Myrlie Evers---Civil Rights Heroine.

Myrlie Evers

Civil rights activist, writer. Born Myrlie Louise Beasley on March 17, 1933, in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Raised by her grandmother, a schoolteacher, Evers-Williams loved learning and music. Growing up in the segregated South, she went to Alcorn A&M College, one of the only colleges in the state that accepted African American students. While at Alcorn, she met Medgar Evers, a World War II veteran several years her senior. The couple fell in love and married in December of 1951.

When her husband became the Mississippi field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Evers-Williams worked alongside him. She assisted him as he strove to end the unjust practice of racial segregation in schools and other public facilities and campaigned for voting rights as many African Americans were denied this right in the South. Medgar made enemies of those who didn’t want race relations in the South to change. On June 12, 1963, Medger Evers was shot to death in front of his home by a white supremacist named Brian De La Beckwith.


After her husband’s murder, Evers-Williams fought hard to see his killer brought to justice. Although Beckwith was arrested and brought to trial on murder charges, two all-white juries could not reach a verdict in the case. It would take approximately 30 years for justice to be served, with Williams-Evers keeping the case alive and pushing for Beckwith to pay for his crime. Her efforts were not in vain. In the early 1990s, Beckwith was again arrested and later convicted by a multi-racial jury.

As chairperson of the NAACP, Evers-Williams worked to restore the tarnished image of the organization. She also helped improve its financial status, raising enough funds to eliminate its debt. Evers-Williams received many honors for her work, including being named Woman of the Year by Ms. Magazine. With the organization financially stable, she decided to not seek re-election as chairperson in 1998.


After leaving her post, Evers-Williams established the Medgar Evers Institute in Jackson, Mississippi. She also wrote her autobiography entitled Watch Me Fly: What I Learned on the Way to Becoming the Woman I Was Meant to Be(1999), and many readers were moved by her powerful story.

Evers-Williams has continued to preserve the memory of her first husband with one of her latest projects. She served as editor on The Autobiography of Medgar Evers: A Hero’s Life and Legacy Revealed Through His Writings, Letters, and Speeches

Gone but not forgotten... Gregory Hines

Tap dancer, actor, director, musician. Born February 14, 1946 in New York City. Involved in show business at an early age, Hines grew up as a member of Hines, Hines, and Dad alongside his father and older brothers. He studied dance with master tap dancer Henry Le Tang and spent much of his early career dancing at the Apollo Theater, gleaning knowledge from such fellow performers as the Nicholas Brothers and Sandman Sims.

In 1973, he left Hines, Hines, and Dad to form a jazz-rock group called Severance. But the smooth-as-silk tap dancer soon returned to New York where he launched a distinguished Broadway career that won him a Tony award in 1992 for the headlining role in George C. Wolfe's musical tribute Jelly's Last Jam.

In 1981, Hines landed his first film role, as a Roman slave in Mel Brooks' History of the World-Part 1, as a last-minute replacement for an ailing Richard Pryor. That role proved a stepping stone in Hines' film career, and he went on to star in a range of movies, including 1984's The Cotton Club and White Nights opposite Mikhail Baryshnikov the following year. He also exhibited his comedic timing in such films as Renaissance Man in 1994. That same year, he made his directorial debut with Bleeding Hearts.

In 1987, Hines released an album, simply titled Gregory Hines. He also starred in the short-lived CBS sitcom The Gregory Hines Show, in which he played a single father having trouble reentering the dating scene.

Hines has a daughter Daria with his first wife, Patricia Panella. He has a son Zachary and a stepdaughter Jessica with his second wife, Pamela Koslow.

Gregory Hines died of cancer in Los Angeles August 9, 2003 at the age of 57.

Nina Simone....#BlackHistoryMonth

Singer, musician, composer, arranger, civil rights activist. Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on February 21, 1933, in Tryon, North Carolina.


She took the stage name Nina Simone—"Nina" came from a nickname meaning "little one" and "Simone" after the actress Simone Signoret. She won over such fans as Harlem Renaissance writers Langston Hughes, Lorraine Hansberry, and James Baldwin.


By the mid-1960s, Simone became known as the voice of the civil rights movement. She wrote "Mississippi Goddam" in response to the 1963 assassination of Medgar Evers and the Birmingham church bombing that killed four young African-American girls


After the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, Simone penned "Why (The King of Love Is Dead)." She also wrote "Young, Gifted and Black," borrowing the title of a play by Hansberry, which became a popular anthem at the time.


In her final years, Simone battled with health problems. Some reports indicate she was battling breast cancer, but that claim has not been officially confirmed. She died on April 21, 2003, at her home in Carry-le-Rouet, France.


While she may be gone, Simone left a lasting impression on the world of music. She sang to share her truth, and her music still resonates with great emotion and power. Simone has inspired an array of performers, from Aretha Franklin to Joni Mitchell. Her deep, distinctive voice continues to be a popular choice for television and film soundtracks, from documentaries to comedies to dramas.

