February 2013


www.hamptonroadsmessenger.com African American History Little Known Facts In BY BIOGRAPHY.COM Fact #1


As a child Muhammad Ali


was


refused an a u t o g r a p h by his idol, boxer Sugar


Ray Robinson. When Ali became a prize-fighter, he vowed never to deny an autograph request, which he has honored to this day.


Fact #2


Alicia Keys was accepted into Columbia Unive r s i ty, but decided to pursue a


full-time music career instead. Fact #3


Allensworth is the only California community to be founded, financed and governed by African-Americans. Created by Allen Allensworth in 1908, the town was built with the intention of establishing a self-sufficient, all-black city where African-Americans could live their lives free of racial discrimination.


Fact #4


In her early life, Coretta Scott King was as well known as a singer as she was as a civil


rights activist. The young soprano won a scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where she met future husband, Martin Luther King, Jr.


Fact #5


Artist Charles Alston founded the "306 Group", a club that provided support and apprenticeship for African-American artists during the 1940s. It served as a studio space for prominent African-American artists such as poet Langston Hughes; sculptor Augusta Savage; and mixed-media artist Romare Bearden.


Fact #6


After friend and musical partner Tammi Terrell died of a brain tumor, Marvin Gaye left the music


industry for two years. During this time, he tried out for the Detroit Lions football team, but didn't make the cut. Instead, he returned to the studio to record his hit single, "What's Goin' On.".


Fact #7


Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on friend Maya Angelou's birthday on April 4th, 1968. Angelou stopped celebrating her birthday for many years afterward, and sent flowers to King's widow every year until Mrs. King's death in 2006.


Fact #8


L o u i s Arms t rong bought his first coronet at the age of 7 with money he


borrowed from his employers. He taught himself to play while in a home for juvenile delinquents.


Fact #9


Nancy Green a former slave, was employed in 1893 to promote the Aunt Jemima brand by demonstrating the pancake mix at expositions and fairs. She was a popular attraction because of her friendly personality, great story-telling, and warmth. Green signed a lifetime contract with the


Fact #17


In 1967, Robert H. Lawrence, Jr. became the first black man to be trained as an astronaut. Unfortunately, he died in a plane crash during flight training, and never made it into space.


Fact #18


The parents of


actress


Halle Berry chose their d a u g h t e r ' s n a m e from Halle's


Department Store, a local landmark in her birthplace of Cleveland, Ohio.


Fact #19


In 1938, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt challenged the segregation rules at the Southern Conference on Human Welfare in Birmingham, Alabama, so she could sit next to


African-American educator Mary McLeod Bethune, whom she referred to as "her closest friend in her age group."


Fact #29


The St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church in San Francisco uses jazz musician John Coltrane's music and philosophy as sources for religious discovery.


Fact #30


In addition to her career in Washington D.C., Condoleezza Rice is an accomplished pianist who has


accompanied cellist Yo-Yo Ma, played with soul singer Aretha Franklin, and performed for Queen Elizabeth II. A serious student, Condoleezza Rice entered college at the age of 15, and was an assistant professor at Stanford by age 26.


Fact #31


Paul Cuffee an African-American, philanthropist, ship captain, and devout Quaker transported 38 free


Fact #12


Scientist and mathematician Benjamin Banneker is credited with helping to design the blueprints for Washington, D.C.


Fact #13


Before he was a renowned artist, Romare Bearden was also a talented baseball player. He was recruited by the Philadelphia Athletics on the pretext that he would agree to pass as white. He turned down the offer, instead choosing to work on his art.


Fact #14


Before he became a


basketball


legend, Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball


team during his sophomore year for being undersized.


Fact #15


Musician and activist Harry Belafonte originally devised the idea for "We Are the World," a single that he hoped would help raise money for famine relief in Africa. The single became the fastest selling in history, making more than $20 million worldwide.


Fact #16


Before becoming a professional musician, Chuck Berry studied to be a hairdresser.


