Black History Month 2011-Days 8 & 9

Hello everyone! I am so sorry; this has been a bit of a hectic week. I will be back on track now. I hope you all enjoy the facts about Black Firsts in Journalism.

Day 8-Time Magazine



Time magazine’s first black national correspondent (1963) was Wallace Houston Terry II, whose many assignments included coverage of the Vietnam War. He was named 1993 holder of the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies at Middle Tennessee State University.

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

For more information on Wallace Houston Terry II look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_Terry

Day 9-Crisis Magazine



The first issue of Crisis magazine, the official organ of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the vehicle for the dissemination of educational and social programs for blacks, was published in April 1910. Edited by W.E.B. Du Bois, Crisis was first printed in one thousand copies, but by 1920 circulation had increased one-hundredfold.

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



For more information on Crisis visit the following websites:
http://www.thecrisismagazine.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crisis

Black History Month 2011-Days 6 & 7

Hello everyone! I apologize about yesterday. I will give you two today to make up for that. The Day 7 fact is a quick one, so hopefully you don’t feel overloaded.

Day 6-Toni Morrison



Toni Morrison, novelist, educator, and editor, was the first black American and the second American woman to win the Nobel Prize in literature, which was awarded on October 7, 1993. The Swedish Academy called her a “literary artist of first rank,” one who “gives life to an essential aspect of American reality,” and one who wrote prose “with the luster of poetry.” Informed of the honor, Morrison said that her work was inspired by “huge silences in literature, things that had never been articulated, printed or imagined and they were the silences about black girls, black women.” Her novel Song of Solomon, published in 1977, won the National Book Critics Award for fiction that year, and in 1988 she won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her work Beloved. Her other novels include The Bluest Eye (1970), Sula (1974), Tar Baby (1981), and Jazz (1992). Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio, and graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 1953. She received a master’s degree in English from Cornell University in 1955. In 1965 Morrison became a textbook editor for a subsidiary of Random House Publishing in Syracuse, New York, and three years later she moved to New York City as a senior editor in the trade department at Random House. She mixed her editorial work with a teaching career and taught at a number of colleges. She left the publishing field in 1984, and in 1989 became the Robert F. Goheen Professor of the Council of Humanities at Princeton University. In 1996 the National Endowment for the Humanities named her Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities.

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



For more information on Toni Morrison and her Nobel Prize win follow the links below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Morrison
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1993/morrison-bio.html
http://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/08/books/93nobel.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120603/

Day 7-Invention of the Rubber Stamp



W.B. Purvis invented the hand stamp, patented on February 27, 1883. This was a wooden device to which rubber letters are attached. It was very effective and remains in use today.

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




Purvis was also the inventor of the Fountain Pen. This patent came in 1890.

Black History Month 2011 Day 5

The Country’s Oldest Black College



Cheyney State College, sometimes referred to as the oldest black college in the United States, had its beginning in 1832. Richard Humphreys, a Philadelphia Quaker, willed $10,000 to a board of trustees to establish a school for blacks. A school for black boys was eventually established in 1839 and incorporated in 1842. The school became known as the Institute for Colored Youth in 1852. It reorganized in 1902 and moved to Cheyney, Pennsylvania, where it was renamed. It became a teacher training school in 1914 and a normal school in 1921, when it was purchased by the state. Since 1932 Cheyney State College (now Cheyney University of Pennsylvania) has been a degree-granting institution.

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





For more information on Cheyney University of Pennsylvania look here:

http://www.cheyney.edu/
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/cheyney-pa/cheyney-university-3317
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyney_University_of_Pennsylvania

It’s the first Friday in February. I hope you have all enjoyed the first few days. Also, I had the opportunity to write an article for the Liberty Tribune Newspaper and you can check that out here. http://www.kccommunitynews.com/liberty-tribune-opinion/26717313/detail.html. Today I am going to focus on a sport that is near and dear to my mother’s heart; auto racing. We are going to take a look at Wendell Oliver Scott.