Mike Tomlin makes History...

Mike Tomlin

In honor of Super Bowl XLV Black History Spotlight goes to Mike Tomlin head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Read On.....

Mike Tomlin was named the 16th head coach in Pittsburgh Steelers history on Jan. 22, 2007. Hired at the age of 34, Tomlin became only the third head coach hired by the Steelers since 1969.

He is the tenth African-American head coach in NFL history, and first in Steelers history.

Tomlin became the youngest head coach in NFL history to coach in and win a Super Bowl when he led the Steelers to a 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII. 

By winning the Super Bowl in only his second season as a head coach, he also became the fastest to win a Super Bowl title in Steelers history.

Tomlin (3/15/72) was born in Hampton, Va. He and his wife, Kiya, have two sons, Dino and Mason and a daughterHarlyn Quinn.

Black History Month---- 1st Lady Of Jazz

I really enjoyed this last year and I'll be showcasing it again. Highlighting the accomplishments of past African-American men and woman who paved the way and open doors for young people like me today. My mother came up in a era of segregation so it's not as though it happened that long ago. In school it was a huge rite of passage to be educated on people like Martin Luther King, Harriet Tubman, Fredrick Douglas, Mae Jemison, and countless others.


I remember in 12th grade taking up African-American studies an elective thats very absent from classrooms today. So in continuing on with tradition I present to you...

Ella Fitzgerald

A performance at the Apollo Theater’s famed Amateur Night in 1934 set Fitzgerald’s career in motion. Over the next seven decades, she worked with some of the most important artists in the music industry including Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and Frank Sinatra.

She was dubbed “The First Lady of Jazz” for her mainstream popularity and unparalleled vocal talents—even though her less–than–svelte appearance and upbeat singing style was in contrast to the sultry and bluesy female singers of her day. Her unique ability for mimicking instrumental sounds helped popularize the vocal improvisation of “scatting,” which became her signature technique.

Ella recorded over 200 albums and around 2,000 songs in her lifetime, singing the works of some of the most popular composers such as Cole Porter, Gershwin and Irving Berlin.

Ella Fitzgerald died in 1996 at the age of 79, and is remembered as one of the most influential jazz artists of the 20th century.

Black History Film: Blaxploitation....

In 1965 the young black actor Sidney Poitier starred alongside Anne Bancroft in a thriller called 'The Slender Thread'. The job of scoring the film went to Quincy Jones, a jazz trumpeter from Lionel Hampton's band. He had completed scores for 'The Pawnbroker' and 'Mirage' by this time and was set to score a number of television series. He said of Sidney Pollack, director of 'Slender Thread', that he was 'a modern guy who didn't get shocked when he heard a far-out piece of music'. This gave him the artistic freedom to experiment outside of the traditional jazz score. The track 'Big Sir' which closes the album gave a hint at what was to come. Uptempo, with a strong 'four' feel, it captured the evolving soul sound using full, brassy instrumentation.

Poitier went on to star in the racially-charged 'Guess who's coming to dinner?' in which he played white middle-class Katherine Houghton's boyfriend to the mixed reactions of her friends and relatives. 'In the heat of the night' saw Poitier playing a cop coping with Rod Steiger's racist redneck sheriff. These films showed Poitier in a presentable, middle-class light, tolerated rather than accepted by the white society in which he found himself.

While Poitier set about taking the Hollywood screen by storm, Jones meanwhile was in considerable demand as a soundtrack composer. Amongst his most well-known works are T.V. themes such as 'Ironside', 'Sanford and Son' and soundtracks for a number of later major Hollywood releases like 'The Heist' ($) with Warren Beatty and 'The Italian Job' with Michael Caine.

Although Poitier's films, mainstream Hollywood creations at best, suggested that it was possible for blacks to be accepted into white American society, the reality for many was harshly different. Race riots had broken out in cities across the US. The Black Panthers, with a large following in deprived areas of the big cities, were advocating militant action. Regardless of Poitier's positive influence on society through his films, they simply did not reflect life for the black majority at that time.

By now, major 'black' artists such as Funkadelic, the Impressions, Sly's multiracial Family Stone and even James Brown were producing music which carried a serious political message on the back of an angular, forceful groove. The R&B charts proved that demand for 'music with a message' was at a high. Black audiences wanted cinema that reflected their daily experiences in the same way.

As the 1970's began, these wants were met in two dinstinct forms. The first, following Poitier's lead, provided a mix of comedy and serious drama which happened to include black lead roles. Bill Cosby, Flip Wilson and later Richard Pryor started their careers in this way. The music in these films also tended to be 'acceptable' to the white-owned studios, produced by Motown-style soul artists such as Curtis Mayfield. Vocal duties tended to be taken up by Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight or one of the Staples Singers. The subject matter reflected the big studios' unease with handling the pressing social issues of the time.

