People, Locations, Episodes

Floyd Patterson, Boxer born

Floyd Patterson was born on this date in 1935. He was an African American boxer.

From a poor family in Waco, N.C., he was raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Patterson was one of eleven children and an insular and troubled child. Always skipping school and getting caught stealing, he was sent to New York City’s Wiltwyck reform school at aged ten, which he credited with turning his life around. Four years later, he started to box and trained under Cus D’Amato at the Grammercy Gym. Patterson won a gold medal at the 1952 Olympics while fighting as a middleweight.

Grace Bumbry, Opera Singer born

This date celebrates the birth of Grace Bumbry, an African American opera singer, in 1937.

She was born Grace Ann Bumbry in St. Louis, Missouri. She studied music at Boston University, Northwestern University, and the Music Academy of the West. She has has performed as both a soprano and a mezzo-soprano. While at Northwestern she became the student and protégé of Lotte Lehmann, a famous German-born opera diva.

Mickey Stevenson, Lyricist born

*”Mickey” Stevenson was born on this date in 1937. He is a Black songwriter and former record producer. He was born William Stevenson in Detroit, MI.  His mother was a singer and entertainer who worked with a big orchestra. When he was 7, she wanted me and my brothers to perform for an amateur show […]

Willie E. Jeffries, Football Coach born.

*Willie E. Jeffries was born on this date in 1937. He is a Black former American football player and coach. Jeffries grew up in South Carolina, attending the segregated Sims High School in Union County. He played football there and started coaching in 1960 as an assistant at Barr Street High School in Lancaster, South […]

The Congressional Black Caucus is Formed

This date is the anniversary of the origin of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1969.

It is a group of African American members of the United States Congress who focus on issues of particular interest to Black Americans. Newly elected African American representatives of the 77th Congress joined six incumbents to form the “Democratic Select Committee” which began the organization. The committee was renamed the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) in 1971 .

The First NFL Playoff Game With Two Black Head Coaches Is Played

On this date in 2003, two black head coaches competed for the first time in a National Football league (NFL) playoff game.

The Indianapolis Colts’ Tony Dungy and the New York Jets’ Herman Edwards brought their teams to New York where the Jets won 41 to 0. Longtime friends, Dungy and Edwards were the only African American head coaches in the league. Edwards spent five seasons as Dungy’s top assistant in Tampa before becoming New York’s coach in 2001.

The student came out on top of the mentor because his offense was unstoppable, his defense stingy, and his special teams dominant.