(Photo By Flickr User Merola Opera Program)
Black History Today for February 10th:
1992- Alexander Palmer Haley, American biographer, scriptwriter, author who became famous with the publication of the novel ROOTS, which traces his ancestry back to Africa and covers seven American generations as they are taken slaves to the United States, died on this day. The book was adapted to television series, and woke up an interest in genealogy, particularly among African-Americans. Haley himself commented that the book was not so much history as a study of mythmaking says, "What Roots gets at in whatever form, is that it touches the pulse of how alike we human beings are when you get down to the bottom, beneath these man-imposed differences."
1967- The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect. That amendment provided that in the case of a vice president's become president, the new president would name a new vice president, subject to confirmation by a majority vote of both houses of Congress.
1966- Andrew Brimmer becomes the first African-American governor of the Federal Reserve Board when he is appointed by President Johnson.
1964- After 12 days of debate and voting on 125 amendments, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by a vote of 290-130. The bill prohibited any state or local government or public facility from denying access to anyone because of race or ethnic origin. It further gave the U.S. Attorney General the power to bring school desegregation law suits. The bill allowed the federal government the power to bring school desegregation law suits and to cut off federal funds to companies or states who discriminated. It forbade labor organizations or interstate commercial companies from discriminating against workers due to race or ethnic origins. Lastly, the federal government could compile records of denial of voting rights.
1937- Singer-songwriter and musician, Roberta Flack was born in Asheville, NC.
1927- Opera singer Mary Violet Leontyne Price was born in Laurel, MS.
1907- Civil rights activist and politician Grace Towns Hamilton was born in Atlanta, GA. She held teaching positions at the Atlanta School of Social Work, Clark College, and LeMoyne College in Memphis, while maintaining an active interest in the civil rights movement. Hamilton served as executive director of the Atlanta Urban League from 1943-1960, and also sat on the board of the Southern Regional Council and the Governor's Commission on the Status of Women, as well as many other voluntary positions. But she made her most lasting mark by becoming the first African-American woman elected to the Georgia General Assembly in 1965. She served in Georgia House of Representatives until 1984. Today, a chair in the Emory University (located in Oxford, GA) political science department is named in her honor.
1868- Conservatives, aided by military forces, seized convention hall and established effective control over Reconstruction process in Florida. Republican conservatives drafted new constitution which concentrated political power in hands of governor and limited the impact of the Black vote.
1854- Educator, scholar, orator, and preacher Joseph Charles Price was born in Elizabeth City, NC.
1787- Georgia's House of Assembly named Willliam Few, Abraham Baldwin, William Pierce, Georgie Walton, William Houston, and Nathaniel Pendleton as Georgia's commissioners to the Philadelphia constitutional convention.
