Month: December 2018

21Dec

December 21 1911- Josh Gibbson

GM – FBF – Growing up in the inner city was not an easy thing, and today it is even worse for many. The part of Trenton, N.J. (East Trenton) where I grew up did not have any organized Little League Baseball teams as they did on the other parts of town and if you tried to work out and slip past them naturally they asked for your address and send us back home. So all we could do is play wall ball, stick ball or half ball.

We were happy that a young man from our church (Eddie Courtney) would takes out at on Saturday afternoons and go over fundamentals but we never played against anyone. They all changed when my brother, I and others finally got to Junior High School and tried out and make the Junior High Varsity School team all three years. The only saving grace was going to Lawnside, N.J. (Lawnside was developed and incorporated as the first independent, self-governing black municipality north of the Mason-Dixon Line in 1840. The United Parcel Service has a large depot in the borough.)

During segregation and (yes there was segregation up North) we could meet, watch and speak with many of the black entertainers of the day at my Great Uncle’s restaurant and park area. I was fortunate to meet a lot of famous people but since I loved baseball, watching and playing with some of the young baseball stars was the best because no matter the conversation it always got back to today’s story great, Enjoy!

Remember – “Playing winter ball was the best because we could finally play against some white professional baseball players and showed then that we in the Negro Leagues were just as good or even better than most of them.” – Josh Gibson

Today in our History – December 21, 1911 – Josh Gibson dies.

Josh Gibson (December 21, 1911 – January 20, 1947) was an American Negro League professional baseball player. He was born in Buena Vista, Georgia on December 21, 1911. His father had a farm there but he moved the family to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Gibson was studying to be an electrician and only attended school till the 9th grade. He did not play baseball for a team until the age of 16, when he played for an amateur team sponsored by the department store where he worked. After this he was recruited by a semi-professional baseball team called the Pittsburgh Crawfords.

The team gained professional status in 1931. Gibson himself played his first professional game in 1930. He was sitting in the stands during a Gray’s game but one of their catchers named Buck Ewing was injured and Gibson was invited to replace him.

Gibson was married to Helen Mason in 1929 at the age of 17. The next year, he was recruited by a team called the Homestead Grays, the top Negro league team in Pittsburgh. Soon after he debuted for the team, his wife went into labor and died due to complications during delivery. The twins Helen gave birth to survived, and were raised by her mother.

Josh Gibson has often been called one of baseball’s greatest home run hitters. The Negro leagues scheduled games within the league, as well as barnstorming games against semi-professional and non-league teams. Although there are no published or organized records of league scores in different seasons, Gibson’s record in both types of games have been outstanding. He had a sturdy built with a 6 foot 1 inch frame, a powerful throw and agility and speed while stopping players from stealing bases. He became the second highest paid player in the black league after Satchel Paige, another future hall of fame player. One of his records was a 580 foot home run, which almost reached the top of the bleacher. The leading sports writers of the time compared him to legends like Babe Ruth and Ted Williams.

Various statistics have been compiled from sources across the country. According to some records, Gibson hit more than 800 home runs during his league and other games. This is also what is etched on his plaque in the hall of fame. According to other sources, Gibson hit somewhere between 150 and 200 home runs in the official Negro league games. It must be noted that many games were played against much more inferior teams; therefore the recorded number of home runs may be higher due to that. However, this was countered by the fact that Negro league seasons were much shorter than regular major league seasons and they played fewer games as compared to them. Regardless of these factors, Gibson’s statistics are comparable to any of the foremost players in major league baseball.

Josh Gibson was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of 31. He fell into a coma, and refused to be treated when he came out. He outlived the tumor for four years, but had constant recurring headaches. He was hospitalized on and off, and died on January 20, 1947, at the age of 35. He was buried in an unmarked grave, but a small plaque was later put there. Three months before he died, Jackie Robinson became the first black player to be inducted into the National League. Many believe it was Gibson who deserved that honor. He has since been honored with an induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Research more about the Negro baseball league and share with your babies. Make it a champion day!

20Dec

December 20 1986

GM – FBF – Today’s story is a painful one because it is close to home being that I am from New Jersey and it was nothing for us to go to NYC or any of the five sections known as Burrows. In the 1980s, several racially motivated attacks dominated the headlines of New York City newspapers. On September 15, 1983, artist and model Michael Stewart died on a lower Manhattan subway platform from a chokehold and beating he received from several police officers. A year later, on October 29, an elderly grandmother, Eleanor Bumpers, was murdered by a police officer in her Bronx apartment as he and other officers tried to evict her.

Later that year, on December 22, a white man, Bernhard Goetz, shot and seriously wounded four black teenagers he thought were going to rob him on a subway train in Manhattan. The Howard Beach racial incident in late 1986 propelled the predominantly Italian and Jewish community into the national spotlight, exposing racial hatred in New York City. Enjoy!

Remember – “I could recall 25 years ago as a kid, I would not recommend anyone black stopping there,” said Representative Gregory W. Meeks, who is black and represents Old Howard Beach, east of Cross Bay Boulevard. “Today, it’s definitely a different place.”

Today in our History – On December 20, 1986, a black man was killed and another was beaten in Howard Beach, Queens, New York, United States in a racially charged incident that heightened racial tensions in New York City.

The man attacked was 23-year-old Michael Griffith (March 2, 1963 – December 20, 1986), who was from Trinidad and had immigrated to the United States in 1973, and lived in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. He was killed after being hit by a car as he was chased onto a highway by a mob of white youths who had beaten him and his friends. Griffith’s death was the second of three infamous racially motivated killings of black men by white mobs in New York City in the 1980s. The other victims were Willie Turks in 1982 and Yusuf Hawkinsin 1989.

Late on the night of Friday, December 19, 1986, four black men, Michael Griffith, 23; Cedric Sandiford, 36; Curtis Sylvester and Timothy Grimes, both 20, were riding in a car when it broke down in a deserted stretch of Cross Bay Boulevard near the Broad Channelneighborhood of Queens. Three of the men walked about three miles north to seek help in Howard Beach, a mostly white community, while Sylvester remained behind to watch the car. They argued with some white teens who were on their way to a party, then left.