The films which produced the most innovative music, if not plot, were the black alternative to these mainstream offerings. Now known as 'blaxploitation' films, they satisfied the demand from inner-city audiences for movies made by and for blacks. It should be noted that the term 'blaxploitation' refers to the films' continuation of the trashy 'exploitation' films of the 1960's rather than the film studios 'using' black actors.

Early examples tended to follow a typical James Bond style. 1969's 'The Lost Man' (Quincy Jones soundtrack) and the British 'Uptight' (Booker T & the MGs) provided two notable early soundtrack albums.

As these films saw a commercial release the talented black director Melvin Van Peebles was working on a comic drama in which a white bigot wakes up to discover he has black skin. Released in 1970, 'Watermelon Man' proved to be a hit and propelled Peebles into the Hollywood limelight. Hoping that success would allow him to make a film closer to his experiences, he began to produce a film written for the black audience and quickly discovered that the major studios wouldn't touch it.

Called 'Sweet Sweetback's Badaaass Song', it was vicious and uncompromising and deemed inaccessible to whites. Peebles went ahead and produced it anyway, financing it largely himself. Unable to show the film in many cinemas, he persuaded a few black cinemas in Detroit, San Francisco and New York to show it. The response was incredible. People queued in their hundreds to see what was essentially the tale of a promiscuous black antihero as he makes his way towards Mexico to evade the white police. Peebles wrote his own score and enlisted the assistance of a newly-formed group called Earth, Wind and Fire who happened to be friends with one of his production crew.

Almost simultaneously, MGM Studios were shooting the first big-budget Hollywood blaxploitation film, 'Shaft'. The studio had been struggling and badly needed a hit movie to revive its flagging fortunes. In the film, according to MGM's synopsis, a 'black, muscular, fine-looking' private detective called John Shaft (played by Richard Roundtree) comes up against a variety of mobsters, hustlers and kidnappers, proving himself handy both in bed and with a gun. White critics proclaimed that it was a true reflection of life on the streets when it was really nothing more than a slick thriller that just happened to feature black actors.

MGM were delighted when 'Shaft' went on to win an Oscar. The statuette was awarded to long-time Stax records artist and arranger Isaac Hayes for his 'Theme from Shaft'. His appearance at the Oscar ceremony had as much of an impact as his music. He appeared on a floating piano in a shirt made entirely of chains.

The theme is one of the most memorable and enduring pieces of music written for film. Beginning with a toppy, tight hi-hat rhythm complimented by a superbly edgy wah-wah guitar, the theme told the entire story of the film inside three minutes. The lyrics, thanks to Hayes' accomplished songwriting backgound, simultaneously satirised and glamorised the hero. The whole score was strong, following cinema convention in that slow ballads accompanied intimacy and brass and drums were used for the chase scenes. The difference was in the funk; gritty but danceable, the album went on to sell in the millions and remains a classic.

Most of the soundtrack albums that followed, in the same way as 'Shaft', provided a number of hit singles in their own right. Shaft's soundtrack, and the film itself, set the style of black movies for the next five years before the genre died out as it became increasingly ridiculous.

'Shaft' was quickly followed by a sequel, 'Shaft's Big Score', for which the soundtrack was written by the film's director Gordon Parks, with help from O.C. Smith who provided the vocals. The third, and last, in the film series was 'Shaft in Africa' which blended Johnny Pate's jazz background and experience as arranger for The Impressions with African rhythms and a hefty slab of the funk. The Four Tops provided a great theme and hit single, 'Are You Man Enough', for the soundtrack. This album features many strong tracks and is well worth seeking out. 'Shaft' also spawned a TV spinoff series.
1972 saw the artistic peak of the blaxploitation soundtrack. Several of America's biggest black artists were working on soundtracks simultaneously. Marvin Gaye's superb 'Trouble Man' album, much covered and respected, provided the only significant outlet for his jazz aspirations of his career, and allowed him to include several instrumental funk tracks. Bobby Womack, assisted by jazz soundtrack veteran
J.J.Johnson, showcased some of his finest soul tracks on 'Across 110th St.' The highlight of this period was undeniably Curtis Mayfield's 'Superfly'. Only four years previously Mayfield had been producing upbeat, happy songs for The Impressions. He had by now absorbed the rhymical influence of James Brown's music along with the melodic feel of Marvin Gaye and was producing music wide-ranging in mood. 'Superfly' was as violent a movie as you could find. It romanticised the antics of a drug dealer antihero, Priest, played by Ron O'Neal. Mayfield's beautiful and compassionate songs completely undermined the apparent message of the movie and represent his finest work.

