2015/05/19 – May 19, 1925: Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Neb. In prison, he became a follower of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad but split with him prior to a 1964 pilgrimage to Mecca, where Malcolm X accepted followers of all races. In 1965, he was assassinated. Denzel Washington was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of the civil rights leader in the 1992 film.

May 20, 1861: North Carolina, which had excluded Abraham Lincoln from the 1860 presidential ballot, became one of the last states to secede. The secession followed President Lincoln’s call for 75,000 troops to “put down the rebellion.”

May 20, 1961: A mob of 300 white segregationists attacked black and white Freedom Riders at the Greyhound Bus Station in Montgomery, Ala., with pipes and baseball bats. Justice Department official John Seigenthaler was beaten unconscious and left in the street after stopping to help two riders. Attorney General Robert Kennedy sent in federal marshals.

May 21, 1961: A mob of several thousand segregationists besieged Ralph Abernathy’s First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., where a mass meeting of 1,500 was being led by Martin Luther King Jr. Federal marshals used tear gas to protect the church, and the National Guard helped to restore order.

May 22, 1863: The U.S. Army recruited African Americans to fight in the Civil War, and they were known as the U.S. Colored Troops. One of those units, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment, was depicted in the 1989 film, Glory, starring Denzel Washington. He won an Academy Award for his depiction of an escaped slave named Trip.

May 22, 2002: A jury convicted Bobby Cherry of taking part in the Ku Klux Klan’s 1963 bombing of a Birmingham, Ala., church, that killed four girls. Cherry received four life sentences — one for each slaying. In 2004, he died in prison.

May 23, 1921: Shuffle Along was the first major African-American hit musical on Broadway. The show lasted for 484 performances, proving that audiences would pay to see black performers.

May 23, 1961: Civil rights leaders James Farmer, Ralph Abernathy and Martin Luther King Jr. announced at a news conference in Montgomery, Ala., that the Freedom Rides would continue. The press conference included John Lewis, who was wearing bandages from the beating he received.

May 24, 1961: Twenty-seven Freedom Riders, headed for New Orleans, were arrested as soon as they arrived in the bus station in Jackson, Miss. Many of the riders were sentenced to two months inside Mississippi’s worst prison, Parchman. Within a few months, police arrested more than 400 Freedom Riders.

May 25, 1774: A group of African slaves in Massachusetts Bay colony petitioned the colonial governor Gen. Thomas Gage, the Massachusetts Council and the Massachusetts House of Representatives, saying they were born free just like the white citizens and “have never forfeited this Blessing by any compact or agreement whatever.” In 1783, the Massachusetts Supreme Court found for freedom for all slaves. Chief Justice William Cushing declared slavery “inconsistent with our own conduct and Constitution.”

May 25, 1926: Legendary jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis was born on this date in Alton, Ill. Davis, known best for his album, Kind of Blue, profoundly influenced jazz music. In 2006, he was posthumously inducted into the rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Source: The Clarion-Ledger

Jerry Mitchell