Black History Month 2011 - Days 17-21

Hello everyone, first and foremost, Happy President’s Day! Today also marks the 46th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X. I would also like to apologize for the absence of emails the past few days. I have been a bit under the weather and have been resting up to recoup. We will do some quick facts to catch us up for the past few days, courtesy of biography.com.

• Macon Bolling Allen was the first African-American to pass the bar and practice law in the United States in 1845.

• Writer and performer Maya Angelou worked as the first black female streetcar conductor in San Francisco, California, before graduating from high school.

• Deford Bailey was a wizard at playing the harmonica, and was most notable for mimicking the sound of locomotives. He was the first African-American to perform at the Grand Ole Opry and one of the first African-American stars of country music.

• Barbara Brandon was the country’s only black female cartoonist to be nationally syndicated. Her strip was named “Where I’m Coming From.”

• Actress Diahann Carroll won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series in 1968 for her role on the sitcom Julia. Carroll was the first African-American actress to star in her own television series where she did not play a domestic worker.

Black History Month 2011-Day 11

Happy Friday to all and to day eleven of BHM 2011. Today we are focusing on a black first in the law. I hope you all enjoy. Also, thank you for all of the supportive email responses and encouragement. It is very nice to know that the information is useful and interesting to everyone!



Gertrude E. Durden Rush (1880-1962) was the first black woman admitted to the Iowa bar (1918). From the beginning of her practice until the 1950s, she was the only black woman to practice law in Iowa. She was also a co-founder of the National Bar Association. Rush was born in Navasota, Texas, and graduated from Des Moines College in 1914. In that year as well, she completed her law training by correspondence at LaSalle Extension University. In 1919 Rush graduated from Quincy Business College. She was active with women’s groups, particularly the Iowa Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs and the National Baptist Women’s Convention. She founded the Charity League in 1912, whose primary concern was with the welfare of blacks in Des Moines. In 1924 she served as attorney for the Women’s Auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention.

Carney Smith, Jessie. Black Firsts: Groundbreaking Events in African American History. New York: Fall River Press, 2009.



For more information about Gertrude Rush and the NBA please follow the links below:

http://www.nationalbar.org/about/index.shtml

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fruge

http://www.styleupri.org/EAPD_2ndQtr2010.pdf

http://www.ianationalbar.com/nba.html

Notable Black Women (book)


Also, there is an event coming up to celebrate the history of African-American businesses in Iowa. Thank you to my cousin for the information. Check it out here if you are interested: http://www.iowalifechanging.com/Documents/documents.aspx?id=3