The films that followed became more formulaic as the seventies progressed. Plot-wise, most of them were either 'private detective takes on the mob' or 'dealer becomes king of the pimps'. Record companies fought to add their biggest stars to any soundtrack they could get space on. Virtually all of the major soul artists and many minor stars of the period can be found on a blaxploitation album.

James Brown, ably assisted by regular JBs trombonist Fred Wesley, provided scores to 1973's 'Black Caesar' and 1974's 'Slaughter's Big Rip-Off'. The latter was a sequel to 'Slaughter', which had no soundtrack LP but featured a Billy Preston theme song. Interestingly, James Brown's best written-for-film album, 'The Payback', was rejected by director Larry Cohen for 'not being James Brown enough, y'know?'. The film was 'Hell Up In Harlem' and eventually featured an Edwin Starr soundtrack.

Solomon Burke wrote music for 'Cool Breeze' (1972, with assistance from Gene Page) and 'Hammer' (1973), for which an album was never issued. Allen Toussaint scored 'Black Samson', released in 1974. Gene Page, with the Hues Corporation, wrote 1972's 'Blacula' soundtrack while Roy Ayers produced the superb 'Coffy' in 1973. The Blackbyrds made their contribution with 'Cornbread, Earl and Me' while The Impressions provided songs for 'Three The Hard Way'. Barry White wrote music for 1974's 'Together Brothers' which included some solid stripped-down funk instrumentals. Even drummer Bernard Purdie wrote a score to an erotic film called 'Lialeh' in 1974, subsequently issued on a scarce LP.

Motown's Wille Hutch provided two fine albums in the form of 'The Mack' (1973) and 'Foxy Brown' (1974). J.J.Johnson, a veteran jazz musician with a strong ear for soundtrack composition, often wrote his best work in collaboration with other artists. 1971's Bill Cosby western 'Man and Boy' saw him working with Quincy Jones and Bill Withers. The superb 'Across 110th Street' was written with Bobby Womack. Johnson also wrote the music for 'Willie Dynamite' (with Martha Reeves) and 'Cleopatra Jones' which included a hit theme from Joe Simon and vocals from Millie Jackson.

A relatively early blaxploitation release, 'Come Back Charleston Blue' features an interesting 1920s style soundtrack thanks to Quincy Jones. This album also includes Donny Hathaway's soulful classic 'Ghetto Boy'. The 1973 sequel to 'Black Caesar', 'Hell Up In Harlem' had a theme song by Edwin Starr while Barbara Mason sang the theme to 'Sheba Baby' in 1975. The unlikely choice of Osibisa provided the 'Superfly' soundtrack sequel in the form of 'Superfly T.N.T.' in 1973.

Many of the best blaxploitation soundtracks were issued on major record labels, for which the collector should be thankful. Sales figures for these albums were invariably respectable but failed to live up to those of the original 'Shaft' LP. In addition to the mainstream releases there were a number of notable independent issues. The Fantasy label issued the soundtrack to the adult cartoon 'Fritz The Cat' and followed this up with 'Heavy Traffic'. Ed Bogas and Ray Shanklin, responsible for the original material on these two albums, wrote a further soundtrack to a serious black drama 'Black Girl' on Fantasy with the assistance of a number of great studio jazz musicians including Bud Shank. The Rimshots, studio band of the Platinum / Stang label, contributed tracks to the Stang label's 1976 score to 'Patty'. Bizarrely this all-soul album was taken from a film about Patty Hearst.

In a fitting close to the mainstream blaxploitation genre, Isaac Hayes provided soundtracks to, and performances in, two films in 1974 and 1975, 'Truck Turner' and 'Three Tough Guys'. Although both albums have good funk moments (check out 'Tough Guys Theme' and 'Pursuit of the Pimpmobile' from 'Truck Turner') they're not as vibrant and consistent as 'Shaft'.

The cinema genre had effectively ended as a creative force but the musical influence continued. Curtis Mayfield produced the soundtrack to 'Short Eyes' and appeared in the film, and arranged 'Let's Do It Again' for The Staples Singers and 'Sparkle' for Aretha Franklin. War made a late appearance with the soundtrack to 'Youngblood' in 1978.

The proliferation of action and kung-fu B-movies during the late 1970s provided source material for several notable special-pressing soundtrack albums to accompany the original films. The obscure Happy Fox label gathered a number of small-time soul artists to score 'Black Fist' in 1977. In the same year the abysmal action movie 'Bare Knuckles' spawned a superb soundtrack album on the tiny Gucci label scored by Vic Caesar, one of the stars of the movie.

It should be noted that, surprisingly, a large proportion of blaxploitation film soundtracks were never issued on commercial soundtrack albums. The movies for which a soundtrack was issued were not necessarily those with the biggest stars or highest budget, a fact that may dismay blaxploitation film enthusiasts. A limited selection of tracks from otherwise-unissued scores can be found on sound library or special pressing LPs.

