September 23, 1930 Ray Charles Robinson (Ray Charles), R&B, gospel and blues vocalist and pianist, was born in Albany, Georgia. At the age of 5, Charles began to lose his sight and was completely blind by the age of 7. In 1943, he began to play gigs around Tallahassee and Jacksonville, Florida. In 1947, he […]
Archive | September, 2010
September 23rd in African American History – John William Coltrane
September 23, 1926 John William Coltrane, jazz saxophonist and composer, was born in Hamlet, North Carolina. In 1945, he enlisted in the United States Navy and played in the Navy jazz band. After returning to civilian life, he began freelancing around Philadelphia. From October, 1955 through April, 1957 Coltrane was part of the Miles Davis […]
September 22nd in African American History – Robert Lee Satcher, Jr.
September 22, 1965 Robert Lee Satcher, Jr., chemical engineer, physician and NASA astronaut, was born in Hampton, Virginia. Satcher earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1986 and a Doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering in 1993 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He went on to earn a Doctorate of Medicine degree from Harvard Medical […]
September 22nd in African American History – Jeremiah Alvesta Wright, Jr.
September 22, 1941 Jeremiah Alvesta Wright, Jr., former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1961, Wright left college to join the United States Marine Corps. After two years of service, he joined the U. S. Navy where he was trained as a cardiopulmonary technician. In that capacity, he […]
September 21st in African American History – Florence Delorez “Flo-Jo” Griffith-Joyner
September 21, 1998 Florence Delorez “Flo-Jo” Griffith-Joyner died as the result of suffocating during a severe epileptic seizure. Griffith-Joyner was born on December 21, 1959 in Los Angeles, California. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, Griffith-Joyner won the Silver Medal in the 200 meter race. At the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, she won the […]
September 21st in African American History – Kwame Nkrumah
September 21, 1909 Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana, was born in Nkroful, Gold Coast (Ghana). In 1935, Nkrumah came to the United States to further his education, earning a Bachelor of Arts in 1939 and a Bachelor of Sacred Theology in 1942 from Lincoln University and a Master’s of Science in 1942 and […]
September 20th in African American History – The Cosby Show
September 20, 1984 “The Cosby Show” television comedy starring Bill Cosby premiered on the NBC network. The show focused on the Huxtable family, an upper-middle class African American family living in Brooklyn, New York. The show ran for eight seasons with 197 episodes until April 30, 1992. It was the third longest running comedy with […]