Fact #27


Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles founded the first college for black women in the United States in 1881. The school was named Spelman College after Laura Celestia Spelman Rockefeller, the wife of John D. Rockefeller, who made a sizeable donation to the school.


Fact #28


Since 1997, actor Sidney Poitier has been deeply involved in politics as the Bahamian ambassador to Japan.


Fact #41


As a young girl in Harlem, Althea Gibson was a local table tennis champion. Her skills were eventually noticed by musician Buddy Walker, who invited her to play tennis on local courts.


Fact #42


Lewis Howard Latimer drafted patent drawings for Alexander Graham Bell's telephone, while working at a patent law firm.


Fact #43


African-American Olympic figure skating medalist Debi Thomas, studied engineering at Stanford University and later became an orthopedic surgeon.


Fact #44


Jack Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight champion, patented a wrench in 1922.


pancake company and her image was used for packaging and billboards.


Fact #10


After a long career as an actress and singer, Pearl Bailey earned a bachelor's in theology from


Georgetown University in 1985. Fact #11


African-American fashion designer Ann


designed


Lowe the


wedding dress of


Jacqueline


Bouvier, the bride of future president, Senator John F. Kennedy.


Fact #20


Legendary singer James Brown performed in front of a televised audience


in


Boston the day after


Martin Luther King,


Jr. was assassinated. Brown is often given credit for preventing riots with the performance.


Fact #21


After the success of Negro Digest, publisher John H. Johnson decided to create a magazine to depict the positive side of black life and black achievement. The first issue of his publication, Ebony, sold out in a matter of hours. An additional 25,000 copies had to be printed immediately to meet the demands of the public.


Fact #22


Female science fiction author Octavia Butler was dyslexic. Despite her disorder, she went on to win two Hugo awards and two Nebulas for her writing.


Fact #23


When neurosurgeon Ben Carson was a child, his mother required him to read two library books a week and give her written reports, even though she was barely literate. She would then take the papers and pretend to carefully review them, placing a checkmark at the top of the page showing her approval. The assignments gave Carson his eventual love of reading and learning.


Fact #24


Politician and educator Shirley Chisholm survived three assassination attempts during her campaign for the 1972 U.S. presidential election.


Fact #25


Rap artist Chuck D has a bachelor's degree in graphic design.


Fact #26


For a time during his youth, future politician Barack Obama referred to himself as "Barry."


African-Americans to Sierra Leone, Africa in 1815 in the hopes of establishing Western Africa. He also founded the first integrated school in Massachusetts in 1797.


Fact #32


Tice Davids, a runaway slave from Kentucky, was the inspiration for the first usage of the term "Underground Railroad." Davids' owner assumed the slave had drowned when he attempted his swim across the Ohio River. He told the local paper that if Davids had escaped, he must have traveled on "an underground railroad." Davids, however, did live, giving the Underground Railroad its now-famous name.


Fact #33


At the very peak of his fame, rock 'n' roll pioneer Little Richard concluded that his music was the Devil's work, and became a traveling Evangelical


preacher instead. When the Beatles revived several of his songs in 1964, Little Richard returned to the stage.


Fact #34


Lewis and Clark were accompanied by York, a black slave, when they made their 1804 expedition from Missouri to Oregon. York’s presence aided in their interactions with the Native Americans they encountered.


Fact #35


The banjo originated in Africa and up until the 1800s was considered an instrument only played by blacks.


Fact #36


The first major black super-hero, the Black Panther, made his debut in Fantastic Four No. 52 in July of 1966.


Fact #37


W.E.B. Du Bois died one day before Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his 'I Have a Dream' speech at the 1963 March on Washington.


Fact #38


Before he wrote the


acclaimed


novel, Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison served as cook in the Merchant


Marines during World War II. Fact #39


Shortly before his mysterious disappearance in 1934, W.D. Fard founded the Nation of Islam.


Fact #40


Ella Fitzgerald had a three-octave range - a range greater than most p r o f e s s i o n a l Opera singers.


The Hampton Roads Messenger 5


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