Many of the soundtracks to these movies, like the films themselves, disappeared into obscurity during the 1980s. The recent revival of interest in cinema and 1970s culture has lead to a corresponding desire to explore the music of the blaxploitation genre, and with it the long-overdue acknowledgement of the huge influence of its artists on modern music.

Black HERstory...Wilma Rudolph

Athlete, Olympic track and field champion. Born on June 23, 1940, in St. Bethlehem, Tennessee. Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field events at the Olympics. But the road to victory was not an easy one for her. Born premature and sickly as a child, Rudolph had problems with her left leg and had to wear a brace. It was with great determination and with the help of physical therapy that she was able to overcome her physical disabilities. Growing up in the South during days of segregation, Rudolph attended an African-American high school where she played on the basketball team. A naturally gifted runner, she later recruited for the track team.

While still in high school, Rudolph qualified for the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. At the age of 16, she was the youngest member of the U.S. team and won a bronze medal in the sprint relay event. After finishing high school, Rudolph enrolled at Tennessee State University where she studied education. She also trained hard for the next Olympics.

Held in Rome, Italy, the 1960 Olympics were a golden time for Rudolph. She won the 100 meter, 200 meter, and sprint relay events, making her one of the popular athletes from the games. This first-class sprinter became a sports superstar, celebrated around the world for her achievements. She made numerous appearances on television and received several honors, including being named the Associated Press Woman Athlete of the Year twice.

After retiring from competition in the early 1960s, Rudolph worked as a teacher and a track coach. She shared her remarkable story with the world in 1977 with her autobiography, Wilma. Her book was later turned into a television film. In the 1980s, she was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame and established the Wilma Rudolph Foundation to promote amateur athletics.

Rudolph died on November 12, 1994, near Nashville, Tennessee, from brain cancer. In 2004, the United States Postal Service honored this Olympic champion by featuring her likeness on a 23-cent stamp. She is remembered as one of the fastest women in track and as a source of great inspiration for generations of African-American athletes.

Jesse Owens...Tack Star ★

born September 12, 1913, Oakville, Alabama, U.S.—died March 31, 1980, Phoenix, Arizona) American track-and-field athlete, who set a world record in the running broad jump (also called long jump) that stood for 25 years and who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. His four Olympic victories were a blow to Adolf Hitler's intention to use the Games to demonstrate Aryan superiority.

As a student in a Cleveland, Ohio, high school, Owens won three events at the 1933 National Interscholastic Championships in Chicago. In one day, May 25, 1935, while competing for Ohio State University (Columbus) in a Western (later Big Ten) Conference track-and-field meet at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Owens equaled the world record for the 100-yard dash (9.4 sec) and broke the world records for the 220-yard dash (20.3 sec), the 220-yard low hurdles (22.6 sec), and the long jump (8.13 metres [26.67 feet]).

Owens's performance at the 1936 Berlin Olympics has become legend, both for his brilliant gold-medal efforts in the 100-metre run (10.3 sec, an Olympic record), the 200-metre run (20.7 sec, a world record), the long jump (8.06 metres [26.4 feet]), and the 4 100-metre relay (39.8 sec) and for events away from the track. One popular tale that arose from Owens's victories was that of the “snub,” the notion that Hitler refused to shake hands with Owens because he was an African American. In truth, by the second day of competition, when Owens won the 100-metre final, Hitler had decided to no longer publicly congratulate any of the athletes. The previous day the International Olympic Committee president, angry that Hitler had publicly congratulated only a few German and Finnish winners before leaving the stadium after the German competitors were eliminated from the day's final event, insisted that the German chancellor congratulate all or none of the victors. Unaware of the situation, American papers reported the “snub,” and the myth grew over the years.

Despite the politically charged atmosphere of the Berlin Games, Owens was adored by the German public, and it was German long jumper Carl Ludwig (“Luz”) Long who aided Owens through a bad start in the long jump competition. Owens was flustered to learn that what he had thought was a practice jump had been counted as his first attempt. Unsettled, he foot-faulted the second attempt. Before Owens's last jump, Long suggested that the American place a towel in front of the take-off board. Leaping from that point, Owens qualified for the finals, eventually beating Long (later his close friend) for the gold.

For a time, Owens held alone or shared the world records for all sprint distances recognized by the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF; later International Association of Athletics Federations).

After retiring from competitive track, Owens engaged in boys' guidance activities, made goodwill visits to India and East Asia for the U.S. Department of State, served as secretary of the Illinois State Athletic Commission, and worked in public relations.

BH

Denmark Vesey..Activist

Insurrection leader. Probably born on St. Thomas, West Indies. The property of Captain Vesey, a Charleston, South Carolina, slave trader and planter, he spent 20 years sailing with his master. In 1800 he purchased his freedom (allegedly having won a lottery), took up carpentry in Charleston, and prospered at his trade.

