[Chuckmak]

i don't think much more needs said.

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

what?
- 1968 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6?
- happy birthday?

[DomusAlbion]

An event of no great consequence.


Now the Ides of March, 44BC was a monumental event that changed the course of history.

[Dreamtwister]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Chuckmak', 'i') don't think much more needs said.

[Chuckmak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Dreamtwister', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Chuckmak', 'i') don't think much more needs said.

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Chuckmak', 'a')nd the first one should be important to everyone

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

You mean self-absorbed or self-centered right? Like the rest of the world should honour and hold all american holidays or whatever as sacred... if that's what he's referring to of course.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('uNkNowN ElEmEnt', 'Y')ou mean self-absorbed or self-centered right? Like the rest of the world should honour and hold all american holidays or whatever as sacred... if that's what he's referring to of course.

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'I') heard that American-style Halloween is catching on in France, so that's a start. . .

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'I') heard that American-style Halloween is catching on in France, so that's a start. . .

[Dreamtwister]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Chuckmak', 'm')an your sig...CLASSIC

[pedalling_faster]

Kent State, I think.

That's from memory.

So, how about - could you possibly - tell us what happened on that day ?

This was how wisdom (and trivia) was passed from one generation to another, in the old days.

[Doly]

The only connection of the two dates is "murder of famous black man". The first one, the most famous black man ever murdered.

Did I get it right?

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

Luckily he isn't the only "famous Black Man" and there are still plenty left.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')AMOUS BLACK CONTRIBUTORS AND CONTRIBUTIONS

African Americans have contributed much toward shaping America's history, often against considerable odds. Changes in attitudes and advances in the area of civil rights allowed more Blacks to reach the forefront of American politics, public service, the entertainment industry, and national sports in the late 1980's and early 1990's. For example, L. Douglas Wilder was elected as the first Black governor of Virginia. In fact he is the first Black man elected governor of any state in the United States of America. Likewise, David Dinkins was elected the first Black Mayor of New York City. Justice Clarence Thomas took the place of Justice Thurgood Marshall as the only Black member of the Supreme Court.

Election year 1992 brought a surge of Black politicians to Washington. Overall, 16 Black members of Congress and one senator were elected by their multi-racial constituents. This constitutes a record number of 40 Blacks on Capitol Hill in 1993.

Although 1992 will be remembered as "the year of the woman," it was also "the year of the Black woman." In September 1992, Dr. Mae Jemison became the first Black female astronaut to successfully complete a space shuttle mission. In November 1992, Carol Moseley-Braun became the first Black Democrat and the first Black woman to be elected to the U. S. Senate. President Clinton named Hazel O'Leary, a Black woman, as Secretary of Energy. For the first time, a Black woman would hold a cabinet position outside the field of health, education, welfare or housing. Additionally, President Clinton invited Maya Angelou, a famous Black poet, to read a sampling of her work at his inauguration.

Listed here are only a few of the more prominent African Americans who have made contributions. To list them all would be an insurmountable task.

POLITICS: Edward W. Brooke (U.S. Senator, Massachusetts); Shirley Chisholm (first Black woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and to run for President); Barbara C. Jordan (U.S. Congresswoman, Texas); Jesse Jackson (1984/1988 Presidential candidate); Andrew J. Young, Jr. (first Black Congressman from the deep South, [Georgia] since 1901); Carl B. Stokes (first Black mayor of a major American city--Cleveland); Harold Washington (former mayor of Chicago); Thomas Bradley (first Black mayor of Los Angeles); Sharon Pratt Kelly (first Black woman mayor of a major American city--Washington, DC); L. Douglas Wilder (first Black man elected governor of a state); David Dinkins (first Black mayor of New York City); Carol Moseley-Braun (first Black Democrat and first Black woman in the U. S. Senate); Ron Dellums (congressman from California and first Black Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee); Ron Brown (Secretary of Commerce in the Clinton administration, and former Chairman of the Democratic Party).

