A2 MARCH 10-16, 2010 INTERNATIONAL NEW PITTSBURGH COURIER
This Week in Black History
Week of March 12-18
March 12
1773—This is the most probable date when Black explorer Jean Baptiste Pointe du
Sable begins building the settlement, which would eventually become the city of
Chicago, Ill. The Haitian-born (c 1745) de Sable would over time
become a man of considerable wealth, owning commercial build-
ings, docks, trading posts and a mansion. Du Sable was the
product or a Frenchman and an African woman. He died Aug.
19, 1818.
1791—Pierre Charles L’Enfant was commissioned to design
and lay out the nation’s capital city—Washington, D.C. How-
ever, a dispute with President George Washington forced his de-
parture the very next year. Thus, the final design and layout fell
to Black inventor and mathematician Benjamin Banneker.
Although two White men were nominally in charge of the pro-
ject, historical records show that it was Banneker’s mathemati-
PHOTO BY RICHARD MUHAMMAD/THE FINAL CALL
cal skills and his memory of L’Enfant’s plans that enabled the
RECOVERY CONTINUES—Haitian workers continue to press for normalcy as the people prepare for
project to be completed.
the rainy season.
1955—One of the chief founders of modern jazz, Charlie
JEAN BAPTISTE POINTE
“Yardbird” Parker, died on this day in New York City. Parker
Haiti rebounds, rainy season looms
DU SABLE
is widely considered “the greatest jazz saxophonist of all time.”
His death at 35 was reportedly a result of pneumonia worsened
by drug and alcohol abuse.
by Herb Boyd
February. Here and there of dusty cement with rods of 1964—Legendary Black leader Malcolm X formally sep-
For New Pittsburgh Courier
were welders, their torches steel protruding like rusty arates from the Elijah Muhammad-led Nation of Islam al-
melding torn metal; ma- fingers. though his initial statement of resignation was given
PORT-au-PRINCE, Haiti sons mending broken walls; Immediately the question March 8. The separation was triggered by growing differ-
(NNPA)—Hurricane-rav- carpenters repairing doors becomes why some build- ences over Islam and the proper role of religion in the
aged Port-au-Prince contin- and roof tops; painters ings remain standing while Black liberation struggle as well as by Malcolm’s objections
ues to rebound even as the putting a fresh gloss on rav- others crumbled in the 7.0 to Elijah Muhammad’s infidelities. Less than a year later,
rainy season approaches aged buildings; and the magnitude earthquake? Malcolm was assassinated by men allegedly connected
the island of Haiti. countless vendors setting “Many of the buildings that with a Nation of Islam mosque in New Jersey.
This week, U.S. officials up shop in front of totally collapsed were built with-
are scurrying to deliver damaged structures. out consideration of the March 13
portable toilets, hurricane- And exactly one month building codes,” said Dela-
resistant tents and plastic after the catastrophe, the tour, a trained architect 1794—Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin—a device
tarps that Haitian Tourism spirit of recovery was seen who studied at Howard that made cotton production much more profitable by more
Minister Patrick Delatour in the hundreds of people University and is leading efficiently separating the seed from the cotton. The inven-
has said he prefers for the walking along the streets the recovery effort. tion had the effect of extending the life of slavery in the
coming torrential rains, and roads, many of them It will take several years South. However, there remains a historical dispute as to
possible hurricanes and dressed in white, on their and $3 billion to complete whether Whitney actually invented the cotton gin as most MALCOLM X
mudslides. Already eight way to various sites of the recovery, Delatour spec- history books claim. There is some evidence that Whitney’s
people were killed over the mourning, ready to remem- ulated, “Though it could be entire idea was based on a device developed by slaves laboring on the Georgia plantation
weekend in flooding after a ber the dead and dying as much more because it’s of Catherine Green. Whitney, a lawyer, worked briefly for Green and it was while work-
downpour—and the rainy they celebrate another day hard to factor in everything ing for her that he allegedly invented the cotton gin.
season has not fully started of living. at the moment,” he added.
in earnest. “We are determined to put Nothing was more de- 1868—The impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson began in the United
It’s not just the weather, our homes and our lives pressing than to see the States Senate. The ultimate failure to convict and oust Johnson from the presidency was
but conditions potentially back together,” said a young long line of injured people a major setback for the recently freed slaves. Even though he was Abraham Lincoln’s vice
caused by the weather man, who stood with his outside one of the city’s few president, Johnson actually favored the former slave owners and the continuation of
that’s concerning the citi- mother and father outside a functioning hospitals, White power in the South. He was also opposed to Blacks having the right to vote. Al-
zens and relief workers. tent where bricks provided where emergency rescue though the impeachment and trial weakened him, his continuation as president helped
Those conditions could a makeshift foundation. units have set up tents to pave the way for the emerging power of the Ku Klux Klan and the denial of rights to
mean the spread of disease, “Our home was completely provide additional space for Blacks.
human waste and even destroyed, so this will have the injured.
human bodies, many of to do until we can do better.” “We can handle maybe 1932—The first Black daily newspaper begins publication. The paper was the At-
which did not receive Even for this reporter, 500 patients a day here,” lanta Daily World and it was founded by William A. Scott III.
proper burial in the initial who visited Mississippi and said Dr. Alix Lasseque, ex-
aftermath of the earth- Louisiana after Hurricane ecutive director of the State March 14
quake. Nearly 200,000 Katrina and stood as an University Hospital in
were killed. eyewitness to the collapse Port-au-Prince. “But we are 1821—The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is officially formed in New
Meanwhile, life in the cap- of the World Trade Center, terribly understaffed and York City. However, the church had been actually operating since 1796. A decision to of-
ital continues to struggle. spending four days amid we can’t perform major ficially separate from the White-controlled Methodist Church was reached in 1820. The
After you get beyond the the rubble of Port-au- surgeries here.” dispute centered in part around the refusal of Whites to allow Black ministers to preach.