By 1818 he was preaching to slaves at plantations throughout the region and, drawing on the Bible, he told them that, like the Israelites, they would gain their freedom. Although he would later deny it, he allegedly held meetings at his home to collect arms for an uprising he was planning for as many as 9000 African-Americans in South Carolina. The plan was betrayed by several fearful slaves and he and others were seized.

He defended himself ably at his trial, but was sentenced and hanged along with about 35 blacks; some 35 others were sold to West Indian plantation owners. It would have been the largest slave revolt in U.S. history, but its end result was the passing of even stricter laws against African-Americans.

© 2010 A&E Television Networks. All Rights Reserved.

Dorothy Dandridge...Hollywood's Golden Child

Singer, actress. Born November 9, 1922, in Cleveland, Ohio. Dandridge’s mother, the actress Ruby Dandridge, urged her two young daughters into show business in the 1930s, when they performed as a song-and-dance team billed as "The Wonder Children. Dandridge left high school in the late 1930s and formed the Dandridge Sisters trio with her sister Vivian and Etta James. They performed with the Jimmy Lunceford Orchestra and at the famous Cotton Club in Harlem, where Dandridge—who had a mixed racial heritage, early on confronted the segregation and racism of the entertainment industry.

As a teenager, Dandridge began to appear in small roles in a number of films, including the Marx Brothers film A Day at the Races (1937) and Drums of the Congo (1942). In 1945, she married Harold Nicholas of the dancing Nicholas Brothers (with whom she performed in the 1941 Sonja Henie musical Sun Valley Serenade); during their turbulent six-year marriage, Dandridge virtually retired from performing. A daughter, Harolyn, was born with severe brain damage in 1943; as Dandridge was unable to raise her herself, she placed the girl in foster care.

After her divorce in 1951, Dandridge returned to the nightclub circuit, this time as a successful solo singer. After a stint at the Mocambo club in Hollywood with Desi Arnaz’s band and a sell-out 14-week engagement at La Vie en Rose, she became an international star, performing at glamorous venues in London, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, and New York. She won her first starring film role in 1953’s Bright Road, playing an earnest and dedicated young schoolteacher opposite Harry Belafonte.

Her next role, as the eponymous lead in Carmen Jones (1954),a film adaptation of Bizet's opera Carmen that also costarred Belafonte, catapulted her to the heights of stardom. With her sultry looks and flirtatious style, Dandridge became the first African-American to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Though many believed she deserved to win, Dandridge eventually lost the award to Grace Kelly (The Country Girl). Still, after the phenomenal success of Carmen Jones, Dandridge seemed well on her way to becoming the first non-white actress to achieve the kind of superstardom that had accrued to contemporaries like Marilyn Monroe and Ava Gardner. In 1955, she was featured on the cover of Life magazine, and was treated like visiting royalty at that year’s Cannes Film Festival.

In the years that followed her success with Carmen Jones, however, Dandridge had trouble finding film roles that suited her talents. Her only other great film was 1959’s Porgy and Bess, in which she played Bess opposite Sidney Poitier. She turned down the supporting role of Tuptim in The King and I because she refused to play a slave. It was rumored that she would play Billie Holliday in a film version of Lady Sings the Blues directed by Orson Welles, but it never panned out. In the racially disharmonious 1950s, Hollywood filmmakers could not seem to create a suitable role for the light-skinned Dandridge, and they soon reverted to subtly prejudiced visions of interracial romance. She appeared in several poorly received racially and sexually charged dramas, including Island in the Sun (1957), co-starring Belafonte and Joan Fontaine, Tamango (1959),in which she played the mistress of the captain of a slave ship,and Malaga (1960).

While making Carmen Jones, Dandridge became involved in a heated, secretive affair with the film's director, Otto Preminger, who also directed Porgy and Bess. Their interracial romance, as well as Dandridge's relationships with other white lovers, was frowned upon, not in the least by other African-American members of the Hollywood filmmaking community. She married her second husband, Jack Denison, in 1959, and lost the majority of her savings when his restaurant failed in 1962. He left her soon after.

As her film career and marriage failed, Dandridge began drinking heavily and taking antidepressants. The threat of bankruptcy and nagging problems with the IRS forced her to resume her nightclub career, but she found only a fraction of her former success. Relegated to second-rate lounges and stage productions, Dandridge's financial situation grew worse and worse. By 1963, she could no longer afford to pay for her daughter's 24-hour medical care, and Harolyn was placed in a state institution. Dandridge soon suffered a nervous breakdown. On September 8, 1965, she was found dead in her Hollywood home, an apparent suicide from a drug overdose.

Her unique and tragic story became the subject of renewed interest in the late 1990s, beginning in 1997 with the release of a biography, Dorothy Dandridge, by Donald Bogle, and a two-week retrospective at New York City's Film Forum. In 1999, the actress Halle Berry won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Dandridge in an acclaimed HBO movie, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.