PUBLIC SERVICE: Frederick Douglass (influential Black leader and abolitionist during the 1800's); Carter G. Woodson (founder of the Journal of Negro History in 1916); James Beckwourth (1798-1866) (an ex-slave and early pioneer and western frontiersman); Martin Luther King, Jr. (civil rights leader, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, 1964); Coretta Scott King (widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., and renowned civil rights leader in her own right); Malcolm X (major Black leader of the 1960's); W.E.B. DuBois (sociologist/ historian); Justice Thurgood Marshall (first Black on the Supreme Court); Justice Clarence Thomas (replaced Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court in 1992); Ralph J. Bunche (official at United Nations, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, 1950); Harriet Tubman (established an underground railroad to assist in the escape of slaves to free states and Canada); Robert C. Weaver (first Black Cabinet member as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development); Patricia Roberts Harris (Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg); Roy Wilkins (executive director, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People); Mary McCloud Bethune (educator; civic leader; first Black woman to head a Federal office as Director, Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration, World War II; founder Bethune-Cookman College); William H. Hastie (first Black Federal judge and first Black governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1937); Jane M. Bolin (first Black female judge); Constance Baker Motley (a Black female attorney who participated in the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education desegregation case and who later became the first Black female federal judge); Secretary of State General Colin Powell (former National Security Advisor and first Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff); Barbara Harris (first Black woman bishop of the Episcopal Church in the Massachusetts diocese-- 1992); Hazel O'Leary (named Secretary of Energy by President Clinton, the first Black woman to hold a cabinet position outside the fields of health, education, welfare and housing); Jesse Brown (former Vietnam War veteran and first Black Secretary of Veteran's Affairs); Willie Williams (first Black police chief of Los Angeles).

SCIENCE: Benjamin Banneker (mathematician, astronomer, publisher of almanacs, inventor of first clock in the United States, member of commission which laid plan of Washington, DC); Edward Bouchet (first Black to receive a Ph.D. degree [physics] from an American university [Yale, 1876]); George Washington Carver (agricultural scientist, botanist); Ernest E. Just (cell physiologist); Charles R. Drew (physician, "father" of blood plasma and blood banks); Percy L. Julian (soybean chemist); Theodore K. Lawless (dermatologist); Daniel Hale Williams (physician, surgeon, performed the first successful heart operation); Leon Roddy (international authority on spiders).

ENTERTAINMENT: Sidney Poitier (first Black to win an Academy Award for best actor); Hattie McDaniel (first Black to win an Oscar); Bill Cosby (first Black to star in a regular television series, I Spy); Bill Robinson (dancer); Oprah Winfrey (actress/talk show moderator); Whoopie Goldberg (actress/comedienne); Leslie Uggams (actress); Eddie Murphy (actor/comedian); Arsenio Hall (talk show host); Montel Williams (talk show host); Denzel Washington (actor); "Spike" Lee (producer/director); Sammy Davis, Jr. (actor/dancer/singer); Gregory Hines (actor/dancer); Morgan Freeman (actor); Ossie Davis (actor, playwright); Ruby Dee (actress/pianist, first Black actress in major role at the American Shakespeare Festival); Carole Gist (first Black Miss USA--1990); Kenya Moore (Miss USA- 1993); Ed Bradley (first and only Black co-anchor of the popular television news magazine 60 Minutes); Bryant Gumbel (co-host of The Today Show); Richard Pryor (comedian); Bernard Shaw (co-anchor Cable News Network [CNN]).

MUSIC

COMPOSERS: W. C. Handy (blues); Scott Joplin, Tom Turpin (ragtime); Harry Lawrence Freeman (the first Black to write and produce an opera); Florence B. Price (first Black woman to win recognition as a composer).

MUSICIANS: Joseph Douglass (violin, grandson of Frederick Douglass); Louis Armstrong (jazz, trumpet); William "Count" Basie (piano); Charlie Parker (jazz, alto saxophone/clarinet); Lionel Hampton (vibraphones); Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (band leader, piano); Thelonius Monk (jazz, piano); Fats Waller (jazz, piano/organ); Miles Davis (jazz, trumpet); Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet).

VOCALISTS: Leontyne Price (first Black international diva who paved the way for classical artists Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman); Marian Anderson (major concert figure/pioneer classical artist and first Black singer signed by the Metropolitan Opera House); Paul Robeson, Adele Addison, Martina Arroyo (concert artists); Mahalia Jackson (gospel); Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday (jazz); Charlie Pride (country); Harry Belafonte (calypso); Nat King Cole, Lena Horne (popular music in the 40's and 50's); Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson (contemporary music); Diana Ross (singer/ entertainer); Whitney Houston (singer/ entertainer); Lionel Ritchie (singer/song writer); Aretha Franklin (singer/ entertainer); M.C. Hammer (RAP musician).

LITERATURE

WRITERS: James A. Baldwin (Go Tell It On The Mountain); Alex Haley (Roots); Langston Hughes (Not Without Laughter); Zora Neale Hurston (autobiography, Dust Tracks on the Road); Richard Wright (Native Son); Chester Himes (short story writer, essayist, novelist); Alice Walker (novelist/poet who won the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1983 for the book The Color Purple); Carl Rowan (syndicated columnist); Lorraine Hansberry (first Black woman to write a Broadway play: "A Raisin in the Sun"); Toni Morrison (novelist and Princeton professor who won the Pulitzer Prize for the historical novel Beloved in 1988); Ralph Ellison (influential Black writer and author of The Invisible Man, 1952).

