Jimmie Rodgers , byname of James Charles Rodgers, also called the Singing Brakeman and America’s Blue Yodeler (born September 8, 1897, Pine Springs Community, near Meridian, Mississippi, U.

Dorothy Dandrige

ACTRESS & SINGER

Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio

November 9, 1922 - September 8, 1965

Dorothy Dandridge was the first recognized African American actress and sex

symbol.

Mississippi governor requested federal troops to protect Black voters. Attorney General Edward Pierrepont refused the request and said the whole public are tired of these annual autumnal outbreaks in the South...

James Black was one of the first famous Black Astrologer in the early 70s! He lived in Chicago on the southside. He was born around 1910-1911!

He read for clients like Earth Wind & Fire, Aura Ajayi, a famous psychic and countless more all over the world!He was once featured in Ebony Magazine!

“I learned a very valuable lesson, and it is that we should not ever look up at a person or judge them by the color of their skin, that’s the lesson I have learned in first grade.” ~  Bridges

In late 1960, a six year old girl stepped into the school where she attended her first grade all alone, this courageous black child paved the way for the integration of schools at the troubled times of New Orleans. Ruby Nell Bridges, now a civil right activist, was the one among six young Afro American children to be enrolled in to a integrate white school in the American South.

Born on September 8, 1954 in Trylertown, Mississippi, she was the eldest among eight siblings. Their family was poor and had a farm, for a better life they moved to New Orleans. Her father got the job as a service station attendant and her mother took night jobs to support the growing family. She being the eldest sister took care of the children and went to far away school, segregated for black children. Their lives changed with the new law passed in New Orleans, according to which blacks can attend the integrated school and segregation was abolished.

Bridges took the test amid the black students in order to be selected for the integrated school. Her father opposed it initially since he was afraid of inviting unnecessary trouble but her mother favored the decision for her daughters better future. Despite the test being difficult Ruby Bridges passed it and on November 16, 1960, escorted by four marshals and her mother she entered city’s William Frantz Elementary School. On her first day she sat in principals office as havoc was created by the white parents outside the school protesting against the blacks integration with whites. On the second day, she was in her new class all alone with a white teacher Mrs. Henry, who taught her for one year and a valuable bond was established between the two individuals.

“I couldn’t have gotten through that year without Mrs. Henry. Sitting next to her in our classroom, just the two of us, I was able to forget the

David William Eka, engineer, elder in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), first president of the Aba Nigeria stake, was born in Etinan, Nigeria, on May 20, 1945. His father, William Udo, was a carpenter, and his mother, Lucy Eduok Inyang Eka, was a homemaker. William and Lucy had eight children; David was the eldest child.

Eka was born in a Protestant mission in Etinan and grew up learning carpentry from his father. His participation with his father’s carpentry shop helped meet the family’s economic needs. When the Nigerian Civil War (also known as the Biafran War, 1967–1970) broke out, Eka volunteered for military service. During an engagement, Eka and other soldiers were in a bunker. He states that a divine voice instructed him to leave the bunker. He attempted to persuade his fellow soldiers to leave yet they refused. Just as Eka cleared the bunker, a bomb exploded and killed those who remained inside. From then on, Eka decided to dedicate his life to serve God.

After the war, Eka married Ekaete Dennis Akpan in 1975 and also obtained a job with Mobil Oil. He decided to study at Teesside Polytechnic (now University) in northern England to increase his chances for promotions at Mobil. He studied engineering while Ekaete studied business management. While there, he received a letter from an uncle living in California, informing Eka that he had converted to the LDS faith. Eka returned to Nigeria to finish his National Youth Service commitment in 1979 by accompanying LDS missionaries in Nigeria. He did more than follow the missionaries; he helped translate the messages of missionaries and also edited a translation of the Book of Mormon into the Efik language. He was baptized in the LDS faith on September 8, 1979.

After Nigeria gained independence from Great Britain in 1960, government leaders were wary of potential outside influences such as proselytizing by non-Nigerian Christians. LDS President David O. McKay was also cautious in his approach to proselytizing in Nigeria. McKay permitted

Horace King, born a slave on September 8, 1807 in Chesterfield District, South Carolina, was a successful bridge architect and builder in West Georgia, Northern Alabama and northeast Georgia in the period between the 1830s and 1870s.