By 12:30 a.m. on the 20th, the men reached the New Park Pizzeria, near the intersection of Cross Bay Boulevard and 157th Avenue. After a quick meal the men left the pizzeria at 12:40 a.m. and were confronted by a group of white men, including the group they had earlier confronted. When Sandiford, Grimes, and Griffith left the restaurant at 12:40 a.m., a mob of twelve white youth awaited them with baseball bats, tire irons, and tree limbs. The gang, led by Jon Lester, 17, included Salvatore DeSimone, 19, William Bollander, 17, James Povinelli, 16, Michael Pirone, 17, John Saggese, 19, Jason Ladone, 16, Thomas Gucciardo, 17, Harry Bunocore, 18, Scott Kern, 18, Thomas Farino, 16, and Robert Riley, 19.

Racial slurs were exchanged and a fight ensued. Sandiford and Griffith were seriously beaten; Grimes escaped unharmed. The mob attacked Griffith and Sandiford. Grimes, who drew a knife on the angry mob, escaped with minor injuries. Sandiford begged, “God, don’t kill us” before Lester knocked him down with a baseball bat. With the mob in hot pursuit, the severely beaten Griffith ran the nearby Belt Parkway where he jumped through a small hole in a fence adjacent to the highway. As he staggered across the busy six-lane expressway, trying to escape his attackers, he was hit and instantly killed by a car driven by Dominic Blum, a court officer and son of a New York police officer. His body was found on theBelt Parkway at 1:03 a.m.

The incident sparked immediate outrage in New York’s African American community, prompting black civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton to organize several protests in Howard Beach, as well as the Carnarsie and Bath Bay sections of Brooklyn. Other leaders, including newly elected black Congressman Floyd Flake and Brooklyn activists Sonny Carson and Rev. Herbert Daughtry, called for boycotts of all white-owned Howard Beach businesses.

New York Governor Mario Cuomo appointed a special prosecutor, Charles J. Hynes, who brought manslaughter, second degree murder, and first degree assault charges against four leaders of the mob, Jon Lester, Jason Ladone, Scott Kern and Michael Pirone. The other men were charged with lesser offenses.

Griffith’s death provoked strong outrage and immediate condemnation by then-Mayor of New York City Ed Koch, who referred to the case as the “No. 1 case in the city”. Two days after the event, on December 22, three local teenagers, Jon Lester, Scott Kern, and Jason Ladone, students at John Adams High School, were arrested, and charged with second-degree murder. The driver of the car that struck Griffith, 24-year-old Dominick Blum, was not charged with any crime; a May 1987 grand jury did not return criminal charges against him.

To protest the killing of Griffith, 1,200 demonstrators marched through the streets of Howard Beach on December 27, 1986. A heavy NYPD presence kept angry white locals, who were screaming at the crowd of marchers, in check.
The Griffith family, as well as Cedric Sandiford, retained the services of Alton H. Maddox and C. Vernon Mason(who was later disbarred), two attorneys who would become involved in the Tawana Brawley affair the following year. Maddox raised the ire of the NYPD and Commissioner Benjamin Ward by accusing them of trying to cover up facts in the case and aid the defendants.

After witnesses repeatedly refused to cooperate with Queens D.A. John J. Santucci, Governor of New York Mario Cuomo appointed Charles Hynes special prosecutor to handle the Griffith case on January 13, 1987. The move came after heavy pressure from black leaders on Cuomo to get Santucci, who was seen as too partial to the defendants to prosecute the case effectively, off the case.

Twelve defendants were indicted by a grand jury on February 9, 1987, including the original three charged in the case. Their original indictments had been dismissed after the witnesses refused to cooperate in the case.

After a lengthy trial and 12 days of jury deliberations, the three main defendants were convicted on December 21, 1987 of manslaughter, a little over a year after the death of Griffith. Kern, Lester and Ladone were convicted of second-degree manslaughter and Michael Pirone, 18, was acquitted. Ultimately nine people would be convicted on a variety of charges related to Griffith’s death.

On January 22, 1988, Jon Lester was sentenced to ten to thirty years’ imprisonment. On February 5, Scott Kern was sentenced to six to eighteen years’ imprisonment, and on February 11, 1988, Jason Ladone received a sentence of five to fifteen years’ imprisonment.

In December 1999, the block where Griffith had lived was given the additional name “Michael Griffith Street.”
Jason Ladone, then 29, was released from prison in April, 2000 after serving 10 years, and later became a city employee. He was arrested again in June 2006, on drug charges. In May 2001, Jon Lester was released and deported to his native England where he studied electrical engineering and started his own business. He died on August 14, 2017 at age 48 of what some suspect was a suicide. He left behind a wife and three children.[10] Scott Kern was released from prison, last of the three main perpetrators, in 2002.

In 2005 the Griffith case was brought back to the public’s attention after another racial attack in Howard Beach. A black man, Glenn Moore, was beaten severely with a metal baseball bat by Nicholas Minucci, who was convicted of hate crimes in 2006. The case was revisited yet again by the media, after the death of Michael Sandy, 29, who was beaten and hit by a car after being chased onto the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn, New York, in October 2006. Research more about Black harassment in communities and share with your babies. Make it a champion day!

19Dec

December 19 1941- Maurice white

GM – FBF – Today’s story is about a working professional that I had the honor to meet on several occasions. I first met him at a New Year’s Eve party at a dinner club in Philadelphia, PA. back in 1970, I was there to see one of his vocalists that I loved at the time like many others did also, Jessica Marguerite Cleaves who started with “The Friends of Distention.” Some of you youngsters may not know but Earth, Wind and Fire had two female singers in the group when they first started. As time went on they dropped the females and still produced some of the best music ever. Enjoy!