POETS: Phillis Wheatley (early American poet); Nikki Giovanni ("Princess of Black Poetry"); Ntozake Shange (chorepoem author/playwright, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow's Not Enuf); Gwendolyn Brooks (first Black woman Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry); Maya Angelou (Black poet famous for her autobiography, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings); Margaret Walker Alexander (poet/novelist known for influential poem: "For My People").

SPORTS: Alice Coachman (first Black woman to win an Olympic gold medal for the high jump in 1948); Wilma Rudolph (first woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympiad in the 100/200 meter dash and 400 meter relay in 1960); Florence Griffith-Joyner (runner and Olympic Gold Medalist 1988); Jackie Joyner-Kersee (runner and Olympic Gold Medalist 1992); O. J. Simpson, Rosey Grier, "Mean" Joe Greene, Bill Willis, Gale Sayers, Marion Motley, James Brown (football); Walter Payton (NFL Hall of Famer and all time career leader in rushing yards and touchdowns); Althea Gibson (first Black female to win U. S. Tennis Association championship [1957] and the Wimbledon Women's Singles Title [1957]; Arthur Ashe (first Black man to win Men's Singles Title at Wimbledon, only Black man to be laid in state in the Virginia State Capitol after his death from AIDS in 1993); Tiger Woods and Lee Elder (golf); Pele (soccer); George Foreman, Joe Louis, Floyd Patterson, Mike Tyson; Evander Holyfield; Muhammed Ali (boxing); Charles Dumas (the first athlete to high jump over seven feet); Jesse Owens (Olympic track star, four gold medals, 1936); Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Julius "Dr J" Erving, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal (basketball); David Robinson (U. S. Naval Academy graduate and professional basketball star).

BASEBALL: John Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson (first Black major league baseball player, first Black player elected to Baseball Hall of Fame); Roy Campanella (Baseball Hall of Fame); Henry "Hank" Aaron (broke Babe Ruth's home run record, 1974; holds 18 major league records); Willie Mays (Baseball Hall of Fame, hit 660 home runs in his 22-year career); Raymond "Hooks" Dandridge, Josh Gibson (elected to Baseball Hall of Fame from the Negro League); Frank Robinson (first Black manager of a major league team); "Bo" Jackson and Deion Sanders (first two Black athletes to demonstrate excellence in two competitive sports--football and baseball).

BUSINESS: Booker T. Washington (educator, slave-born founder of Tuskegee Institute and the National Negro Business League); Samuel Fraunces (successful tavern owner, New York City, 1770's); Paul Cuffe (shipper/ merchant, New England, 1790-1810); James Wormley (hotel proprietor, Washington, DC, 1800's); George E. Johnson (Ultra-Sheen Hair Products, first Black-owned corpora- tion listed on a national stock exchange); Leroy Callender (consulting engineer); John Sengstacke (newspaper publisher); Henry G. Parks, Jr. (founded sausage company); A. G. Gaston (Birmingham businessman); H. C. Haynes (barber/inventor of the razor strop, 1899); Wally Amos (talent agent and president of the Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie Company); John Harold Johnson (editor/ publisher, Ebony, Jet, Negro Digest)

INVENTORS: Garrett Augustus Morgan (gas mask, safety hood, automatic traffic light, first human hair straightener); Granville T. Woods (more than 60 patents, many of which were used by railroads, including a device which powered trains by electricity rather than steam); Elijah McCoy (self-lubricating machine, "The Real McCoy").

[Tyler_JC]

Yes, the death of MLK was an unfortunate event. Although if one looks at the circumstances, he had accomplished about as much anyone could have accomplished for civil rights. African Americans had roughly the same rights as any other racial group in this country in 1968. No more major civil rights legislation was passed after 1965 anyway.

That's because there was nothing left to change. All of the inequity between whites and blacks were legacy-based, not racially based. Blacks still had much higher poverty rates in '68 but that wasn't the fault of the legal situation of blacks in 1968. That was the fault of discrimination in earlier times.

And regardless of what MLK might have wanted had he lived, America made a major shift away from Liberalism in the late 60's/early 70's anyway. The New Right was starting to take over and it was unlikely that any kind of major new civil rights act (assuming there was anything left to legislate) would be passed.

As to "The Notorious B.I.G.". Goodbye and good riddance! The fewer rap artists we have in this society, the better. If you like that kind of "music" good for you. As for me, I can't stand it.

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', 'Y')es, the death of MLK was an unfortunate event. Although if one looks at the circumstances, he had accomplished about as much anyone could have accomplished for civil rights.

[Tyler_JC]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', 'Y')es, the death of MLK was an unfortunate event. Although if one looks at the circumstances, he had accomplished about as much anyone could have accomplished for civil rights.

[LX1]

my brothers birthday is on april 4th, and he has the same initials as mlk, eerie.