Mary McLeod Bethune..A Woman With A Mission

Mary McLeod Bethune Biography

(1875–1955)

Educator and civil and women's rights activist. Born July 10, 1875 in Mayesville, South Carolina. A child of former slaves, she began her life picking cotton, but a scholarship to Scotia Seminary in North Carolina in 1888 launched her long and distinguished career as educator and activist.

Believing that education provided the key to racial advancement, she founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute, Florida (1904), which through her persistent direction as president (1904–42) became Bethune-Cookman College (1929). An activist, she mobilized thousands of black women as leader and founder of the National Association of Colored Women and the National Council of Negro Women.

A national figure, she served in the Roosevelt administration as adviser to the president on minority affairs and director of the Division of Negro Affairs within the National Youth Administration (1936–44). Through her efforts to promote full citizenship rights for all African-Americans and her feminist perspective, she came to symbolize the dual role black women played as activists for the rights of blacks and women.

Hiram R. Revels....Making Political History..

Born Sept. 1, 1822, Fayetteville, N.C., U.S.—died Jan. 16, 1901, Aberdeen, Miss.) American clergyman and educator who became the first black citizen to be elected to the U.S. Senate (1870–71), during Reconstruction.

Born of free parents, young Revels traveled to Indiana and Illinois to receive the education that was denied him in the South. He was ordained a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1845 and eventually settled in Baltimore, Md., where he served as a church pastor and principal of a school for blacks. Soon after the Civil War began (1861), he helped organize two volunteer regiments of blacks for service in the Union Army. Two years later he joined the Federal forces to serve as a chaplain to a black regiment stationed in Mississippi.

After the war Revels settled in Natchez, Miss., to preach to a large congregation. Despite some misgivings about entering politics, he accepted appointment by the military governor as alderman (1868) and was later (1869) elected to the state senate. Although Revels was a Republican, he was anxious not to encourage race friction with white Southerners; he therefore supported legislation that would have restored the power to vote and to hold office to disenfranchised members of the former Confederacy. In January 1870 he was elected to the U.S. Senate to fill the unexpired term of the former Confederate president, Jefferson Davis. He performed competently in office, advocating desegregation in the schools and on the railroads.

On leaving the Senate, Revels became president of Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College, a recently opened institution of higher education for blacks, near Lorman, Miss. In 1874, however, he was dismissed from the college presidency. In 1875 he helped overturn the Republican (Carpetbag) government of Mississippi, defending his action on the grounds that too many politicians in that party were corrupt. He was rewarded by the Democratic administration, which returned him to the chief post at Alcorn in 1876, where he remained until his retirement.

Black History Spotlight : Arthur Ashe

Arthur Ashe was a top ranked tennis player in the 1960s and 70s. Raised in the segregated South, he was the first African-American male tennis player to win a Grand Slam tournament. He was much more than an athlete though. His commitment to social justice, health and humanitarian issues left a mark on the world as indelible as his tennis was on the court.

Career Highlights

Won the ATA National Championship for boys 12 years and under in 1953.

Graduated 1st in his class from high school.

Earned a full scholarship to attend college at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Elected as President of ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) in 1974.

Selected as captain of the U.S. Davis Cup Team in 1981.

Inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985.

Named Sport Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 1992.

He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993.

After Ashe died in 1993 his body was displayed at the Governor's Mansion in Virginia for public mourning. The last time this was done was for Stonewall Jackson, a general of the Confederate Army during the Civil War.

The main stadium at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park, is named Arthur Ashe Stadium in his honor. This is where the U.S. Open is played during which the annual Arthur Ashe Kids Day is held.

In 2005 the United States Postal Service released an Arthur Ashe commemorative postal stamp, the first stamp ever to feature the cover of a Sports Illustrated magazine.

Also in 2005, TENNIS Magazine put him in 30th place in its list of 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era.

In 2007 Arthur Ashe was listed at #14 in USA Today's list of 25 Most Inspiring People of the Last 25 Years

Numerous honorary degrees were bestowed on him during his life and posthumously including ones from: Amherst College, Barnard College, The College of William and Mary, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Hartford College, Haverford College, Kalamazoo College, Le Moyne College, Le Moyne-Owen College, New York University, Northeastern University, Princeton University, Saint John's University, Trinity University, University of Delaware, Virginia Union University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Wake Forest University, Yale University

Black History Spotlight: Maggie Lena Walker

I thought today blog entry would take a look at a native of my hometown Maggie Lena Walker. I was honored to have visited her home in Richmond, Va and learned of her legacy as the 1st black female self-made millionaire..

