October 9, 1973 Rosetta Tharpe, gospel singer and songwriter, died. Tharpe was born March 20, 1915 in Cotton Plant, Arkansas. She began performing at the age of 4, accompanying her mother at tent revivals across the South. Tharpe made her recording debut in 1938 and soon became the first great recording star of gospel music.
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October 9th in African American History – Eugene Jacques Bullard
October 9, 1894 Eugene Jacques Bullard, the only Black pilot in World War I, was born in Columbus, Georgia. While on a trip to Paris in 1914, World War I started and Bullard decided to join the French Foreign Legion. In 1916 he was wounded and awarded the Croix de Guerre. In 1917 he joined […]
October 8th in African American History – Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr.
October 8, 1941 Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr., clergyman and civil rights leader, was born in Greenville, South Carolina. Jackson earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from North Carolina A&T in 1964 and went on to attend the Chicago Theological Seminary with the intent to become a minister. However, in 1966 he dropped out to focus […]
October 8th in African American History – John B. McLendon, Jr.
October 8, 1999 John B. McLendon, Jr., the first African American basketball coach at a predominantly White university, died. McLendon was born April 15, 1915 in Hiawatha, Kansas. He studied at the University of Kansas in the 1930s where he learned the intricacies of basketball. However, McLendon was not allowed to play because the university’s […]
October 7th in African American History – Sargent Claude Johnson
October 7, 1888 Sargent Claude Johnson, painter, ceramist, and sculptor, was born in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1915, Johnson moved to the San Francisco Bay area and began studying at the A. W. Best School of Art. From 1919 to 1923 he attended the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute).
October 7th in African American History – Desmond Mpilo Tutu
October 7, 1931 Desmond Mpilo Tutu, South African cleric, activist and author, was born in Klerksdorp, Transvaal, South Africa. Although Tutu wanted to become a physician, his family could not afford the training and therefore he studied education and began to teach in Johannesburg in 1953. In 1960, Tutu was ordained as an Anglican priest […]
October 6th in African American History – Lonnie George Johnson
October 6, 1949 Lonnie George Johnson, inventor of the Super Soaker, was born in Mobile, Alabama. Johnson earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1973 and a Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering in 1976 from Tuskegee University. After graduating, he worked for the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and […]