Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Peter Pitchlynn, Choctaw Ambassador to US

Peter Pitchlynn, born January 30, 1806 in Noxubee County, Mississippi, was a member of the Choctaw Nation.  He graduated from the University of Nashville in 1827 in a graduating class of 12 students. 

Because of his Choctaw and European-American ancestries, he served as an interpreter and liaison between the Choctaw and US Government.  He was relocated to Indian Territory in the 1830s with his family, including his mother, who died there.  Hers is the oldest known grave in Oklahoma.

He was in Washington DC addressing national affairs of the Choctaw when the Civil War started.  He returned to the Choctaw Nation, hoping to stay neutral, but their territory was invaded in May 1861 and were forced into an alliance with the Confederacy.

He became the Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation in 1864 and returned to Washington in 1866 to reestablish diplomatic relations with the US.  He hoped to avoid attempts to colonize Indian Territory.  

He met with Queen Emma of Hawai'i at some point, conducting a cultural exchange. It is the only time in history of bilateral relations between the Choctaw Nation and the Hawai'ian kingdom.

Pitchlynn passed away in 1881 in Washington and is buried in the Congressional Cemetery.  

Remembering Stella Stevens (1938-2023)

Just days after losing Raquel Welch, another 70s icon has passed away.  Stella Stevens, who starred in The Poseidon Adventure and several other of my favorite movies died today at age 84 from Alzheimer's disease.  Born October 1, 1938 in Yazoo City, Mississippi, she made her acting debut in Say One for Me in 1959 for which she won a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer - Female.  In 1972, she appeared in The Poseidon Adventure, a classic disaster movie, and then in 1973, she starred in the horror-comedy Arnold. Just two years later, she played the bad guy Marcia in the pilot for the new Wonder Woman series starring Lynda Carter.

She appeared with Angela Lansbury in Funeral at Fifty-Mile, an episode of Murder, She Wrote.

I don't know why I love this fight scene between Marcia (Stella) and Wonder Woman (Lynda).

Celebrating Black History Month: Blanche Bruce, first African-American senator to serve a full term

Blanche Kelso Bruce, born March 1, 1841 into slavery in Virginia, was the first elected African-American from Mississippi senator to serve a full term.  Hiram Revels, also of Mississippi was the first African-American senator but did not complete a full term.

His mother was a domestic slave and his father was her master, Pettis Perkinson, a white Virginia planter.  His father legally freed him and arranged for an apprenticeship to learn a trade.  He worked as a steamboat porter on the Mississippi River and moved to Hannibal, Missouri where he established a school for black children.  In 1868, he purchased a Mississippi Delta plantation and became a landowner of several thousand acres in the delta area.  

He was elected to the Senate in 1874 and on February 14, 1879, he presided over the first African-American and the only former slave to do so.  He served from March 1875 to March 1881.  

He was appointed Register of the Treasury in 1897 by President William McKinley and served until his death in 1898.  

Remembering Charley Pride (1934-2020)

Country music legend, singer, baseball player and groundbreaker Charley Pride passed away today at 86 from COVID-19.  He was born in Sledge, Mississippi March 18, 1934, the fourth of eleven children born to poor sharecroppers.

He got his first guitar at 14 and taught himself to play.  In 1952, he pitched for the Memphis Red Sox of the Negro American League, and then signed with the Boise Yankees, the farm team of the New York Yankees. An injury caused him to be traded (with another player) to the Birmingham Black Barons.

He was pitching for a semipro team in Helena, Montana when his singing ability became known. He released his first single The Snakes Crawl at Night in 1966.  It did not chart and neither did the second single.  But his third Just Between You and Me reached #9 on the US Country Chart. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for it the next year.

He won four Grammys over his career including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.

He is one of only three African-Americans to become a member of the Grand Ol' Opry and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000.  He's had 30 #1 country hits.

Donald Peterson, Space Shuttle astronaut, born October 22, 1933

Donald Peterson, born October 22, 1933 in Winona, Mississippi, went into space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-6) as mission specialist in April 1983.  It was the maiden flight of Challenger.  He and fellow astronaut Story Musgrave performed an EVA which lasted 4 hours 17 minutes.  He remained in space for just over 5 days.

He passed away in May 2018 from Alzheimer's disease and bone cancer.

Celebrating Black History Month: O.W Gurley, Founding Father Of Black Wall Street

O. W. Gurley, a wealthy black landowner from Arkansas, traveled to Indian Territory to participate in the 1889 Oklahoma Land Run.  He had just resigned from a presidential appointment under President Grover Cleveland.

In 1906, he moved to Tulsa and purchased 40 acres of land which he declared was only to be sold to other black people.  He opened a rooming hosue on Greenwood Avenue, and it became very popular for blacks fleeing oppression in Mississippi.  In Gurley's building they could escape the racial persecution.

