Today In Black

1864*

Rachel Boone was a slave of the decendents of the Daniel Boone family who escaped to an army camp near Miami, MO. She gave birth to a son & moved to Warrensburg, MO. Her son became "Blind" Boone, famous classical pianist known all over the U.S., Canada & Mexico who also reportedly played in Europe. He became known as the "pioneer of ragtime" because he brought in ragtime music to the concert stage as an encore or when the audience became restless, saying "Let's put the cookies on the bottom shelf where everybody can reach them.". His motto was "Merit, not sympathy, wins."

1875*

The first Kentucky Derby is won by African American jockey Oliver Lewis riding the horse Aristides. 14 of the 15 jockeys in the race are African Americans.

1909*

White firemen on Georgia Railroad struck to protest employment of Blacks.

1915*

National Baptist Convention chartered.

1954*

U.S. Supreme Court in landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. The unanimous decision was read by Chief Justice Earl B. Warren.

1956*

Sugar Ray Leonard, born in Wilmington, SC

1957*

Prayer Pilgrimage, biggest civil rights demonstration to date, held in Washington.

1980*

Major race riot, Miami, Florida. Sixteen persons were killed and more than three hundred were injured.

1988*

Dr. Patricia E. Bath of Los Angeles, a renowned ophthalmologist and Black woman, patented (1988) an apparatus that efficiently removes cataracts by using laser technology.

1997*

Laurent Kabilia becomes new President of Zaire and renames it the Democratic Republic of the Congo.The country was previously under the 37 year rule of Dictator Mobutu SeSE sEKO. cONGO HAS DEMOCRACY.