A Brief History On April 8, 1974, Hammerin’ Hank Aaron slugged his 715th career home run at Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta to surpass Babe Ruth as the all-time major league home run hitter. We use this historic event to enjoy some alliteration in the title (one of our favorite things) and to give you our list of the 10 African American (male) athletes we think should be considered among the greatest. Remember the “American” part of the list, as great Black and African heritage athletes from places outside the US are not being considered. (Soon we will list our…
Browsing: April 8
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A Brief History On April 8, 1935, the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 went into effect, and as a byproduct created the Works Progress Administration (later renamed the Work Projects Administration). This ambitious Federal government effort to get unemployed Americans back to work and accomplish much needed improvements to the country’s infrastructure was responsible for an incredible array of public construction projects, including the building of many roads, public buildings, airports (Midway in Chicago), and even sports stadiums such as the Akron Rubber Bowl. Digging Deeper One project NOT built by the WPA was Cleveland Municipal Stadium, where the…
A Brief History Somewhere along the way some Americans had lost their love of liberty, free speech, and democracy, as many attempted to replace these cherished values with mob rule and bullying tactics. Once thought to be a technique used by right wing conservative groups such as Nazi’s, Fascists, and the KKK, this lynch mob mentality has now infected the political left as well. Digging Deeper The latest trend in politics is to disrupt your opponents’ speeches and rallies by disorderly protest and disruption, even going so far as to grab the microphone from the speaker. Liberals are not immune…
A Brief History On April 8, 1975, slugger Frank Robinson became the first African-American major league baseball manager when he managed the Cleveland Indians opening day game. Today we present a list of 10 notable African-American firsts. Digging Deeper 10. Oprah Winfrey, 2003. According to Forbes Magazine, Oprah became the first African-American billionaire. Her power goes well beyond her money, as she has tremendous influence on (mostly women) Americans of all varieties. 9. Hattie McDaniel, 1939. Hattie won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar (Academy Award) for her role in Gone With The Wind, making her the first African-American Oscar winner. …
A Brief History On April 8, 1952, President Truman ordered the Federal government to take control of the nation’s largest steel mills to prevent a strike that would interrupt steel production. Digging Deeper At the time, the US was involved in the Korean War, making Truman a “wartime” president. As such, Truman claimed his authority as Commander in Chief of the nation’s military allowed him to seize steel production for military purposes. The case went to the US Supreme Court, and the court ruled against Truman, saying that the separation of powers part of the constitution had been violated. The…
