May 31, 2000 Johnnie Harrison Taylor, gospel, blues and soul singer, died. Taylor was born May 5, 1937 in Crawfordsville, Arkansas. In 1957, he was hired to replace Sam Cooke in the gospel group the Soul Stirrers and in 1962 he recorded his first solo, “Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day.” In 1966, Taylor moved […]
Archive | May 31, 2011
May 31st in African American History – Jewel Stradford Lafontant-Mankarious
May 31, 1997 Jewel Stradford Lafontant-Mankarious, the first female deputy solicitor general of the United States, died. Lafontant-Mankarious was born April 28, 1922 in Chicago, Illinois. She earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from Oberlin College in 1943 and in 1946 she became the first African American woman to graduate from the University of […]