Maggie Lena Walker, the first woman in the United States to become a president of a local bank, was born July 15, 1867 in Richmond, Virginia, U.S.A. She was a daughter of former slaves, Elizabeth Draper Mitchell and William Mitchell, who worked in the mansion of the abolitionist Elizabeth Van Lew. After a few years of living at the mansion, her father got a job as the head waiter at the Saint Charles Hotel and the family moved to a small house in town. Her father was murdered, presumably a victim of robbery and her mother supported herself and her two children with her laundry business while Maggie helped with the chores. In addition, Maggie attended the Lancaster School and then the Armstrong Normal School. After graduation in 1883, she taught at the Lancaster School until her marriage to Armstead Walker, Jr., a building contractor, in September 1886. They subsequently had three sons, though one died in infancy. She also became an agent for an insurance company, the Woman's Union.

Since the age of fourteen, she had been a member of the Grand United Order of St. Luke, an African-American fraternal and cooperative insurance society founded in Baltimore in 1867 by a former slave, Mary Prout, with headquarters established in Richmond in 1889. The order had been established to assure proper health care and burial arrangements of its members and encouraged self-help and racial solidarity. Walker worked her way up until, in 1899, she became the executive secretary-treasurer of the organization, now renamed the Independent Order of St. Luke. The order was in debt at the time so she accepted a reduced salary of eight dollars per month.

In 1902, she started publishing a newsletter, the St. Luke Herald to increase awareness of the activities of the organization and to help in the educational work of the order. The following year, she opened the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank and became its president. The bank's goal was to facilitate loans to the community. By 1920, the bank helped purchase about 600 homes. By 1924, the Independent Order of St. Luke had 50,000 members, 1500 local chapters, a staff of 50 working in its Richmond headquarters and assets of almost $400,000. The Penny Savings Bank absorbed all other black-owned banks in Richmond in 1929 and became the Consolidated Bank and Trust Companany with Walker as its chairman of the board.

In 1912, she helped found the Richmond Council of Colored Women and served as its president. The council raised money for the support of Janie Porter Barrett’s Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls and for other philanthropies. She was a member of the International Council of Women of the Darker Races, the National Association of Wage Earners, National Urban League and the Virginia Interracial Committee. She also cofounded the Richmond branch of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).

Walker suffered more personal tragedies in her life. In 1907, she fell on the front steps of her home and injured her knees. The damaged nerves and tendons continued to trouble her for the rest of her life. She also suffered from diabetes and was confined to a wheelchair after 1928. Her husband died in 1915 when her son, Russell Ecles Talmage, mistook his father for a prowler on the porch and shot him. Russell was acquitted of the murder charge, but he never recovered from this ordeal and he died in 1923.

Walker died in Richmond, Virginia, on December 15, 1934. The cause of her death was listed as "diabetes gangrene." The house her family occupied from 1904 to 1934 is now a Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site and is located at 110 1/2 East Leigh Street.

Black History Spotlight : Carter G. Woodson

During the dawning decades of the twentieth
century, it was commonly presumed that black
people had little history besides the subjugation
of slavery. Today, it is clear that blacks have
significantly impacted the development of the
social, political, and economic structures of the
United States and the world. Credit for the
evolving awareness of the true place of blacks in
history can, in large part, be bestowed on one
man, Carter G. Woodson. And, his brainchild
the Association for the Study of African American
Life and History, Inc. is continuing Woodson’s
tradition of disseminating information about black
life, history and culture to the global community.

Known as the “Father of Black History,”
Woodson (1875-1950) was the son of former
slaves, and understood how important gaining a
proper education is when striving to secure and
make the most out of one’s divine right of
freedom. Although he did not begin his formal
education until he was 20 years old, his
dedication to study enabled him to earn a high
school diploma in West Virginia and bachelor
and master’s degrees from the University of Chicago in just a few years. In 1912, Woodson became the second
African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University (the first was
W. E. B. DuBois). Applying the insights he gained during his academic
matriculation, Dr. Woodson began teaching black students in the
District of Columbia’s public schools and at Howard University.

Recognizing the dearth of information on the
accomplishments of blacks in 1915, Dr. Woodson founded
the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History,
now called the Association for the Study of African
American Life and History (ASALH).

Under Woodson’s pioneering leadership, the Association
created research and publication outlets for black scholars
with the establishment of the Journal of Negro History
(1916) and the Negro History Bulletin (1937), which
garners a popular public appeal.

In 1926, Dr. Woodson initiated the celebration of Negro
History Week, which corresponded with the birthdays of
Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. In 1976, this
celebration was expanded to include the entire month of
February, and today Black History Month garners support
throughout the country as people of all ethnic and social
backgrounds discuss the black experience. ASALH views
the promotion of Black History Month as one of the most
important components of advancing Dr. Woodson’s legacy.

In honor of all the work that Dr. Carter G. Woodson has
done to promote the study of African American History, an
ornament of Woodson hangs on the White House's
Christmas tree each year.