Remember – “We’ve been called the soundtrack of people’s lives. There have been lots of downs, of course but mostly ups. That EW&F is still clicking at least twenty years on and has a life of its own, that the songs have stayed alive – we’re like a good book that people go back to.” – Maurice White

Today In Our History – December 19, 1941 – Maurice White was an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and arranger. Maurice White died.

White has been described as a “musical renaissance man” by Allmusic and a “maestro” by Billboard. He was nominated for a total of 22 Grammys, of which he won seven. White was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as a member of Earth, Wind & Fire, and was also inducted individually into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

White worked with several famous recording artists, including Deniece Williams, the Emotions, Barbra Streisand, and Neil Diamond. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the late 1980s, which led him eventually to stop touring with Earth, Wind & Fire in 1994. He retained executive control of the band and remained active in the music business until his death in February 2016.

Earth, Wind and Fire vocalist and co-founder Maurice White died in his sleep in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening. A rep for the band confirmed his passing to Rolling Stone. He was 74.

The singer had been battling Parkinson’s disease since 1992, according to TMZ. His health had reportedly deteriorated in recent months. Because of the disease, he had not toured with the pioneering soul and R&B group since 1994. He nevertheless remained active on the business side of the group.

“My brother, hero and best friend Maurice White passed away peacefully last night in his sleep,” White’s brother and bandmate Verdine wrote in a statement. “While the world has lost another great musician and legend, our family asks that our privacy is respected as we start what will be a very difficult and life changing transition in our lives. Thank you for your prayers and well wishes.”

“The light is he, shining on you and me,” the band added on Twitter.

White, who formed the group with Verdine in 1969, helped innovate a lush, eclectic style with Earth, Wind and Fire that drew inspiration from funk, jazz, R&B and Latin music – as well as Sly Stone and James Brown – for a unique sound that set the tone for soul music in the Seventies. The springy, elastic soul-pop of “Shining Star,” which White co-wrote, earned them their first Number One, and paved the way for hits like the joyful “Sing a Song,” the percussive and brassy “September,” their swinging cover of the Beatles’ “Got to Get You Into My Life” and the robotic disco of “Let’s Groove.” Rolling Stone included the group’s sweetly smooth 1975 single, “That’s the Way of the World,” on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Earth, Wind and Fire have sold more than 90 million albums around the world, according to The Associated Press. Several of their albums went multiplatinum, including 1975’s That’s the Way of the World, the following year’s Spirit and 1977’s All ‘n’ All. They won six Grammys over the course of their career. In 2000, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The group will be honored with a lifetime achievement award later this month at the Grammys, along with Run-DMC and Herbie Hancock.

Maurice White was born in Memphis on December 19th, 1941, the son of a doctor and grandson of a New Orleans honky-tonk pianist. He moved to Chicago with his family and sang gospel from a young age. He attended the Chicago Conservatory of Music in the mid Sixties and served as a session drummer at Chess Records, where he cut records with Muddy Waters, the Impressions and Billy Stewart. In the late Sixties, he played in the Ramsay Lewis Trio, where he learned kalimba, the African thumb piano which would become a big part of Earth, Wind and Fire’s sound.

White formed the first lineup of Earth, Wind and Fire with Verdine – who sang, played bass and performed percussion – in Los Angeles, naming the group after the elements on his astrological chart. Over the years, White would sing and play the kalimba, drums and produce. They signed to Capitol but switched to Warner Bros. within two years and put out two albums, and they didn’t garner much attention until he brought younger musicians into the lineup. Things changed with Head to the Sky, their 1973 release. It went gold and began a long streak of hits. That’s the Way of the World, the soundtrack to a Harvey Keitel flick that featured the group, contained “Shining Star,” which won them a Grammy, and propelled the band into arenas, where they put on elaborate, striking stage shows. By 1978, they were asked to appear in the movie Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band, where they debuted their hit Beatles cover.

“We had a strong leader,” Verdine told The Telegraph in 2013. “We really looked up to Maurice. … You have to understand that we were 21 years old when we started our journey with Earth, Wind and Fire and Maurice was 31, and so he had done a lot more things than we had. Maurice was interested in establishing a credibility of a different morality about musicians and their lifestyles. So we were into healthy food, meditation, taking vitamins, reading philosophical books, being students of life.”

Throughout the Seventies, White also started a career as a producer, working with the Emotions, Ramsey Lewis and Deniece Williams. He released a solo album, Maurice White, in 1985 and made a hit out his cover of “Stand by Me.”
“You know how hard it is to present Afrocentric Jazz & spiritual positivity in the face of what we had to deal with in the Seventies?” Questlove wrote on Instagram. “When times were hard sometimes the only release you had was music. & if it wasn’t Stevie, you were reaching for your #EarthWindAndFirealbums.”

“In my junior high school, the white kids loved Zeppelin, the black kids loved [Parliament Funkadelic], the freaky kids loved Bowie,
but everyone loved Earth, Wind & Fire,” added Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea. “They were just undeniable.”

“Being joyful and positive was the whole objective of our group,” White once said, according to SongwriterUniverse. “Our goal was to reach all the people and to keep a universal atmosphere – to create positive energy. All of our songs had that positive energy. To create uplifting music was the objective.” Research more about this great American musical act and its co-founder Maurice White and share with your babies. Make it a champion day!

18Dec

December 18 1917- Ossie Davis

GM – FBF – Today’s story is about a person was an American film, television and Broadway actor, director, poet, playwright, author, and civil activist.

He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death in 2005.

He and his wife were named to the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame; were awarded the National Medal of Arts and were recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1994. Enjoy!

Remember – “College ain’t so much where you been as how you talk when you get back.” – Ossie Davis

Today in our History – December 18, 1917 – Ossie Davis was born.

Ossie Davis was a twentieth century renowned African-American film and television artist and Broadway actor. Besides that, he was also known for his work as a playwright, poet and author. Being an actor and author, Davis had a sensitive side which made him conscious of social problems faced by his race which he tried to bring to light as a social activist.

