With all the efforts to whitewash and even downright erase our history, Black Westchester is committed to continuing to document and celebrate because not only is African American History, American History, but it is to be celebrated 365 days a year.
On March 7th in Black History, the most significant event is “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama, 1965, where state troopers violently attacked peaceful civil rights marchers protesting for voting rights, drawing national attention to the brutality faced by African Americans seeking to register to vote; this event was a key turning point in the Selma to Montgomery marches. Today is the 60th Anniversary.
On March 7, 2015, President Barack Obama delivered remarks and then President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and the First Family were joined by former President George W. Bush, former First Lady Laura Bush, Rep. John Lewis, former foot soldiers, and other dignataries in marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the 50th Anniversary.
Thousands of marchers, led by Martin Luther King Jr., completed the first leg of the five-day Selma-to-Montgomery march. Marchers were protected by federalized Alabama National Guardsmen and U.S. Army troops. Selma-to-Montgomery march ended with a rally of some fifty thousand at Alabama capitol. One of the marchers, a white civil rights worker named Viola Liuzzo, was shot to death on U.S. Highway after the rally by white terrorists. Three Klansmen were convicted of violating her civil rights and sentenced to ten years in prison.
State and local police used billy clubs, whips, and tear gas to attack hundreds of civil rights activists beginning a march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol in Montgomery. The activists were protesting the denial of voting rights to African Americans as well as the murder of 26-year-old activist Jimmie Lee Jackson, who had been fatally shot in the stomach by police during a peaceful protest just days before.
The march was led by John Lewis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Reverend Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge and found themselves facing a line of state and county officers poised to attack. When demonstrators did not promptly obey the officers’ order to disband and turn back, troopers brutally attacked them on horseback, wielding weapons and chasing down fleeing men, women, and children. Dozens of civil rights activists were later hospitalized with severe injuries.
Horrifying images of the violence were broadcast on national television, shocking many viewers and helping to rouse support for the civil rights cause. Activists organized another march two days later, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. urged supporters from throughout the country to come to Selma to join. Many heeded his call, and the events helped spur the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 three months later.
March 7, 1859 – The Acting Commissioner of General Lands for the United States, J.S. Wilson, stated that blacks were not citizens of the United States and, therefore, were not legally entitled to preempt public lands.
March 7, 1927 – Supreme Court decision (Nixon v. Herndon) struck down Texas law which barred Blacks from voting in “white primary.”
March 7, 1942 – First cadets graduated from flying school at Tuskegee. On March 7, 1942, the first five Black military pilots graduated from Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. The graduates were: Captain Benjamin O. Davis Jr, 2nd Lt. Lemuel R. Curtis, 2nd Lt. Charles DeBow, 2nd Lt. George Spencer Roberts, and 2nd Lt. Mac Ross. The graduates became known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
March 7, 1950 – Retired Professional Football Player Franco Harris was born to an African American father and an Italian mother. His professional career lasted for 13 seasons, 12 of which he spent with the Pittsburgh Steelers. During this time, his statistics were in the top of the league, and he was an invaluable asset to his team. He helped them win four Super Bowls in 1975, 1976, 1979, and 1980. In their very first victory in 1975, the Steelers defeated the Minnesota Vikings 16-6. Harris was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, making him not only the first African American but also the first Italian American to be given this honor. He was very popular with Italian Americans in Pittsburgh, who called themselves “Franco’s Italian Army” and wore his jersey number “32” on their helmets.
March 7, 1985 – The charity single “We Are the World” was released. The song was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and raised funds for African famine relief. It was an immediate media sensation. It sold an astonishing 800,000 copies in three days and ultimately raised more than $60 million for African famine relief and inspired other musician-driven charitable efforts. Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner and Billy Joel sing the first verse; Michael Jackson and Diana Ross sing the first chorus; Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson and Al Jarreau sing the second verse; Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry and Daryl Hall sing the second chorus; Jackson, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, and Kim Carnes sing the bridge. “We Are the World” concludes with Bob Dylan and Ray Charles singing a full chorus, Wonder and Springsteen duetting, and ad libs from Charles and Ingram.
March 7, 2008 – Rev. Margaret Fountain-Coleman made history as the First African-American Woman elected Village of Tuckahoe Trustee.
