August 21, 1986 Thaddeus Joseph “Thad” Jones, jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader, died. Jones was born March 28, 1923 in Pontiac, Michigan. He was a self-taught musician and began playing professionally at the age of 16. He served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1946. In 1954, Jones joined the Count Basie Orchestra […]
Archive | August, 2011
August 20th in African American History – Eugene Thurman Upshaw, Jr.
August 20, 2008 Eugene Thurman Upshaw, Jr., hall of fame football player and labor leader, died. Eugene Thurman Upshaw was born August 15, 1945 in Robstown, Texas. He played college football at Texas A&I University and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1968. Upshaw was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the 1967 AFL Draft. […]
August 20th in African American History – Stephanie Tubbs Jones
August 20, 2008 Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first African American woman elected to Congress from Ohio, died. Stephanie Tubbs Jones was born September 10, 1949 in Cleveland, Ohio. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from Case Western Reserve University in 1971 and Doctorate of Jurisprudence degree from the Case Western Reserve University School […]
August 19th in African American History – Levy Patrick Mwanawasa
August 19, 2008 Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, the third President of Zambia, died. Mwanawasa was born September 3, 1948 in Mufulira, Northern Rhodesia. After earning his law degree from the University of Zambia, he worked in private law firms. In 1991, Mwanawasa was elected to Parliament and from that year to 1994 served as vice president.
August 19th in African American History – Blind Willie McTell
August 19, 1959 Blind Willie McTell, blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, died. McTell was born William Samuel McTier and blind in one eye on May 5, 1898 in Thomson, Georgia. He learned to play the guitar and loss his remaining vision at an early age. McTell began his recording career in 1927 and in the […]
August 18th in African American History – Jacques Roumain
August 18, 1944 Jacques Roumain, writer and political activist, died. Jacques Roumain was born June 4, 1907 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. His grandfather served as the president of Haiti from 1912 to 1913. Roumain was educated in Belgium, Switzerland, France, Germany, and Spain. At 20 years old, he returned to Haiti and formed “The Indigenous Review: Arts […]
August 18th in African American History – Richard Benjamin Moore
August 18, 1978 Richard Benjamin Moore, lecturer, political activist and author, died. Richard Moore was born August 9, 1893 in Christ Church, Barbados. He moved with his family to the United States in 1909 and settled in Harlem, New York. Harlem introduced Moore to the realities of European colonialism in Africa and the Caribbean as […]