Davis was named Raiford Chatman Davis on his birth. He was born on December 18, 1917, in Cogdell, Clinch County, Georgia. He came to known as Ossie when a country clerk mistaken R. C for Ossie upon his birth. As it was a regular occupation for white people to threaten and bully the blacks, Davis family was no less a victim of this cruelty. His father was threatened to be shot for occupying such a major work post for a black man. Despite facing the extreme racism, Davis had been able to attend school and was later sent to Howard University. However, he dropped out in 1939 in order to follow his dream career of acting but not before he finished a course at Columbia University School of General Studies.

1939 was the year when he first embarked upon his eight decade long journey of his acting career. He had to face the similar problems as all the black community did when they made any meaningful career choice, such as strong resistance from white. They were allowed to play only stereotypical and low-profile characters. Nevertheless, Davis had different plans as he wanted to play something significant following the example of Sidney Poitier. The struggle for a major role was inevitable for a beginner like himself so he was offered roles like that of a butler or porter. In order to make a difference, he took on whatever small roles came his way very seriously and made them non-stereotypical.

After experiencing career as an actor, he aspired to become a director. Eventually, Ossie Davis became one of the stellar directors of his time along with Melvin Van Peebles, and Gordon Parks. He is credited with directing some notable films including the famous action film Cotton Comes to Harlem, Black Girl and Gordon’s Work. He was one of the few African American actors who found commercial success in such a cut-throat competitive industry as Hollywood. He acted along with Sean Conner in the 1965 movie The Hill and in other films including, The Scalphunters and The Cardinal. He was successful but his success didn’t exceed to massive commercial and critical fame that his contemporaries Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier savored.

In addition to acting and directing, Davis also wrote plays for theater. His Paul Robeson: All-American was often performed in various theaters and enjoyed by the youth. It was not until his late acting career that he received recognition by working in films such as Jungle Fever, Do The Right Thing and She Hate Me. Moreover, he worked as a voice-over artist in the early 1990s CBS sitcom, Evening Shade. Having a unique personality, Davis was requested to host the annual National Memorial Day Concert from Washington, DC. His final acting project included numerous guest roles. One that stands out amongst others was the Showtime drama series The L Word. Ossie Davis passed away on February 9, 2005, in Florida. Research more about this great American talent and share with your babies. Make it a champion day!

17Dec

December 17 2014- George Stinney Jr

GM – FBF – Today’s story takes me back to my U.S. History class during my Undergraduate work at College. The story was a research project and I had spoken to some family members who had moved to Wisconsin at the time in 1972. I never forgot the case and while I was teaching at Ewing High School, (Mercer County, NJ – outside of Trenton) I shared this case with my students in 1991 and the Administration and School Board were mad at me for starting trouble by having children go home and ask questions to their parents/guardians that would divide the racially mixed student body. This was one of the reasons why they wanted me out I was at the end of the school year.

I went to Red Bank Regional High School the next year and still presented to the students in my classes while there. A friend of mine Steven Dunlap asked me about it a month ago and I told him that my posts go by month and day of an historical event and when it comes up I will surly tell the story. Learn and enjoy!

Remember – “There wasn’t any reason to convict this child. There was no evidence to present to the jury. There was no transcript. This case needs to be re-opened. This is an injustice that needs to be righted.” – Attorney Ray Chandler representing Stinney’s family

Today in our History – December 17, 2014 – George Junius Stinney Jr., circuit court Judge Carmen Mullen vacated Stinney’s conviction.

George Junius Stinney Jr. (October 21, 1929 – June 16, 1944), was an African-American teenager wrongfully convicted at age 14 of the murder of two white girls in 1944 in his hometown of Alcolu, South Carolina. He was executed in June of that year, still only 14. His appeal to the governor for clemency was denied. He was one of the youngest Americans to be sentenced to death and executed.

A re-examination of the Stinney case began in 2004, and several individuals and Northeastern University School of Law organized to seek a judicial review. His conviction was vacated in 2014 when a court ruled that he had not received a fair trial.

Police arrested 14-year-old George Stinney, a local African-American, as a suspect. They said that he confessed to the crime to them. There was no written record of his confession apart from notes provided by an investigating deputy.

No transcript was recorded of the brief trial. Stinney was convicted of first-degree murder of the two girls in less than 10 minutes by an all-white jury, during a one-day trial. The court refused to hear his appeal. He was executed that year, still age 14, by electric chair.

In the decades since Stinney’s conviction and execution, the question of his guilt, the validity of his reported confession, and the judicial process leading to his execution have been extensively criticized.

A group of lawyers and activists investigated the Stinney case on behalf of his family. In 2013 the family petitioned for a new trial. On December 17, 2014, his conviction was posthumously vacated 70 years after his execution, because the circuit court judge ruled that he had not been given a fair trial; he had no effective defense representation and his Sixth Amendment rights had been violated. The judgment noted that while Stinney may have committed the crime, the prosecution and trial were fundamentally flawed. Judge Mullen ruled that his confession was likely coerced and thus inadmissible. She also found that the execution of a 14-year-old constituted “cruel and unusual punishment.”

George Stinney Jr, of African descent, was the youngest person to be executed in the 20th century in the United States. This young black was only 14 years old at the time of his execution by electric chair. 70 years later, his innocence has just been officially recognized by a judge in South Carolina.
From his trial to the execution room, the boy always had his Bible in his hands while claiming his innocence. George was unfairly accused of murdering two White girls (Betty 11 and Mary 7), whose bodies had been found not far from the house where the boy and his parents lived. At that time, all the members of the jury were white. The trial lasted 2H30, and the jury made the decision of his sentence after 10 minutes.

The boy’s parents, threatened, were barred from taking part in the trial after being ordered to leave the city. Prior to his trial, George spent 81 days in detention without the possibility of seeing his parents for the last time. He was imprisoned alone in his cell, 80 kilometers from his hometown. His hearing of the facts was done alone, without the presence of his parents or a lawyer.

