Memphis Rapper Mendenhall Mendenhall Among 2 Shot & Killed

Memphis Federal Court Case

Consent judgment in Memphis federal court ended restrictions barring voters in Fayette County, Tennessee. This was the first voting rights case under the Civil Rights Act.

fave

Source: Blackfacts.com

Apr

25

1960

First recorded use of oboe in jazz

Don Redman, musical prodigy, multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, vocalist and bandleader, was the first musician to use the oboe as a jazz instrument in a solo he performed in a recording of After the Storm, with Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra. The piece was recorded by Pathe Actuelle

fave

Source: Blackfacts.com

Apr

28

1924

Berry Gordy, Motown Executive, born

Motown recording executive Berry Gordy, Jr. born in Detroit, Michigan.

fave

Source: Blackfacts.com

Nov

28

1929

Franklin, Aretha

Franklin, Aretha, 1942–, American singer, b. Memphis. She began singing in the choir of her fathers church. Known as the Queen of Soul, she recorded such hits as Respect, Chain of Fools, and Whos Zoomin Who, (You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman, and Highway of

fave

Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Idris Elba

Best Known

fave

Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Teddy Pendergrass

Theodore DeReese Pendergrass, or Teddy Pendergrass, was an American R&B musician, born on 26 March 1950, in Kingstree, South Carolina. In a career that lasted for over 4 decades, Pendergrass became enthralled with the R&B scene of the 1970s and 1980s. In this period, he would learn the

fave

Source: Black History Resources

Jan

13

2010

1907 Civil rights activist and politician Grace Towns Hamilton was born inAt

1907 Civil rights activist and politician Grace Towns Hamilton was born in

fave

Source: Blackfacts.com

Feb

10

1907

Civil Rights Heroes Quiz

Civil Rights Heroes Quiz | FactMonster

fave

Source: Fact Monster - Black History

The National Civil Rights Museum officially opens

The National Civil Rights Museum officially opens at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., the site of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

fave

Source: Blackfacts.com

Jul

4

1991

Bill Cosby

Born William Henry “Bill Cosby” Jr. on July 12, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he describes himself mostly as a “class clown” during his school years. He was class president as well as captain of the basketball team at school. He acted in a number of school plays and in

fave

Source: Black History Resources

Jul

12

1937

William Hooper Councill’s Letter to the White People of Alabama, 1901

Most scholars of today imagine Booker T. Washington as the major accommodationist and black political conservative of the era. There were others including Professor William Hooper Councill, the founder and first President of the Huntsville Normal School which today is Alabama

fave

Source: Black Past

Nov

28

1901

Baca, Susana (1944- )

Susana Baca, recording artist and the first Afro-Peruvian to sit as a Cabinet Minister, was born in 1944 in Chorrillos, a seaside district of Lima, Peru, to a working class family. Her father was a chauffeur and her mother worked as cook and laundress for upper class families. Baca began singing at

fave

Source: Black Past

Hampton, Lionel

Hampton, Lionel, 1908?–2002, African-American vibraphonist and bandleader, b. Louisville, Ky. When his family moved to Chicago c.1916, the young Hampton began playing drums in a newsboys band. He moved to Los Angeles as a teenager and became a drummer in saxophonist Les Hites band. Encouraged by

fave

Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Barclay, Paris K.C. (1956- )

Paris K.C. Barclay is an award-winning American television director, producer, and LGBT rights activist. In 2013, he broke new ground when he was named President of the Directors Guild of America, making him the first out gay male and the first African American to hold the

fave

Source: Black Past

Jun

30

1956

Marvin Gaye

Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. was a legendary singer and recording artist who came to be known as the “Prince of Soul”. Gaye was born on April 2, 1939 in Washington, D.C. He was raised by his father “Reverend Marvin Gay Sr.” who was a very strict guardian. Gaye was musically

fave

Source: Black History Resources

Apr

2

1939

Gatson, Dewey (AKA Rajo Jack DeSoto) (1905-1956)

Automobile racer Rajo Jack DeSoto was born Dewey Gatson on July 28, 1905 in Tyler, Texas. (Previously published biographies have incorrectly listed his racing name as Rojo Jack.) Rajo Jack was barred from racing in many organized venues because of his African American heritage, but he had several

fave

Source: Black Past

Le Moyne-Owen College (1862- )