Wendell Oliver Scott was the first and only black driver to win a NASCAR Winston Cup (then the Grand National) race. The year was 1963. He was the first black driver since Rojo Jack (1923) to earn a national following. Scott began racing at Danville Fairgrounds Speedway in his hometown of Danville, Virginia, and won more than one hundred short-track Sportsman races, as well as several state and track titles. He moved to NASCAR’s premier division in 1961 where he made almost five hundred starts. In the summer of 1964 Scott won a short-track race at Jacksonville, Florida. Injuries in a race at Talladega ended his career in 1973. The 1977 film Greased Lightning, starring Richard Pryor, was based on his life. Scott was subjected to many slashed tires, or not receiving points he should have been awarded. His driving skills eventually led to a degree of recognition. From 1949 until his death in 1990, Scott owned and operated Scott’s Garage, where his skills as an auto mechanic were in great demand. A street in Danville was named for him in 1997. In 1999 he was one of five drivers, and the only black, inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, in Talladega, Alabama.

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



For more information on Wendell Oliver Scott look here:
http://www.legendsofnascar.com/Wendell_Scott.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Scott

Black History Month 2011-Day 3

Hello everyone and welcome to day three! Today we are going to focus on an inventor that created something extremely useful that is still used today.

In 1878, Inventor J.R. Winters patented the first fire escape ladder, on May 7. He improved the wooden ladder in existence at the time and used a metal frame with parallel steps. The escape ladder was attached to the side of buildings and used to enable people to safely escape from fire or other perils.

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

His original design is pictured below:



It has evolved into permanent fixtures on the side of buildings:



And now it is even available as a portable item:

Black History Month 2011 Day 2

Hello everyone and welcome to day two. Today we will focus on a historical event that was a first in black history.

An Act to Prohibit the Importation of Slaves

An Act to Prohibit the Importation of Slaves became effective on January 1, 1808. It was passed in March 1807 and was the first law prohibiting the importation of slaves into the United States. First the Treasury Department, then the Secretary of the Navy, and at times the Secretary of State were responsible for enforcing the law. Although it was poorly enforced, the law helped to end slavery in the United States by prohibiting the transportation of slaves from Africa to the United States and its territories. It prompted some Southern states to pass similar laws, while other states refused to act.

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

For the complete wording of the Act follow the link below:

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=179

Hello everyone and welcome to Black History Month 2011. For those that were part of this last year, welcome back. For the new additions, welcome! You will be receiving a different fact everyday of February.

Before we dive into our first fun fact of the month I’d like to thank a few people that have helped this mini-project of mine develop nicely. First, Dr. Cecelia Robinson, who is a constant support to anyone who knows her; thank you for making me dream big! Second, Ms. Asheley Brown, who has made this stunning header you see above you; love ya girl! Last, Ms. Jessie Carney Smith, who has written an incredible book where I will be getting most of my information this year called “Black Firsts”.

That will be our theme this year, Black Firsts. You will learn about many different people, organizations, and events that were a first in the history of America. Thank you all for participating this year and I hope you enjoy the knowledge!

Today we are starting with an Iowa native. (Sorry, I gotta start with Iowa.) His name is Simon Estes and his contributions are enormous. Estes is a bass baritone and an opera singer who was born in Centerville, IA. He attended the University of Iowa and the Julliard School of Music. He also has an amphitheatre named after him in Des Moines, IA.

His first came in 1978 when he was the first black man to sing at the Bayreuth Festival when he appeared in the title role of Der Fliegende Hollander. In 1966 he also won the first International Tchaikovsky Vocal Competition in Moscow.

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


For an example of his amazing vocal talents check out the following video below:



For more information on Mr. Estes click on any of the following links:
Simon Estes-Wikipedia
Simon Estes-Wartburg
Simon Estes-Iowa State University
Simon Estes-Autobiography