George’s electrocution charge was 5,380 volts on his head. We let you imagine what such an electric shock can have on a young child’s head. We will never forgive and will never FORGET!

Rather than approving a new trial, on December 17, 2014, circuit court Judge Carmen Mullen vacated Stinney’s conviction. She ruled that he had not received a fair trial, as he was not effectively defended and his Sixth Amendment right had been violated. The ruling was a rare use of the legal remedy of coram nobis. Judge Mullen ruled that his confession was likely coerced and thus inadmissible. She also found that the execution of a 14-year-old constituted “cruel and unusual punishment”, and that his attorney “failed to call exculpating witnesses or to preserve his right of appeal.”

Mullen confined her judgment to the process of the prosecution, noting that Stinney “may well have committed this crime.” With reference to the legal process, Mullen wrote, “No one can justify a 14-year-old child charged, tried, convicted and executed in some 80 days,” concluding that “In essence, not much was done for this child when his life lay in the balance.”

Family members of both Betty Binnicker and Mary Thames expressed disappointment at the court’s ruling. They said that, although they acknowledge Stinney’s execution at the age of 14 is controversial, they never doubted the boy’s guilt. The niece of Betty Binnicker claimed she and her family have extensively researched the case, and argues that “people who [just] read these articles in the newspaper don’t know the truth.” Binnicker’s niece alleges that, in the early 1990s, a police officer who had arrested Stinney had contacted her and said: “Don’t you ever believe that boy didn’t kill your aunt.”

These family members said that the claims of a deathbed confession from an individual confessing to the girls’ murders have never been substantiated. Research more about this great American tragedy by reading David Stout based his first novel Carolina Skeletons (1988) on this case. He was awarded the 1989 Edgar Award for Best First Novel (Edgar Allan Poe Award). Stout suggests in the novel that Stinney, whom he renames Linus Bragg, was innocent.

The plot revolves around a fictitious nephew of Stinney/Bragg, who unravels the truth about the case decades later. The novel was adapted as a 1991 television movie of the same name directed by John Erman, featuring Kenny Blank as Stinney/Bragg. Lou Gossett Jr. played Stinney’s/Bragg’s younger brother James. As of February 2014, another movie about the Stinney case, 83 Days, was planned by Pleroma Studios, written and produced by Ray Brown with Charles Burnett as director.

16Dec

December 16 1988- Sylvester James

GM – FBF – Growing up in Trenton,N.J. in a Christian Church upbringing, I noticed that at the time there was a lot of genders, cross genders in the choir. The Church of God In Christ was big in hosting musical events state wide and nationally which put you in contact with a wide verity of people. Joining the New Jersey Mass Choir took it to another level as you interacted with larger gender groups.

As I worked on the radio and dance clubs, also acted as master of ceremonies for groups, Individuals and acts that came through Southeast Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. Let’s face it back in the day it was tough to “Come out of the closet” there was no acceptance as a society for THOSE PEOPLE that we now call LGBTQ and the emotional swing and acceptance was tough for many great artists but there was one that I had the opportunity to meet during the days of Disco and would always sell out any venue especially my beloved POISON APPLE DISCOTECHE which I helped design and was program director, the building was fire coded at 5,000 people. Enjoy today’s story!

Remember – “I was black, gay and some form of gender queer before there was that term.” – Sylvester James

Today in our History – December 16, 1988 – Sylvester James died.

Sylvester James, American singer and songwriter, was born in the Watts section of Los Angeles, California to Sylvester James and Letha Weaver on September 6, 1947. He grew up with his mother and stepfather Robert Hurd, as well as five siblings: John James, Larry James, Bernadette Jackson, Bernadine Stevens, and Alonzo Hurd. Raised attending the Palm Lane Church of God and Christ in Los Angeles, James became a young gospel star performing at churches and conventions across California.

James graduated from Jordan High School in Los Angeles in 1969. He studied interior design for two years at Leimert Beauty College, Los Angeles and also studied archeology, working at the Museum of Ancient History at the La Brea Tar Pits. During this time, he co-founded the recording group, the Disquotays.

After moving to San Francisco in 1967, he joined the Cockettes, a theater troupe, singing jazz and blues standards of the 1920s and 1930s; in November 1971, the Cockettes performed at the Anderson Theater in New York City’s East Village. Sylvester made his debut album on the Blue Thumb label with Lights Out (1971), followed in 1973 by Sylvester and Bazaar. In 1976, Sylvester hired the singers Martha Wash and Izora Armstead-Rhodes. Record producer Harvey Fuqua discovered the group and signed them with Fantasy Records which produced the album Sylvester in 1977.

James performed at the Rock Show at Winterland in San Francisco, opened for Chaka Khan, appeared at the Castro Street Fair with Harvey Milk, and was profiled in GQ magazine. In 1978, James performed on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand and on The Merv Griffin Show. On March 11, 1979, Sylvester performed at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House and was awarded the Key to the City by Mayor Diane Feinstein. The concert was released as the album Living Proof. Also in 1979, Disco International Magazine deemed him Best Male Disco Act.

Over the course of his career, James sang a variety of genres, including ballads, jazz, blues, gospel, R&B, rock, torch songs, soul, and disco. He toured South America, Europe, the United Kingdom, and North America. The album Step II in 1978 included the Gold-record hits “You Make Me Feel (Might Real)” and “Dance (Disco Heat)” and received three Billboard Disco Forum Awards. Three more albums followed: Stars (1979), Sell My Soul (1980), and Too Hot to Sleep (Fantasy/ Honey Records, 1981). After working with Fantasy, Sylvester joined Megatone Records in 1981 and produced the albums All I Need (1982), Call Me (1983), and M-1015 (1984). In December 1986, on New Year’s Eve, he appeared on The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers.

In 1986, Sylvester joined Warner Brothers to produce his final album Mutual Attraction, which included the hit “Someone Like You.” He also sang with Aretha Franklin for her album Who’s Zooming Who? In later years, he became an AIDS awareness activist. His last public appearance was leading the People Living with AIDS/ARC group at San Francisco’s Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 26, 1988. The 1988 Castro Street Fair in San Francisco was themed as a tribute to his work. Sylvester James died on December 16, 1988 in San Francisco. Research more LGBTQ artist and share with your babies and make it a champion day!

