April 13, 2005 Johnnie Clyde Johnson, blues piano player, died. Johnson was born July 8, 1924 in Fairmont, West Virginia and began playing the piano at the age of four. He joined the United States Marine Corp during World War II and played in the all serviceman jazz orchestra. Johnson moved to St. Louis in […]
Tag Archives | World War II
April 12th in African American History – Joe Louis
April 12, 1981 Joe Louis, hall of fame boxer known as the Brown Bomber, died. Born Joseph Louis Barrow on May 13, 1914 in La Fayette, Alabama, Louis’ family moved to Detroit, Michigan in 1926. Louis made his amateur boxing debut in 1932 and at the end of his amateur career in 1934 had compiled […]
Wilson Camanza Riles – April 1st in African American History
April 1, 1999 Wilson Camanza Riles, the first African American to be elected to statewide office in California, died. Riles was born June 27, 1917 near Alexandria, Louisiana. He graduated from Northern Arizona State University in 1940 and served in the United States Army Air Force during World War II. In 1971, Riles was elected […]
March 15th in African American History – Lester Willis Young
March 15, 1959 Lester Willis Young, jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist, died. Young was born August 27, 1909 in Woodville, Mississippi and played in his family’s band on the vaudeville and carnival circuit. He left the family band in 1927 because he refused to play in the South where Jim Crow Laws were in effect. […]
March 13th in African American History – Leon Day
March 13, 1995 Leon Day, pitcher in the Negro Baseball League, died. Day was born October 30, 1916 in Alexandria, Virginia and made his professional debut in 1934. Day was one of the top pitchers in the Negro Leagues from the mid-1930s through the 1940s. From 1935 to 1946, he appeared in a record seven […]
March 12th in African American History – Romare Bearden
March 12, 1988 Romare Bearden, artist and writer, died. Bearden was born September 2, 1911 in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1935, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in science and education from New York University. He went on to study at the Arts Student League from 1936 to 1937. From 1942 to 1945, Bearden […]
March 11th in African American History – Ralph David Abernathy
March 11, 1926 Ralph David Abernathy, minister and civil rights leader, was born in Linden, Alabama. After serving in the United States Army during World War II, Abernathy graduated with honors and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics from Alabama State University in 1950 and in 1951 earned a Master of Science degree in […]