This Week In Black History October 30-November 5, 2024

ETHEL WATERS

• OCTOBER 30

1831—Minister and mystic Nat Turner, leader of the bloodiest slave revolt in U.S. history, is captured in South Hampton County, Va. The up­rising took place Aug. 21 and 22 of the same year and left 55 Whites dead. Turner was hanged and then skinned on Nov. 11.

1954—The U.S. Department of De­fense announces the official end of all segregated military regiments in the armed forces.

1966—The Black Panther Party is founded in California by Huey New­ton and Bobby Seale. The full name was the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. It was formed in major measure to bring attention to and combat brutality against Blacks by the Los Angeles Police Department.

MUHAMMAD ALI KNOCKS OUT GEORGE FOREMAN

1974—Muhammad Ali defeats George Foreman for the heavy­weight boxing title. The fight took place in Zaire (now the Congo) and was billed as the “Rumble in the Jun­gle.”

1991—BET Holdings, Inc. sells 4.2 million shares of stock in an initial public offering becoming the first Black company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Founder Bob Johnson has since sold the company to the media giant Viacom.

2002—One of the original founders of modern rap music Jason William Mizell (January 21, 1965 – October 30, 2002) better known as Jam Master Jay of the group Run-DMC was killed in a shooting at his Queens, New York recording studio. He was 37. His group, Run- DMC, was a major force attracting young Whites to rap music.

• OCTOBER 31

1517—Revolutionary Christian lead­er Martin Luther posted his famed 95 Theses on the door of Witten­berg Palace in Germany setting off the Protestant Reformation against the Catholic Church. It is believed the parents of American Civil Rights Movement icon Martin Luther King Jr. named him after Martin Luther. However, King’s original name was “Michael” and was later changed to “Martin.”

1820—(circa) Irish Catholics bring Halloween to America where it first gains popularity among the lower classes and becomes heavily influ­enced by both American Indian and Black American (slave) superstitions.

1896 (or 1900)—Actress and sing­er Ethel Waters is born in Chester, Pa. She became one of the nation’s best known jazz and gospel singers. Waters was born to a 12-year-old Black girl who had been raped by a White man.

• NOVEMBER 1

1604—William Shakespeare’s great play “Othello” was first per­formed at Whitehall Palace in Lon­don. It is the earliest known Europe­an play with a Black lead character.

1866—America’s first Civil Rights Act is passed over the veto of Presi­dent Andrew Johnson. In part, it was Johnson’s opposition to such pro- Black legislation that led a group called the “Radical Republicans” to seek his impeachment. Johnson had become president after the as­sassination of Abraham Lincoln and adopted a wide-range of anti-Black policies.

1910—Scholar and political activ­ist W.E.B. DuBois published the first issue of the NAACP’s monthly mag­azine “Crisis.” DuBois would later break with the NAACP charging that its approach to ending discrimina­tion against Black was too “gradual­ist.”

1945—The first issue of Ebony Magazine was published in Chicago by founder John H. Johnson. John­son died in September 2005. The magazine and its sister publication, Jet, are now facing financial diffi­culties and may be purchased by a group of non-Blacks.

1991—Clarence Thomas takes his seat on the United States Supreme Court after a prolonged controver­sy over his alleged sexual harass­ment of former co-worker Anita Hill. Thomas would go on to disappoint much of Black America by rendering votes on major issues, which many leading African-American felt were anti-Black.

In this Nov. 11, 1984, file photo, Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton leaps over Los Angeles Rams linebacker Jim Collins (50) during first half football action in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

1999—Chicago Bears running back great Walter Payton dies of can­cer at the age of 45. His power and grace on the football field led to his nickname “Sweetness.”

• NOVEMBER 2

1889—The last great African king is crowned. Menelik II became “Ne­gusa Nagast” (King of Kings) of Ab­yssinia (Ethiopia). At that time Abys­sinia included not only present day Ethiopia but parts of Kenya, Somalia and the Sudan. European colonial­ism would weaken and reduce the size of the kingdom. Menelik could trace his heritage back to King Solo­mon and the Queen of Sheba of the Christian Bible.

1903—Maggie L. Walker opens the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in Rich­mond, Va. Walker was one of the most accomplished business wom­en in Black American history having founded a bank, a newspaper, oth­er businesses and a political party known as the Lily Black. Constant refrain in her speeches was “Let us put our money together…and reap the benefits.”

1983—Conservative Republican President Ronald Reagan signs the law that designates the third Mon­day in January as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Shortly after the signing he angers some Blacks when in re­sponse to a reporter’s question he suggests that King may have been a communist.

• NOVEMBER 3

1868—John W. Menard is elected to the U.S. Congress and was among the first group of Blacks to take a seat in that body during the Recon­struction period, which followed the Civil War. He defeated a White can­didate in Louisiana’s 2nd District.

1992—Carol Moseley Braun, D-Ill., becomes the first Black woman elected to the United States Senate.

1992—James Clyburn becomes the first Black person elected to U.S. Congress from South Carolina since Reconstruction. He is now one of the most powerful people in Congress.

• NOVEMBER 4

1872—P.B.S. Pinchback was elect­ed to the United States Congress from Louisiana. He was one of the most colorful Blacks who took seats in Congress after the Civil War. His full name was Pinckey Benton Stew­art Pinchback.

1872—Blacks actually take politi­cal power in Louisiana. C.C. Antoine is elected lieutenant governor; P.G. Deslonde become secretary of state; and W.B. Brown becomes superin­tendent of public education. Virtual­ly all Black political gains would be taken away as Reconstruction gave way to the Jim Crow period.

1982—Scholar and educator Ray­ford Logan dies. He was one of Black America’s most prominent educators and historians, and the author of numerous books. He was also the longtime chairman of How­ard University’s history department.

1999—Daisy Bates dies at 84. Her efforts and leadership helped in­tegrate public school education in America. Bates was prominent in aiding the “Little Rock a group of Black students that integrated Cen­tral High School in Little Rock, Ark.

• NOVEMBER 5

1867—The first Reconstruction Constitutional Convention takes place in Montgomery, Ala. In at­tendance were 90 Whites and 18 Blacks. Reconstruction would bring forth a period of tremendous polit­ical and educational advancement for ex-slaves after the Civil War. But Reconstruction was significantly un­dermined by the Hayes-Tilden of 1877 and the beginning of the an­ti-Black Jim Crow period.

1956—The Nat King Cole Show— the first Black hosted network tele­vision variety show—debuts. The show began with just 15 minutes and later expanded to half-an-hour but was pulled in 1957 for lack of adver­tiser support.

1968—Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Shirley Chisholm becomes the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Con­gress. She would later make an un­successful bid for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

1974—Walter Washington be­comes the first elected mayor of Washington, D.C., as the predomi­nantly Black city gains limited voting rights. Washington had declined an earlier appointment to be the city’s commissioner because the proposal did not give him control of several city agencies including the police department.