15Dec

December 15 2003

GM – FBF – One of the toughest things in the world is to be denied by your people. Everywhere you go your called names or looked down upon and all that you are trying to do is live your life as a mixed race person. When I was teaching/coaching at Red Bank Regional High School at that time the make up of the student population was (60% White 30% Black 10% Asian) in Monmouth County, N.J; I had twin girls who came during the Christmas season and stayed for the second semester and were gone. The story was that they had had problems with other two High Schools during the first semester- fighting, abuse and disruption during the school day near the Army Base (Fort Monmonth). They never were involved in any extra-circular activities and it got so bad they ate lunch in my classroom in the back where they could study and have some quiet time because everyone in school knew that you had a safe place in Coach Hardison’s classroom. So I had them for Homeroom and taught them both black history before lunch and had them for AP U.S. History II at the end of the day. Many days they came to school and class crying, angry and mad. I always wondered what happened to them since this was their senior year of high school. Today’s story is about a young baby who lived her life knowing that her father was not only white but one of the most powerful men in America. Enjoy!

Remember – “I am not bitter. I am not angry. In fact, there is a great sense of peace that has come over me in the past year,” she said. “I feel as though a great weight has been lifted. I am Essie Mae Washington-Williams, and at last I feel completely free.” – Essie Mae Washington-Williams

Today in our History – December 15, 2003, U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond’s interracial daughter confirmed.

Essie Mae Washington-Williams (October 12, 1925 – February 4, 2013) was an American teacher, author, and writer. She is best known as the eldest child of Strom Thurmond, Governor of South Carolina and longtime United States Senator, known for his pro-racial segregation policies. Of mixed race, she was born to Carrie Butler, a 16-year-old African-American girl who worked as a household servant for Thurmond’s parents, and Thurmond, then 22 and unmarried. Washington-Williams grew up in the family of one of her mother’s sisters, not learning of her biological parents until 1938 when her mother came for a visit and informed Essie Mae she was her mother. She graduated from college, earned a master’s degree, married, raised a family, and had a 30-year professional career in education.

Washington-Williams did not reveal her biological father’s identity until she was 78 years old, after Thurmond’s death at the age of 100 in 2003. Though he had little to do with her upbringing, he had paid for her college education, and took an interest in her and her family all his life. In 2005, she published her autobiography, which was nominated for the National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize.

Washington was the daughter of Carrie Butler, who was 16 when her daughter was born, and Strom Thurmond, then 22. Carrie Butler worked as a domestic servant for Thurmond’s parents. She sent her daughter from South Carolina to her older sister Mary and her husband John Henry Washington to be raised in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. The girl was named Essie after another of Carrie’s sisters, who fostered her briefly as an infant. Essie Mae grew up with her cousin, seven years older than she, who she believed was her half-brother.

Washington was unaware of the identity of her biological parents until 1941, when she was 16. Her mother told her the full story then and took her to meet Thurmond in person.
Washington and her mother met infrequently with Thurmond after that, although they had some contact for years. After high school, Washington-Williams worked as a nurse at Harlem Hospital in New York City, and took a course in business education at New York University.

She did not visit the segregated South until 1942, when she met relatives in Edgefield, S.C. After having grown up in Pennsylvania, Washington was shocked by the racial restrictions of the South. She returned to the north to live with relatives during the war years. After Thurmond returned from World War II, she started college at the all-black South Carolina State College (SCSC) in the fall of 1947. Thurmond quietly paid for her college education. She met and married future lawyer Julius Williams at SCSC in 1948. Her first child, Julius Williams Jr., was born in 1949. As a result, Essie Mae Washington-Williams dropped out of college in the summer of 1949 to begin raising the first of her four children.

During the late 1950s and 1960s, the years of national activism in the civil rights movement, Washington occasionally tried to discuss racism with Thurmond, who was known for his long-time political support of segregation, but he brushed off her complaints about segregated facilities. Nevertheless, Washington-Williams felt that she made a significant impact on Thurmond during their private conversations on race and race relations and that Thurmond’s policies towards African-Americans were affected as a result. In 1976, for example, Thurmond nominated Matthew J. Perry, whom Essie Mae dated in 1947 shortly before she met her first husband, to the U.S. Court of Military Appeals. Thurmond became the first Southern senator to nominate an African American for a federal judgeship.

Following the death of her husband in 1964, Washington moved again to Los Angeles, California, where she completed her undergraduate studies to receive a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Los Angeles in 1969 and earned a master’s degree in education at the University of Southern California. She had a 30-year career as a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District from 1967 through 1997. She was a longtime member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority, which she joined while at South Carolina State.

In 1949, Washington left college before her junior year after marrying Julius T. Williams, a law student at SCSC, the previous year. After his graduation from law school, they moved to his home town, Savannah, Georgia, where he established a law practice and was active in the NAACP. They had two sons and two daughters together. He died in 1964. Three children live in the Seattle, Washington, area, and one daughter lives near Los Angeles. Washington-Williams has numerous grandchildren.

In 2004, Washington-Williams said that she intended to be active on behalf of the Black Patriots Foundation, which was raising funds to build a monument on the National Mall in Washington D.C. to honor American blacks who served in the Revolutionary War. This organization became defunct the following year. Another group is now raising funds for the monument.

Washington-Williams died February 4, 2013, in Columbia, South Carolina, at age 87.

When Washington-Williams announced her family connection, it was acknowledged by the Thurmond family. In 2004 the state legislature approved the addition of her name to the list of Thurmond children on a monument for Senator Thurmond on the South Carolina Statehouse grounds.