Gurley, J. B. Stradford, and several other prominent black people pooled resources and created a self-sustaining exclusive black enclave, which later became known as "Black Wall Street".  Unfortunately, Gurley lost everything in the Tulsa Race Riots in 1921. 

His fate is not know because he vanishes from history after that. 

Celebrating Black History Month: Robert Reed Church, first African-American millionaire in the South

Robert Reed Church, Sr, born June 18, 1839 in Holly Springs, Mississippi, is the first African-American millionaire in the South. (I haven't been able to find out who the first black millionaire in the north was.)  He was an entrepreneur, businessman and landowner in Memphis, Tennessee.  Although born into poverty, he purchased many properties around Memphis after the yellow fever epidemic in 1878, becoming very wealthy.

With his immense wealth, he funded facilities for Memphis' black population, which were oppressed by racial segregation of the white institutions at the time.  He funded a free annual Thanksgiving meal for poor blacks, and developed a public park, a playground, concert hall and an auditorium.

He helped establish Memphis' first black bank and served as its fouding president, ensuring black people could have access to loans for businesses and homes.

He passed away in August 1912.

Celebrating Black History Month: Hiram Rhodes Revels, first African-American U.S. Senator

Hiram Rhodes Revels, born September 27, 1827 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, became the first African-American senator when he was elected February 25, 1870, representing the State of Mississippi.  During the Civil War, he organized two regiments of the United States Colored Troops and acted as chaplain.

In 1869 he was elected to the Mississippi State Senate representing Adams County.  In 1870, he was elected by the state senate to finish the term of a U.S. senator which had been vacant since the Civil War.  His election was opposed by southern Democrats, but on February 25, 1870, he was elected by a vote of 48 to 8. 

He served for one year until March 3, 1871 and worked for equality during his term.  He passed away in January 1901 in Aberdeen, Mississippi.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Richard Truly!

Richard Truly, born November 12, 1937 in Fayette, Mississippi, flew on two space shuttle missions at the beginning of the program.

He started as a test pilot for the Enterprise's take-offs and landings.  He first went into space on Columbia (STS-2) on his birthday in 1981 with Joe Engle.

His second trip was on Challenger (STS-8) as commander in August-September 1983.  This was the first flight for African-American astronaut Guy Bluford,

He served as NASA's Administrator for 1989 to 1992, during which time he commanded Voyager 1 to take one last picture of Earth before its mission ended.  The pic has become known as the Pale Blue Dot photograph.

Celebrating Black History Month - Ida B. Wells, early Civil Rights activist

Ida B. Wells, born July 16, 1862 in Holly Springs, Mississippi, was a teacher, journalist suffragist, a leaer in the early Civil Rights Movement and co-founder of the NAACP.  She was orphaned at 16 years old, but went to work as a teacher to provide and care for her younger siblings so the family could stay together.

May 4, 1884, she purchased a ticket with the Memphis and Charleston Railroad in the first-class ladies car, but was told to move.  When she refused, she was forcibly dragged from the car.  She sued the railroad company and won the initial case in the local circuit court but the railroad company appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court, which reversed the lower court's ruling.

In 1889, Thomas Moss, an entrepeneur and friend of Wells, was lynched with two other men.  Moss had opened a grocery store that competed and did better than the white-owned grocery store across the street.  This prompted Wells to research and document lynching and their causes.  She published her findings in a pamphlet "Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases" in 1892.

She fiercely campaigned against lynching and even traveled to Europe twice to promote her message.

Wells passed away of kidney failure in March 1931 in Chicago.

Happy birthday, Alexander O'Neal!

Alexander O'Neal, born November 15, 1953 in Natchez, Mississippi, is an R&B singer who had some awesome hits in the 80's such as Fake.  The single was released from his album Hearsay and it went to #1 on the R&B charts.  Its follow-up single Criticize reached No. 4.

I love his Christmas album My Gift to You released in 1988, but Fake is still my favorite overall!

Columbia (STS-2) launched 1981

Columbia blasted off November 12, 1981 (STS-2) and returned two days later, becoming the first time a spacecraft has tone into space and returned twice. Her crew consisted of Commander Joe Engle and Pilot Richard Truly (who celebrates his 80th birthday today!).  The mission was scheduled to last 5 days but one of the three fuel cells that produced electricity and drinking water failed so it was shortened to 2 days.  NASA also cancelled the Canadarm tests but the crew stayed awake during the Loss-of-Signal (LOS) periods and tested the arm.

Richard Truly, born November 12, 1937 in Fayette, Mississippi, was the first person to be launched into space on his (43rd) birthday.  He became the 8th administrator of NASA in May 1989.