Le Moyne-Owen College is a private, historically black, four year, co-educational, liberal arts institution located in Memphis, Tennessee. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ. The institution can trace its roots back to 1862, when the American Missionary Association (AMA) sent

fave

Source: Black Past

Herman Cain

Herman Cain is an experienced American author, politician and businessman, born on December 13, 1945 in Memphis, Tennessee. Born to a cleaning woman and a domestic worker, Cain grew up in a poor family but learnt what he understood as the true meaning of success. Through his father’s hard

fave

Source: Black History Resources

Dec

13

1945

Birthday

Carmen McRae Born April 8, 1920. After winning an amateur contest at Harlems legendary Apollo Theatre in her hometown New York City, McRae went on to become a noted jazz singer with Earl Hines, Mercer Duke Ellington and Benny Carter bands among others and recording more than 20 albums. She Died

fave

Source: Blackfacts.com

Apr

8

1920

DMX

Name at birth: Earl Simmons

fave

Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong was a multi-talented American jazz icon who was a singer, trumpeter, actor and comedian. He was born on August 4, 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He had an impoverished childhood; his father was a factory worker who abandoned the family when Armstrong was born and his mother often

fave

Source: Black History Resources

Jul

6

1971

Mercer, Mabel Alice Wadham (1900-1984)

Mabel Mercer was one of the most important jazz cabaret singers of the 20th Century. Her personal singing style emphasizing interpretation, diction, lyrics, and projection over vocal proficiency influenced numerous leading singers including Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Nat

fave

Source: Black Past

Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier is an American actor and director, and the first African American to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. He was born on February 20, 1927 to Evelyn and Reginald James Poitier who were farmers from Bahama. At the time of Poitier’s birth, his parents were in the U.S. to sell the

fave

Source: Black History Resources

Feb

20

1927

Cook, Will Marion (1869-1944)

Will Marion Cook was a talented musician, conductor, and composer born on January 27, 1869 in Washington, D.C. to John Hartwell Cook and Marion Isabelle Lewis. From 1884 to 1887 Cook studied violin at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He then studied abroad for two years from 1887 to 1889 at the

fave

Source: Black Past

Jan

27

1869

25th Dynasty, Ancient Egypt (ca. 746 BC to 653 BC)

The 25th Dynasty refers to the kings of Kush (which included Nubia) who ruled all or part of Egypt from around 746 to 653 BC. This period parallels the Egyptian Third Intermediate Period (1070-653 BC). The Kushite kings of this period considered themselves the bodily sons of the god Amun; they

fave

Source: Black Past

Blackwell, Robert “Bumps” (1918-1985)

Robert Bumps Blackwell was a musician, producer, and composer who worked with the top names in early jazz and rock and roll. Blackwell was born in Seattle, Washington on May 23, 1918. By the late 1940s his Seattle-based Bumps Blackwell Junior Band featured Ray Charles and Quincy Jones, and played

fave

Source: Black Past

May

23

1918

U.S. Marshal Luke Moore at Ole Miss, 1962

Many Americans are familiar with the now iconic images of James Meredith, the black student who desegregated the University of Mississippi in October 1962, surrounded by white U.S. marshals assigned to protect him and ensure that a U.S. Supreme Court desegregation order be enforced. Few of us are

fave

Source: Black Past

Negro Repertory Company (Seattle) 1936-1939

The Negro Repertory Company (NRC) was established in 1936 by Florence and James Burton, directors of the Seattle Repertory Playhouse (SRP), as the Negro unit of the Federal Theatre Program, a part of the WPA. In its short life it produced ambitious and controversial plays that reached a wide

fave

Source: Black Past

Oct

27

1936

Kanye West

Kanye Omari West is an American rap singer, producer and songwriter, who is currently one of the most celebrated as well as controversial artists in the world. West was born on June 8, 1977 in Atlanta to Ray and Donda West. His parents got divorced when he was three years old, and he moved to

fave

Source: Black History Resources

Jun

8

1977

James Earl Ray

Best Known

fave

Source: Fact Monster - Black History

BlackFacts Details

Memphis Rapper Mendenhall Mendenhall Among 2 Shot & Killed

Southern United States Facts

Washington DC Facts