Washington-Williams applied for membership in the United Daughters of the Confederacy, based on her heritage through Thurmond to ancestors who fought as Confederate soldiers. She encouraged other African Americans to join lineage societies, in the interests of exploring their heritage and promoting a more inclusive view of American history. She said,
It is important for all Americans to have the opportunity to know and understand their bloodline. Through my father’s line, I am fortunate to trace my heritage back to the birth of our nation and beyond. On my mother’s side, like most African Americans, my history is broken by the course of human events.

The lineage society is open to female descendants of Confederate veterans of the American Civil War. As her father Thurmond had been a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, his completed genealogical documentation was deemed sufficient for her to qualify for membership, according to her lawyer, Frank Wheaton. She also intended to join the Daughters of the American Revolution.

In 2005, Washington-Williams was awarded an honorary Ph.D. in education from South Carolina State University at Orangeburg when she was invited to speak at their commencement ceremony.

She published a memoir, Dear Senator: A Memoir by the Daughter of Strom Thurmond (2005), written with William Stadiem. It explored her sense of dislocation based on her mixed heritage, as well as going to college in the segregated South after having grown up in Pennsylvania. It was nominated for both a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize. Research more about famous mixed race children and share with your babies. Make it a champion day!

14Dec

December 14 1859- John Brown

GM – FBF – Today, I want to take you back to a time where our ancestors were still in bondage. It looked like all of the work that Denmark Vesey, Gabriel Processor and Nat Brown wasn’t working to assist our people from obtaining freedom. This man would go down in American History as the one who will start the civil war and using the slave as the centerpiece. Enjoy!

Remember – “I want you to understand that I respect the rights of the poorest and weakest of colored people, oppressed [to deny other the rights or liberty] by the slave system, just as much as I do those of the most wealthy and powerful. That is the idea that has moved me, and that alone” John Brown

Today in our History – December 14, 1859 – The U.S. Senate appointed a bipartisan committee to investigate the Harpers Ferry raid and to determine whether any citizens contributed arms, ammunition or money to John Brown’s men. The Democrats attempted to implicate the Republicans in the raid; the Republicans tried to disassociate themselves from Brown and his acts.

John Brown was born in Torrington, Connecticut, on May 9, 1800. His father, Owen Brown, was an early abolitionist who was accused in 1798 of forcibly freeing slaves belonging to a clergyman from Virginia. He spent most of his youth in Hudson, Ohio, where he worked mainly for his father and developed skills as a farmer and tanner.

He married the widow Dianthe Lusk in 1820, and had seven children by her. Within a year of her death in 1832, he married again and had 13 more children. He experienced inconsistent results in business, trying his hand at sheep raising, farming, tanning, and the wool trade. From 1849 to 1854, he lived in a black community near North Elba, New York. With tensions rising in Kansas following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Brown sent his five sons – all thoroughly indoctrinated as abolitionists – westward while he attempted to settle his debts.

Brown, driving a wagonload of guns, later joined his sons in Kansas. Proclaiming himself the servant of the Lord, Brown led an attack in the spring of 1856, that resulted in the murders of five proslavery settlers. The incident became known as the Pottawatomie Creek Massacre. This event was part of widespread violence then occurring in Bleeding Kansas.

Brown’s uncompromising stand against slavery won him numerous supporters in the North, where many abolitionists were frustrated by their lack of progress. In particular, encouragement and financial support were extended by the “Secret Six,” a group of influential New England aristocrats. With their help, Brown was able to establish a base in western Virginia where he hoped to spark a general slave rebellion in the South.

His raid on the U.S. Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry on October 16, 1859, was part of that plan. With a band of 18 men, 13 white and 5 black, Brown seized the town. A number of persons died during the raid. He expected that slaves would join his “army of emancipation” as it continued further into slave-holding territory, but the support did not materialize.

By the following night, federal troops commanded by Colonel Robert E. Lee reached the town and surrounded the raiders. Brown would not surrender, so they were attacked. Two of Brown’s sons died in the fighting and Brown himself was seriously wounded. He was taken to Charles Town, then in Virginia and now in West Virginia, where he was tried on charges of inciting a slave insurrection, murder and treason.

After conducting his own defense, he was convicted, and hanged on December 2, 1859. Research more about this American hero and share with your babies. Make it a champion day!

13Dec

December 13 1945- Herman cain

GM – FBF – The story that I want to share with you today is about a Black man in America who ran a few businesses that you know about and I have even eaten in. He is a fellow Radio personality here in Atlanta and I have had the honor to be on his show. He ran for President of the United States and when his party saw that he was in the lead that started a smear campaign against him and he stepped out. Enjoy!

Remember -“I am an American. Black. Conservative. I don’t use African-American, because I’m American, I’m black and I’m conservative. I don’t like people trying to label me. African- American is socially acceptable for some people, but I am not some people” – Herman Cain

Today in our History – Herman Cain is 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 work, they eventually moved to a better house in the Collier Heights neighborhood of Memphis. Cain is married to a homemaker named Gloria Cain for nearly 45 years and has two children and three grandchildren.

Cain earned a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Purdue University in 1971, interestingly working as a ballistics analyst for the U.S Navy Department at the same time. Finishing his education around the same time, he then entered the corporate sector after taking up a computer systems analyst position with The Coca-Cola Company. In 1978, he left Coca-Cola for Pillsbury, becoming a senior director here for their Restaurants and Foods group.

By age 36, Herman Cain was handling and analyzing close to 400 Burger King Restaurants, mostly in Philadelphia. During the 1980s, his presence in the Burger King franchise reaped tremendous benefits as sales began to increase. Cain’s leadership skills and determination to transform hard work in to productivity and profits lead Pillsbury to appoint him as the next CEO of Godfather’s Pizza. This was the year 1986, and Godfather’s Pizza was in trouble as far as sales, profits and customers went. Cain had a tough job ahead of him, as the once leading Pizza franchise had fallen behind on ratings as far back as 5th. By laying off extra manpower and closing around 200 restaurants, Cain returned Godfather’s Pizza to its original standing.