Tennis champion, Althea Gibson, becomes the first Black athelete to win a US national tennis

championship, 1957

Ossian Sweet, prominent Detroit doctor, arrested on murder charges after shots were fired into a mob in front of the Sweet home in a previously all-white area. Sweet was defended by Clarence Darrow, who won an acquittal in the second trial.

Hendrik Verwoerd , in full Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (born September 8, 1901, Amsterdam, Netherlands—died September 6, 1966, Cape Town, South Africa), South African professor, editor, and statesman who, as prime minister (1958–66), rigorously developed and applied the policy of apartheid, or separation of the races.

Death of Roy Wilkins (80), longtime executive director of the NAACP, in New York.

Latrell Fontaine Sprewell is a former NBA star who played for the Golden State Warriors, the New York Knicks, and the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was born on September 8, 1970 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He attended Washington High School in Milwaukee where he played basketball. Between 1988 to 1990, he played with the Three Rivers Community College’s Raiders Basketball Team in Missouri and then from 1990 to 1992 he played with the University of Alabama, alongside future NBA stars Robert Horry, Jason Caffey and James Robinson. In the 1992 NBA Draft, he was selected 24th by the Golden State Warriors. During his rookie season with the Warriors, he started in 69 out of 77 games and averaged 15.4 points per game. He worked consistently to improve his performance over the next few years, and became the leading scorer for his team during the Western Conference All-Star team between 1994 to 1997.

Despite his popularity on the team, his teammates were vary of him because he had no control over his temper. During a practice game in 1995, he fought with his teammate Jerome Kersey, wanting to attack him with a large block of lumber and even threatening to bring a gun. Earlier in 1993, he had a fight with another teammate Bryon Houston. A major incident took place in December 1997, when he attacked his coach P. J. Carlesimo for yelling at him during practice. Sprewell grabbed Carlesimo by the throat and dragged him for 10 seconds, before his teammates intervened. Later, he attacked Carlesimo again, this time landing a heavy blow on his cheek.

Latrell Sprewellwas suspended for 10 games without pay, but the public were very angry and demanded stricter justice. As a result, the Warriors voided his remaining contract (worth $23.7 million over three years) and the NBA suspended him for one year. Sprewell contested the decision in front of the arbitration committee and his sentence was reduced to a suspension for the remaining 68 games of the season. He was also put under three months of house arrest, after being charged with

Actress Dorothy Danridge (41) died in Hollywood.

Roy Wilkins died on September 8, 1981 in New York City of heart problems related to a pacemaker implanted on him in 1979 due to his irregular heartbeat.

Joycelyn Elders, the former U.S. Surgeon General, was born Minnie Lee Jones in Schaal, Arkansas on August 13, 1933 to Curtis and Hailer Jones; she added the name Joycelyn when she was in college. As the eldest of eight children of sharecroppers, Joycelyn Elders experienced extreme poverty in segregated rural Arkansas. At age fifteen, Elders earned a scholarship to Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas. In 1952, she received a Bachelor of Science degree and a medical degree in 1960 from Philander Smith and the University of Arkansas Medical School, respectively.

Upon graduating from college in 1952, Elders enlisted in the Army and became a physical therapist. After ending her military career in 1956 and enrolling in medical school, Elders returned home and protested against local segregation. In 1957, she refused to park in the back of a drive-in theater.  By 1963, Elders completed her residency and became chief pediatric resident at the University of Arkansas Medical Center. One year later, she was named pediatric research fellow for a three-year term. In 1971, she earned her second masters degree from the University of Arkansas. Also from the late l960s to 1987, Elders served the University of Arkansas as an assistant, associate, and full professor. Over this period, she published over 100 articles, primarily regarding juvenile diabetes. In 1987, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton appointed Elders as the head of the state’s health department. Upon appointment, she became the first female and African American to be director of the Department of Health in Arkansas.

During this period, she increased Arkansas school clinics and expanded sex education. Largely due to Elders’ lobbying, the Arkansas State legislature “mandated a kindergarten-through-twelfth-grade course curriculum encompassing not only sex education, but instruction in hygiene, substance-abuse prevention…” During her tenure, the Arkansas teenage pregnancy rate fell below the national rate.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Elders to