1945: Jesse James Payne was lynched in Madison County, Florida OCTOBER 9 1806—Benjamin Banneker dies in Ellicott Mills, Md., at age 74. Banneker was a brilliant math­ematician with a great memory and is credited with completing the layout and design of Wash­ington, D.C. 1823—Mary Ann Shad is born. She becomes publisher of Can­ada’s first anti-slavery newspa­per—The Provincial Freeman. In fact, she is the first woman in the U.S. or Canada to edit and pub­lish a newspaper. 1962—The east African nation of Uganda becomes indepen­dent from British rule. 1984—W. Wilson Goode makes history by becoming the first Black mayor of Philadelphia, Pa. 2009—In a move which sur­prised just about everyone, Pres­ident Barack Obama is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Obama had been in office for less than 9 months at this time last year but the Nobel Committee in Oslo, Norway, said it was impressed by his “promise” of disarmament and diplomacy. OCTOBER 10 1778—What is believed to be the first formal school for Blacks— the Africa Free School—opens in New York City. 1899—Black inventor Isaac Johnson patents the bicycle frame. 1901—Frederick Douglass Pat­terson is born. He grows up to become President of Fisk Univer­sity in Nashville, Tenn. From there he would later launch an effort that leads to the 1944 founding of the United Negro College Fund. 1917—Famed Jazz pianist Thelonius Monk is born in Rocky Mount, N.C. This undated image released by the Metropolitan Opera shows Eric Owens as Porgy, left, and Angel Blue as Bess in the Gershwins’ “Porgy and Bess.” (Paola Kudacki/Metropolitan Opera via AP/File)   1935—George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” a Black spir­itual opera, premiers on Broad­way in New York City. It starred Todd Duncan from Howard Uni­versity. The play becomes one of the most popular Black-themed shows ever to hit Broadway. The 1959 movie version stars Sidney Portier and Dorothy Dandridge. OCTOBER 11 1887—Alexander Miles patents a major safety improvement to the elevator. Miles did not invent the elevator. But he made it saf­er with an automatically closing door which prevented people from accidentally falling down el­evator shafts. 1890—Black inventor Charles Orren Bailiff patents the sham­poo headrest. 1939—The NAACP organizes the NAACP Education and Legal Defense Fund, which goes on to win many important legal battles guaranteeing civil and educa­tional rights for Blacks. 1991—Comedian and actor Redd Foxx dies at age 68. He was born John Elroy Sanford in St. Louis, Mo. An IRS raid on his Las Vegas home to collect back taxes is thought to have has­tened his death. OCTOBER 12 1854—Lincoln University is founded in Pennsylvania. DICK GREGORY (Scott Keeler /Tampa Bay Times via AP)   1932—Richard Claxton “Dick” Gregory is born in St Louis, Mo. Gregory is an American civil rights activist, social critic, writer, entrepreneur, conspiracy theorist and comedian.   1945—The lynching of Jes­se James Payne takes place in Madison County, Fla. The lynching came to typify the lies that prompted many a lynching. Payne got into an argument with his White boss and threatened to expose some of his boss’ ille­gal dealings. But the boss then spread a rumor that Payne had molested his daughter and Payne was lynched. 1972—Nearly 50 Black and White sailors were injured in a race riot aboard the aircraft car­rier Kitty Hawk during the Viet­nam War. 1999—Basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain dies at age 63. The 7’1”, 280 pound great included among his records the scoring of 100 points in one game when the Philadelphia Warriors beat the New York Knicks 169 to 147 on March 2, 1962. OCTOBER 13 1902—Arna W. Bontemps (1902-1973) is born. He was a noted poet and librarian of Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn. Bontemps frequently collaborat­ed with another noted Black poet Langston Hughes. 1914—Garret Morgan, an Af­rican American inventor and community leader, invents and patents the gas mask. He is re­nowned for a heroic rescue in 1916 in which he and three others used the mask he’d developed to save workers trapped within a water intake tunnel, 50 feet be­neath Lake Erie. 1919—Whites riot in Phillips County, Ark., leaving nearly 80 Blacks lynched. 1926—Jesse Leroy Brown is born. He became the first Black naval aviator. ANGELA DAVIS raises her fist in a Black Power salute after being introduced by Rev. Ralph Abernathy, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, in Dallas, Texas, Aug. 17, 1972. (AP Photo/Charles Bennett)   1970—Communist and activ­ist Angela Davis is arrested as a fugitive in New York City for her alleged role in a California courthouse shootout that left four dead. She is later found not guilty. OCTOBER 14 1902—William Allison Davis is born. He earns a PhD and be­comes a leading educator and anthropologist. Among his last­ing legacies were his well-docu­mented challenges to the cultur­al bias of IQ tests which generally portrayed Blacks as less intelli­gent than Whites. 1916—Washington and Lee Uni­versity of Virginia refuses to play Rutgers University of New Jersey because it has a Black player on its team. That player was Paul Robeson who withdrew from the game, but later became world famous as an actor, singer and advocate of Black and socialist causes. In this Dec. 10, 1964, file photo, U.S. civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holds his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize medal in Oslo, Norway. King was honored for promoting the principle of non-violence in the civil rights movement. (AP Photo, File)   1964—Martin Luther King Jr. becomes the youngest man ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He was 35 and had already become world famous for his leadership of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. 1999—Former Tanzanian Pres­ident Julius Nyerere dies at 77 of cancer. He had led his coun­try to independence and called on American Blacks to come to Africa to help rebuild the “moth­erland.” OCTOBER 15 1859—White minister and mys­tic John Brown leads a violent uprising in Harper’s Ferry, Va., in a bid to spark a Black upris­ing against slavery. Dozens of Whites are killed, but the revolt is eventually put down. President Abraham Lincoln once referred to him as a “misguided fanatic,” but Brown actually had a fanati­cal hatred of slavery and wanted it ended at all costs. 1887—The U.S. Supreme Court declares the Civil Rights Act of 1885 unconstitutional. The de­cision was spurred by the end of Reconstruction and helped to usher in the Jim Crow period in the South whereby Black rights won during Reconstruction were taken away. 1991—Conservative Black judge Clarence Thomas is confirmed as the 106th associate justice of the U.S. Supreme. He remains on the court with a voting record, which continues to anger many Black leaders. The post This Week In Black History October 9-15, 2024 appeared first on Atlanta Daily World.