fact that Haiti, particularly Prince and the surrounding When it comes to shelter, Among the founders were James Varnick, Abraham Thompson and June Scott. Today the
Port-au-Prince, is a modern neighborhoods is to experi- the distribution of food and denomination has an estimated 1.2 million members and operates Livingstone College in
day ruin—which is not easy ence a tragedy of almost in- water, and tending to the Salisbury, N.C.
when around each new cor- comparable proportions. medical needs of the people,
ner is a more devastating It was mind-boggling to Carlene Dei, head of the 1933— Legendary music composer and producer Quincy Jones is born on this day in
scene—there is the amazing see the president’s palace, USAID mission, said great Chicago, Ill.
vitality, ingenuity and cre- an architectural wonder, its strides had been made, “but
ativity of the Haitian people. twin domes crushing the there is still so much more 1977—One of the unsung heroines of the Civil Rights Movement, Fannie Lou Hamer,
This ability, this undying floors below; the beautiful to be done.” died on this day in 1977. Hamer, the youngest of 20 children born in Ruleville, Miss., be-
resilience, was evident from National Cathedral with Overall, Dei said, refer- came active in voter registration and later became Mississippi
one end of the city to an- only the historic statues as ring to the relationship be- field secretary for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Com-
other during a whirlwind a reminder of its splendor; tween her organization and mittee as well as head of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic
visit to the city by a team of and all of the city’s munici- the Haitian government, Party. She also coined the phrase, “I’m sick and tired of being
Black journalists in mid- pal buildings in silent piles “We can do better than sick and tired.”
we’re doing…what’s needed March 15
is a whole new paradigm.”
That new paradigm, espe- 1897—The 55th Congress convened with one Black member
cially in reference to the re- remaining in the legislative body—George White of North
building of Haiti, is some- Carolina. All the Black political progress made during Recon-
thing that Delatour has struction had been snatched away after the Hayes-Tilden Com-
given considerable thought. promise of 1887. By 1890 states throughout the South had effec-
“You see, I’m an optimist,” tively taken away the right of Blacks to vote with schemes rang-
he told the African-Ameri- ing from literacy tests to poll taxes to Whites-only primaries. As
can delegation. “For me the a result Blacks were forced from elected office. When White’s
glass is always half full, not term expired in 1901, there would not be another African-Amer-
half empty.
Pittsburgh
ican elected to Congress for 27 years and he would come from
(NNPA News Service Editor-in- FANNIE LOU HAMER the North—Oscar DePriest of the Southside of Chicago (1st
Chief Hazel Trice Edney con- Congressional District of Illinois.)
Profiles
tributed to this story.)
March 16
with KQV�s
1827—The first Black-owned and operated newspaper in America began publishing. It
Elaine Effort
was Freedom’s Journal. It published weekly in New York City from 1827 to 1829. Ed-
THE
itors John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish declared as their mission: “We wish to plead
sponsored in part
our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us.”
NEW PITTSBURGH
by the New
COURIER
March 17
PUBLISHING COMPANY
Pittsburgh
1806—Norbert Rillieux, one of the earliest Black chemical engineers in America or
Europe, was born on this day in 1806. The product of a wealthy French plantation owner
Courier
Publication No.: USPS 381940
in New Orleans and his Black mistress, Rillieux was given his freedom and sent to Paris,
315 East Carson Street
France, to be educated. He is best known for his invention of the “multiple evaporation
Elaine Effort
process” that revolutionized the sugar and paper industries. It also saved the lives of
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
many who had previously labored in extremely dangerous conditions. Rillieux returned
Phone 412-481-8302
to the U.S. but as conditions for free Blacks deteriorated prior to the Civil War he went
Pittsburgh Profiles with
Fax: 412-481-1360
back to Paris and died there in 1894.
Elaine Effort heard exclusively
The
1999—Maurice Ashley, a Jamaican immigrant living in Brooklyn, became the first
New Pittsburgh Courier
Black grandmaster in modern chess history.
on Pittsburgh’s all news radio
is published weekly March 18
station for 30 years
periodicals
1933—The first Black woman elected mayor of a Mississippi town, Unita Blackwell,
paid at Pittsburgh, Pa.
was born on this day in Lula, Miss. The former field worker with the Student Nonviolent
PRICE $.50
Coordinating Committee became mayor of Mayersville,
KQV 1410 AM and
Miss. in 1977.
(Payable in advance)
at WWW.KQV.COM
1963—Singer-actress and the first Black woman to win
6 Months...........$20.006 Months...........$25.00
the Miss America Pageant, Vanessa Williams, was
1 Y
1 Y
ear
ear
.................$45.00
.................$35.00
born on this day in Millwood, N.Y.
Saturday, March 13 at 6:30 A.M.
2 Y
2 Y
ears...............$60.00
ears...............$85.00
1970—Actress and rapper Queen Latifah was born on
and 6:30 P.M. and
POSTMASTER: Send
this day in 1970.
address changes to:
Sunday, March 14 at 6:30 A.M.
(This Week in Black History is compiled by Robert Taylor. He
New Pittsburgh Courier
welcomes comments and additions at SirajT12@yahoo.com . Note:
315 East Carson Street
The first organizing meeting for the Black History Club takes
and 6:30 P.M.
place 1 p.m. Saturday, March 13th in room 221 at the Martin
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Luther King Library in Washington, DC. Register free by calling
UNITA BLACKWELL
202-657-8872.)
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