Black Enterprise, has come out with their annual survey of the top American cities for African Americans. The criteria for measuring the cities includes median household income, percentage of households earning more than $100,000, percentage of businesses owned, percentage of college graduates. unemployment rates, home loan rejections, and homeowner rates. When you also take in the historic aspects and nightlife, its no wonder we are number one on this list. All I can say is "I told ya so" to all those people who thought I just thought highly of my hometown. I guess I'm not the only one seeing it these days.
On this date in 1950, Ralph J. Bunche became the first African American to be presented the Nobel Prize. He was awarded the Peace Prize for his efforts as under-secretary of the United Nations,working for peace in the middle east.
On this date in 1964 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize. In his acceptance speech, he dramatically rejects racism and war. At age 35, Dr. King was the youngest man, the second American, and the third black man awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
On this date in 1967 Otis Redding and four members of the Bar-Kays (Otis'backup group) were killed in a twin engine plane crash near Madison, Wisconsin. Redding was just 26 years young at the time of his death. He will forever be remembered as one of the pioneers of soul music.
Happy Birthday to Morgan State University's Head Mens Basketball Coach Todd Bozeman. In 1993 at the age of 29 Bozeman became the youngest coach ever to take a team to the sweet sixteens. Since then he has turned around Morgan State's program to one of the top in the MEAC including winning the conference title last year and a trip to the NITs. Happy Birthday coach and good luck with the rest of the season.
Black Enterprise( which is own by Morgan Alum Earl G. Graves) has come out with its annual list of top 50 colleges for African Americans. This year's top 10 ten goes as followed; Spelman, Howard, Morehouse, Hampton, Georgetown, Standford, Swarthmore, Fisk, Amherst, and Harvard. The complete list can be seen at BlackEnterprise
The Zimbabwean government has declared a national emergency in the face of a cholera outbreak that has killed more than 560 people. The water-borne outbreak had killed at least 565 people and sickened more than 11,000.
On this date in 1906 Alpha Phi Alpha was founded on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. It was created by seven men who recognized the need for a strong bond of Brotherhood among African descendants in this country. The visionary founders, known as the "Jewels" of the Fraternity, are Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry ChAPman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and Vertner Woodson Tandy. Famous Alpha brothers include W.E.B. DuBois, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Fredrick Douglass, Edward Brooke, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Andrew Young, William Gray, Paul Robeson, Donny Hathaway, Lionel Richie, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Jesse Owens, and Eddie Robinson.
On this date in 1969 Moneta Sleet Jr became the first black to win the Pulitzer Prize for photography. Sleet who worked for Ebony Magazine would be known for his famous shot of Dr. King's grieving widow Coretta and youngest daughter Bernice.
Also on this date in 1969, Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party and Mark Clark, a fellow member were killed (while sleeping) by Chicago police. The attack, aided by the help of an infiltrator, was masterminded by the city police force and the FBI's powerful counter-intelligence program(COINTEL-PRO).
The panthers left alive, including Deborah Johnson, Hampton's girlfriend, who was eight months pregnant at the time, were arrested and charged with attempting to murder the police. Afterwards, ballistic evidence revealed that only one bullet had been fired by the Panthers whereas nearly a hundred came from police guns.
After the resignation of President Richard Nixon, the Senate Intelligence Committee conducted a wide-ranging investigation of America's intelligence services. Frank Church of Idaho, the chairman of the committee, revealed in April, 1976 that William O'Neal, Hampton's bodyguard, was a FBI agent-provocateur who, days before the raid, had delivered an apartment floor-plan to the Bureau with an "X" marking Hampton's bed. Ballistic evidence showed that most bullets during the raid were aimed at Hampton's bedroom.
Congratulation to Jerrell Guyton to winning the defensive Player of the year award this year in MEAC. Guyton is the 3rd Morgan State player in the program's history to win player of the year honor. Read the full story at MorganStateBears.
On this date in 1962 Edith Spurlock Sampson was sworn in as the first black female judge. Sampson would go on to be the first black U.S. delegate appointed to the United Nations.
On this date in 1970 Jennifer Josephine Hosten became the first black Miss Universe. Hosten who was 22 of when she won the contest, represented the small country of Grenada.
The top ten cities were:
