PAGE FOUR
THE NEWS ARGUS
may, 1968
A Chronology of Negro History
1624 William Tucker was the first Negro child born and baptized
in English America at Jamestown, Virginia.
1688 Quakers of Germantown, Pennsylvania, made the first formal
protest against slavery in the Western hemisphere February 18.
1733 Samuel Sewall published the first anti-slavery tract which ap
peared in the colonies, “The Selling of Joseph.”
1750 Crispus Attucks, first martyr of the American Revolution, escap
ed from his master in Framingham, Mass., September 30.
1758 Frances Williams, first Negro college student in Western hemi
sphere, published Latin poems.
1762 James Derham, the first recognized Negro medical doctor in
America, born in Philadelphia.
1775 Thomas Paine wrote his first published essay in the cause of
abolition in a Pennsylvania newspaper.
1776 Phillis Wheatley was invited by General Washington to visit him
at his headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., so that he might
express appreciation for her poem in his honor. February 28.
1799 Alexander Pushkin, Russian Negro poet, born in Moscow.
1800 James Derham began practicing medicine in New Orleans.
1807 British Parliament abolished the slave trade. March 25.
Ira F. Aldridge, one of the greatest Shakespearean actors of his
time, born in New York City.
1816 John Jones, “the most prominent citizen of Chicago” during his
lifetime, born Greene County, North Carolina.
1822 Hiram R. Revels, first Negro U. S. Senator, was born free in
Fayetteville, N. C., September 27.
1826 John Russworm was the first Negro to graduate from an Ameri
can college when he received his degree from Bowdoin College,
Maine.
Ira F. Aldridge made his London debut in Othello; he never
returned to America and became the most famous Shakespearean
actor of his time on the continent.
1831 Nat Turner led the greatest slave rebellion in the U. S. in
Virginia; the whole South was thrown into panic and more than
one hundred and sixty whites and Negroes were killed before
the revolt ended.
1832 Oberlin College opened and admitted Negroes at the outset.
1834 Slavery abolished in the British Empire.
1841 Blanche Kelso Bruce, only Negro to serve full term in U. S
Senate, born a slave at Prince Edward County, Virginia.
1845 Publication of Les Cenelles, in French and English, an anthology
of poetry by Negro poets of New Orleans.
1854 Lincoln University, the first Negro College, was chartered as
Ashmond Institute in Chester, Pa.
1858 William Wells Brown published The Escape, first play written
by an American Negro.
1865 John S. Rock was the first Negro to practice before the U. S.
Supreme Court.
Edward G. Walker and Charles L. Mitchell were elected to the
Massachusetts House of Representatives thus becoming the first
Negroes elected to an American legislative assembly.
1868 Oscar J. Junn, ex-slave, became Lieutenant Governor of
Louisiana, the highest elective office then held by an American
Negro.
1869 Jefferson P. Long from Georgia was seated as the first Negro
in the House of Representatives.
1871 Oscar De Priest, first Negro Congressman elected from a
northern (Illinois) state, born.
1873 Richard T. Greener, first Negro graduate of Harvard University,
named professor of metaphysics at the University of South
Carolina.
1874 Patrick Henry Healy, Negro, inaugurated as President of George
town University, oldest Catholic university in the U. S.
1875 Civil Rights Bill enacted by Congress contained equal accommo
dations provisions. March 1.
Blanche K. Bruce became a member of the U. S. Senate from
Mississippi, the only Negro to serve a full term in the Senate.
1879 Blanche K. Bruce presided over the U. S. Senate, February 15.
1886 George Washington Cable published a frank treatment of Negro
problems in The Silent South.
1893 Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performed the world’s first successful
heart operation at Chicago’s Provident Hospital, July 9.
1903 Countee Cullen, distinguished Negro poet of the twenties, born.
May 30.
W.E.B. Du Bois published his Souls of Black Folk.
1904 Dr. Charles R. Drew, “Father of Blood Plasma,” born, June 3.
1907 Alaine L. Locke of Harvard was the first American Negro
Rhodes Scholar.
1921 The doctor of philosophy degree was awarded for the first time
to Negro women: Evan B. Dykes, English at Radcliffe; Sadie T.
Mossell, Economics at the University of Pennsylvania; Georgiana
R. Simpson, German at the University of Chicago.
1930 Mrs. Mary McLeod Bethune was selected as one of the fifty
leading women of America.
1933 NAACP made its first attack on segregation and discrimination
in education and filed suit against the University of North
Carolina.
1936 Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics.
1938 First woman Negro legislator. Crystal Bird Fauset of Phila
delphia, elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
1939 University of Wisconsin refused gift whose donor limited use of
funds to white students only.
1944
1946
1947
1951
1952
1955
1956
1959
1960
1961
1963
1964
J. Matilda Bolin appointed first Negro woman judge in the
U. S.; she was made judge of the Court of Domestic Relations
in New York City by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.
Adam Clayton Powell elected first Negro Congressman fiom
the East.
SS Frederick Douglas, first ship named for a Negro, was sunk
by enemy action. ,,
Mrs. E. C. Clement, first Negro named “Mother of the Year.
Supreme Court banned segregation in interstate bus travel.
President’s Committee on Civil Rights condemned racial injustices
in America in a formal report, “To Secure These Rights.
University of North Carolina admitted first Negro student in its
history.
Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, first Negro to win honorary degree from
Princeton University.
University of Tennessee admitted its first Negro student.
Marian Anderson made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera
House; she was the first Negro singer in the company's history.
Autherine Lucy admitted to University of Alabama.
First play written by a Negro woman, Raisin in the Sun, by
Lorraine Hansberry, was one of the major Broadway hits.
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee organized on Shaw
University campus.
Robert W’eaver sworn in as Administrator of Housing and Home
Finance Agency, highest federal post ever held by an American
Negro.
Arthur Ashe, 19, was first Negro to join the U. S. Davis Cup
Tennis Team.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Togetherness
We the people of an infelicitous time
Stand divided in a period of tumult and strife.
On the threshold to freedom, we huddle reluctant to fight.
On the verge of a victory we falter — we are thrust behind.
Do we lack the stuff that causes men to reach, and strive for more?
Or else are we complacent, to camp on freedom's door?
There are many joys of life to be gained in passiveness,
But the joys of a people, proud and free, are gained through
togetherness.
—Dorothy Cockerham
Of Berries,
Elephants And
Men
I read an article of interest in
the local newspaper recently which
was concerned with the strange
activities of the African elephant.
It seems that the otherwise stable
giant is given to Bacchic reveling
once a year. The annual binge is
concurrent with the advent of th-
marula berry season. As the ek-
phant gorges himself on this deler!
able fruit, washing it down th.
while with gallons of water, th>
berries begin to ferment in I
belly. The result is that the norm:'
ly stately animal staggers about i;.
a most disconcerting manner, total
ly unbecoming pachydermal di ■
nity.
As the expression “pink eli
phant" is associated with hum;, i
inebriation, implying that wli. .
one is in such a state he is apt
see many strange, unusual, or i
diculous sights, since no pink el-,
phants exist in the sober world, or
might logically expect the corri
ponding analogy with regard t
drunk elephants to be “grey men. "
However, the author of the artier
chose to think that the drunk, ■
pachyderms were seeing “pii>'-
men.” By logical implication ^
might conclude that pink men w .
strange, unusual, or ridiculni:
sights since they do exist in i
sober world. Perhaps the pii
man who wrote the article wa.'-
victim of the marula berry. I’l ■
haps the article was written by ,
sober, perceptive elephant.
—Juanita Charl( ;
Band Climaxes Successful Year
The College Concert Band re
turned April 26 from a five-day
tour of the mid-eastern part of the
country. Monday, the band gave
concerts in Graham, N. C., Lum-
berton, N. C., and Fayetteville,
N. C. Other stops were; Spivey
High School, Fayetteville, N. C.;
Booker T. Washington, Rocky Mt.,
N. C.; Elizabeth City State College,
Elizabeth City, N. C.; Hampton In
stitute, Hampton, Va.; South Nor
folk High School, Norfolk, Va.; Sea-
tack Elementary School, Virginia
Beach, Va.; and Diplomat Motel,
Stanton Elementary School, both
in Washington, D. C.
The band played for Hampton
Institute which is celebrating its
100th anniversary. The band re
ceived a standing ovation in Vir
ginia Beach, where it played selec
tions that ranged from classic and
opera to pop music of today.
In Washington, the band stayed
at the Diplomat Motel. It played
two concerts at Stanton Elemen
tary School, where Mr. Ernest Fair
(a graduate of Winston-Salem State 1
College) is the music instructor. '
For many of the children who
heard the band it was a new ex
perience. It was their first time
seeing and hearing a band, or even
having the knowledge of a musical
instrument. Many of the younger
children came from poor homes
and were only familiar with music
from radios or record players.
The band members were swamp
ed by these children who looked
upon them as celebrities. They
screamed for autographs, and one
clarinet player was chased back
to the bus by a mob wanting his
autograph.
Mr. Sammy Nestico, composer
of a modern jazz piece, “Persua
sion,” was present at the concert
in Washington. He personally con
gratulated Mr. Robert Shepherd,
band director, the band, and James
Punches, a junior music major
who played “Persuasion” solo on
the saxophone.
Annual Spring
Concert
Winston-Salem State College
Band, under the direction of Robert
E. Shepherd, presented its Annual
Spring Concert Thursday evening.
May 9, 1968, at 8:15 p.m. in the
Whitaker Gymnasium. James Pun
ches was featured as soloist. The
band played selections of Latham,
Nelhybel, Morrissey and Nestico.
Two major transcriptions by Lu-
cien Calliet, the Schubert “Unfin
ished Symphony” and “Elsa’s Pro
cessional to the Cathedral” by
Wagner were also performed.
The James Derr Woodwind Quin
tet of the Winston-Salem State Col
lege Music Department performed
“Divertimento, No. 4” by Mozart
and “Movement, Opus 16” by
Muczynski during intermission.
The concert was free to the public.