. Mahalia was also good friends with Dorothy Norwood and fellow Chicago-based gospel singer Albertina Walker. She also discovered a young Della Reese. On the twentieth anniversary of her passing, Smithsonian Folkways Recording commemorated Jackson with the album I Sing Because I’m Happy, which includes interviews about her childhood conducted by Jules Scherwin.

American Idol winner and Grammy Award-winning R&B singer Fantasia Barrino has been cast to play Mahalia Jackson in a biopic about her life. The movie will be based on the 1993 book Got to Tell It: Mahalia Jackson, Queen of Gospel. The film is said to be directed by Euzhan Palcy, according to The Hollywood Reporter.^[20]

The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences created the Gospel Music or Other Religious Recording category for Jackson making her the first Gospel Music Artist to win the prestigious Grammy Award.

In December 2008, she was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

A prominent namesake in her native New Orleans is the Mahalia Jackson Theatre for the Performing Arts, which was remodeled and reopened on January 17, 2009, with a gala ceremony featuring Placido Domingo, Patricia Clarkson, and the New Orleans Opera directed by Robert Dyall.

Source: Wikipedia

Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres. He was one of the first black Americans to host a television variety show, and has maintained worldwide popularity since his death.

On November 5, 1956, The Nat King Cole Show debuted on NBC-TV. The Cole program was the first of its kind hosted by an African-American, which created controversy at the time.^[6]

Beginning as a 15-minute pops show on Monday night, the program was expanded to a half hour in July 1957. Despite the efforts of NBC, as well as many of Cole’s industry colleagues—many of whom, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte, Frankie Laine, Mel Tormé, Peggy Lee, and Eartha Kitt worked for industry scale (or even for no pay)^[6] in order to help the show save money—The Nat King Cole Show was ultimately done in by lack of a national sponsorship.^[6] Companies such as Rheingold Beer assumed regional sponsorship of the show, but a national sponsor never appeared.^[6]

The last episode of “The Nat King Cole Show” aired December 17, 1957. Cole had survived for over a year, and it was he, not NBC, who ultimately decided to pull the plug on the show.^[7] NBC, as well as Cole himself, had been operating at an extreme financial loss.^{[citation needed]} Commenting on the lack of sponsorship his show received, Cole quipped shortly after its demise, “Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark.”^[8][9] This statement, with the passing of time, has fueled the urban legend that Cole’s show had to close down despite enormous popularity. In fact, the Cole program was routinely beaten by the competition at ABC, which was then riding high with its travel and western shows.^{[citation needed]} In addition, musical variety series have always been risky enterprises with a fickle public; among the one-season casualties are Frank Sinatra in 1957, Judy Garland in 1963, and Julie Andrews in 1972.

In January 1964, Cole made one of his final television appearances on The Jack Benny Program. In his typically magnanimous fashion, Benny allowed his guest star to steal the show. Cole sang “When I Fall in Love” in perhaps his finest and most memorable performance. Cole was introduced as “the best friend a song ever had” and traded very humorous banter with Benny. Cole highlighted a classic Benny skit in which Benny is upstaged by an emergency stand-in drummer. Introduced as Cole’s cousin, five-year-old James Bradley, Jr., stunned Benny with incredible drumming talent and participated with Cole in playful banter at Benny’s expense. It would prove to be one of Cole’s last performances.

Cole was a heavy smoker of Kool menthol cigarettes, believing that smoking up to three packs a day gave his voice the rich sound it had (Cole would smoke several cigarettes in rapid succession before a recording for this very purpose). The many years of smoking caught up with him, resulting in his death from lung cancer on February 15, 1965, at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California. Cole was 45.

Cole’s funeral was held at St. James Episcopal Church on Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles. His remains were interred inside Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. His last album, L-O-V-E, was recorded in early December 1964—just a few days before he entered the hospital for cancer treatment—and was released just prior to his death. It peaked at #4 on the Billboard Albums chart in the spring of 1965. A “Best Of” album went gold in 1968. His 1957 recording of “When I Fall In Love” reached #4 in the UK charts in 1987.

In 1983, an archivist for EMI Electrola Records, EMI (Capitol’s parent company) Records’ subsidiary in Germany, discovered some songs Cole had recorded but that had never been released, including one in Japanese and another in Spanish (“Tu Eres Tan Amable”). Capitol released them later that year as the LP “Unreleased.”

Cole was inducted into both the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. In 1990, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 1997 was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. In 2007, he was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

In 1991, Mosaic Records released “The Complete Capitol Recordings of the Nat King Cole Trio,” an 18-compact-disc set consisting of 349 songs. (This special compilation also was available as a 27-LP set.)

Cole’s youngest brother, Freddy Cole, and Cole’s daughter Natalie are also singers. In the summer of 1991, Natalie Cole and her father had a hit when Natalie mixed her own voice with her father’s 1961 rendition of “Unforgettable” as part of a tribute album to her father’s music. The song and album of the same name won seven Grammy awards in 1992.

Source: Wikipedia