Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Theodor Seuss Geisel, born March 2, 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts, is best known by his pen name Dr. Seuss.  He began his career as an illustrator and cartoonist for various publications such as Vanity Fair and Life, an illustrator for advertising campaigns, and a political cartoonist.  

He published his first children's book, And to Think That I saw it on Mulberry Street in 1937. It was rejected 27 times before Vanguard Press published it.  He published over 60 books, some of which have been adapted into eleven television specials, five feature films, four television series, and a Broadway musical.

His commercially released film Design for Death in 1947 won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film.  His original short story Gerald McBoing-Boing won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short film.

He has received two Primetime Emmy Awards.  One for Outstanding Children's Special for Halloween is Grinch Night in 1978, and Outstanding Animated Program for the Grinch Grinches the Cat In The Hat in 1982.

He won a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation in 1984, and his birthday has been adopted as the annual date for National Read Across America Day.  

Geisel passed away in September 1991.

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Raven Chacon, first Native American to win Pulitzer Prize for music

Raven Chacon, born 1977 in Fort Defiance, Arizona, is the first Native American to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music.  In 2021, Chacon composed Voiceless Mass, written for the pipe organ at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. and it premiered there November 21, 2021.  It was this composition that won him the award in 2022. 

He has won numerous awards for his music, including the Berlin Prize by the American Academy in Berlin.

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: N. Scott Momaday, first Native American to win the Pulitzer for Fiction

Navarre Scott Momaday, born February 27, 1934 in Lawton, Oklahoma, is the first Native American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His father was a full-blooded Kiowa. Scott was granted the award in 1969 for his novel House Made of Dawn, which is considered to be the "first major work of the Native American Renaissance."

He is the first professor to teach American Literature at Moscow State University in Russia. He was awarded a National Medal of Arts in 2007 and is one of the first inductees into the National Native American Hall of Fame.

I admit that I could not finish House Made of Dawn because of Momaday's non-sequential style of writing.  However, I think I should try to re-read it, since at the time, I was not aware of its importance.  

The Johnny Bright Incident 1951

The Johnny Bright Incident, October 20, 1951, was a dark day in college sports, when a white player attacked an African-American player so violently, the man was knocked unconscious and his jaw was broken.

Johnny Bright, born June 11, 1930 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, was a top college football player while he attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Bright received a track and field scholarship from Drake and lettered in football, track, and basketball during his schooling.

In his sophomore year, he lead the nation in total offense, and the Drake Bulldogs finished the season 6-2-1.  In his junior year, he set an NCAA record for total offense (2,400 yards) in 1950, again leading the Bulldogs to a 6-2-1 record.  He was considered a Heisman Trophy candidate and was leading the national again in rushing and total offense during his senior year.

The Bulldogs had won their five previous games when they traveled to Stillwater, Oklahoma to take on Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University).  Apparently, it was no secret that A&M players were targeting Bright claiming that he "would not be around at the end of the game". During the first seven minutes of the game, Bright was knocked unconscious and had his jaw broken by three blows from defensive tackle Wilbanks Smith.  

The incident was captured by Des Moines Register cameramen John Robinson and Don Ultang, and showed clearly the blow that broke Bright's jaw was delivered well after he had handed off the ball. They had been watching him when rumors of his targeting became too much to ignore. The six-frame sequence won Robinson and Ultang the 1952 Pulitzer Prize for Photography.

A&M's president Oliver Willham denied anything had happened even when presented with overwhelming evidence.  Smith was not penalized and NEVER apologized.  HE maintained he was not racist nor was it a racially motivated incident.

Yeah, right.  The incident provoked changes in NCAA rules regarding illegal block and the use of helmets with face guards.  The wikipedia article doesn't mention if there were any changes to rules concerning physical assault on other players.

Of course, Oklahoma A&M was not going to take any action against Smith, because they won the game.

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: George Ramos, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner

George Ramos, born October 1, 1947, won the Pulitzer Prize three times.  He participated in a 27-part newspaper series in the Los Angeles Times, Latinos, which focused on southern California's Latino community and culture of the early 1980s.  He was among a Mexican-American team of two editors and eleven reporters and photographers.  They won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for the series.

Ramos won his second Pulitzer in 1993 for his on-the-spot reporting of the Rodney King riots.  His third Pulitzer for reporting of the Northridge earthquake.  

In 2007, he was inducted into the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Hall of Fame.

Celebrating Asian-American Heritage Month: Gobind Behari Lal, first Asian-American to win Pulitzer Prize

 Gobind Behari Lal, born April 1, 1889 in Delhi, British India, became the first Indian to win the Pulitzer Prize.  He attended the University of California, Berkeley in 1912 and served as Science Editor for the San Francisco Examiner from 1925-1930.  

He shared the Pulitzer Prize for Reporting in 1937 with John O'Neill, William Laurence, Howard Blakeslee and David Dietz for their coverage of science at Harvard University.

He was one of the founding members of the National Association of Science Writers.

He passed away of cancer in October 1982 of cancer. 

Celebrating Black History Month: Gwendolyn Brooks, first African-American to win Pulitzer Prize

Gwendolyn Brooks, born June 7, 1917 in Topeka, Kansas, was an American poet and author.  She won the Pulitzer Prize Prize for Poetry in May 1950 for her book Annie Allen, making her the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize.

Her first book of poetry, A Street in Bronzeville, was published in 1945.  It gained instant critical acclaim.  It was her second book Annie Allen, about the life of a young black girl growing up in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago.  

She won many awards for her poetry over her lifetime.  She passed away in December 2000.

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month: Oscar Hijuelos, first Hispanic to win Pulitzer Prize for fiction

Oscar Hijuelos, born August 24, 1951 in New York City, became the first Hispanic to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction.  He won the prize for his second novel, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love in 1990.  The novel was adapted into a movie The Mambo Kings starring Antonio Banderas.

He passed away in October 2013 of a heart attack.