Cain was appointed chairman for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Omaha Branch for almost two years between 1989 and 1991, and later became a member of the Kansas Federal Reserve Bank. He left Godfather’s Pizza and then became the CEO of the National Restaurant Association, a trade group which had lobbied against increasing the minimum wage and other social schemes such as health care benefits. It was around this time that his political affiliations began to take prominent shape.

His entrance into politics was slow and usually on the sidelines, aiding the Bob Dole administration as a senior economic adviser in 1996. His presidential campaign of 2000 firmly put him in the Republican domain of politics, competing against George W. Bush for the presidential seat. While he lost the campaign, it did not deter him for having a shot at the U.S Senate Candidacy of 2004 for Georgia. He was up against Johnny Isakson and Mac Collins, and came second to Isakson’s 53.2% vote in the primary.

Cain’s presidential campaign of 2012 eventually led him to construct his famous 9-9-9 plan, which aimed to reduce the business transactions tax, personal income tax and federal sales tax to 9%. What he next termed as Cain’s Solution Revolution, this was a plan to keep the 9-9-9 initiative alive. The idea behind this plan was to get approvals from Congress to support his tax-readjustment program, often gathering large crowds that supported the venture.

Herman Cain suffered from Stage IV colon cancer in 2006, and underwent chemotherapy, entering remission soon after, despite his doctor’s approximation that he had a 30% chance of survival. Research more about this this Black American and share with your babies. Make it a champion day!

12Dec

December 12 1940- Dionne Warwick

GM – FBF – Today’s story sends us back to New Jersey, this artist has produced and sung a lot of hits over her career and we still hear them being played today. Her sister sung and her niece sung and we all know her niece. Enjoy!

Remember – “All my friends and peers keep asking me when I’m going to rest – I just tell them it’s another dirty four-letter word! Dionne Warwick

Today in our History – December 12, 1940 Dionne Warwick was born.

Dionne Warwick sang in a gospel trio before recording her first hit songs, including “Walk on By” and “I Say a Little Prayer.” After a lull in her career in the 1970s, her album Dionne (1979) sold a million copies. She went on to release the albums Heartbreaker (1982) and How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye? (1983). In 2012, Warwick celebrated her 50th anniversary in the music business with the album Now. She filed for bankruptcy the following year.
Born Marie Dionne Warrick on December 12, 1940, in East Orange, New Jersey, Dionne Warwick has enjoyed a tremendously long career as a singer. She comes from a gospel musical background as the daughter of a record promoter and a gospel group manager and performer. As a teenager, Warwick started up her group, the Gospelaires, with her sister, Dee Dee, and aunt Cissy Houston.

After finishing high school in 1959, Warwick pursued her passion at the Hartt College of Music in Hartford, Connecticut. She also landed some work with her group singing backing vocals for recording sessions in New York City. During one session, Warwick met Burt Bacharach. Bacharach hired her to record demos featuring songs written by him and lyricist Hal David. A record executive liked Warwick’s demo so much that Warwick got her own record deal.

In 1962, Warwick released her first single, “Don’t Make Me Over.” It became a hit the following year. A typo on the record led to an accidental name. Instead of “Dionne Warrick,” the label read “Dionne Warwick.” She decided to keep the new moniker and went on to greater chart success. In 1964, Warwick had two Top 10 singles with “Anyone Who Had a Heart” and “Walk On By”—both penned by Bacharach and David. “Walk On By” was also her first No. 1 R&B hit.

More hits, including many written by Bacharach and David, followed as the 1960s progressed. “Message to Michael” made the Top 10 in 1966, and her version of “I Say A Little Prayer” climbed as high as the No. 4 spot the following year. Warwick also found great success with her contributions to movie soundtracks. The theme song for the 1967 film Alfie, starring Michael Caine, was a solid success for her, as was “Valley of the Dolls,” from the 1968 movie of the same name.

In 1968, Warwick had other hits, including her trademark tune “Do You Know the Way to San Jose,” which earned Warwick her first Grammy Award. That same year, Warwick made history as the first African-American woman to perform for Queen Elizabeth II in England.

Warwick reached the top of the pop charts for the first time in 1974 with “Then Came You,” which she recorded with the Spinners. But then Warwick suffered a career slump for several years. In 1979, she made a triumphant return to the charts with the ballad “I’ll Never Love This Way Again.” She also soon became a fixture on television with the music program Solid Gold, which she hosted in the early 1980s. Warwick also had several successful collaborative efforts. In 1982, she made the charts with “Friends In Love” with Johnny Mathis, and “Heart Breaker” with Barry Gibb.

Around this time, Warwick scored one of the biggest hits of her career with “That’s What Friends Are For.” Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Gladys Knight also appeared on this 1985 No. 1 hit, which was an AIDS charity single written by Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager. “Love Power,” her duet with Jeffrey Osbourne two years later, marked her next major hit.

Warwick encountered some challenges beginning in the 1990s. It was revealed in the late 1990s that she had a lien against her for unpaid taxes. In 2002, she was arrested in a Miami airport for possession of marijuana. She lost her sister, Dee Dee, in 2008, and her cousin, Whitney Houston, four years later. Despite these personal losses, Warwick continued to perform and to record new music.

In 2012, Warwick celebrated her 50th year in music with the album Now. The recording features songs written by Bacharach and David. She once explained her longevity to Jetmagazine, saying, “I really attribute it to remaining who I am and not jumping ship, being completely cognizant of what the people … are accustomed to hearing from me.”

Warwick’s personal life overshadowed her musical talents the following year. In March 2013, she made headlines when she declared bankruptcy. Warwick owned more than $10 million in unpaid taxes, but she stated that she only $1,000 in cash and $1,500 in personal property. According to CNN, her spokesperson explained that her economic crisis was because of “negligent and gross financial mismanagement” during the late 1980s through to the mid-1990s.

Warwick has two sons, David and Damon Elliot, from her marriage to actor and musician William David Elliot. She has worked with both of her sons on different projects over the years. Research more about this great American and share with your babies. Make it a champion day!