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Corporate SponsorshipsThis week in history
For the week of May. 11, 2008
May 11
Irving Berlin (1888-1989): Jewish Russian American. Song writer. Berlin wrote the lyrics and music to some 1500 songs, including the scores for many stage and screen musical comedies. Among the Berlin songs that have become classics of American popular music are his first, “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (1911), “White Christmas,” Easter Parade,” and “God Bless America.”May 11
William Grant Still (1895-1978): African American. Composer and Conductor. Still was the first African American to compose a symphony and the first to conduct a symphony orchestra, but he made his living playing in orchestras and jazz bands. In his own compositions, the most famous of which are his Afro-American Symphony (1951) and the opera Troubled Island (1949), he often incorporated jazz elements.May 12
May 13
Jo Louis (Barrow) (1914-1981): African American. Prizefighter. Joe Louis was the world heavyweight champion from 1937 to 1947, defending the title 24 times.May 13
Our Lady of Fatima Day: Portugal. This commemorates the miracle of the vision of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus, to shepherd children on May 13, 1917.May 16
Betty Carter (1929-1998): African American. Jazz singer. Betty Carter was unique among jazz vocalists, composers, and arrangers, her distinctive style embodying an approach to jazz that created the model for modern jazz singing. Growing up in Detroit, Carter sang with Charlie Parker and later joined the Lional Hampton band. 1961, she recorded the classic album, Ray Charles and Betty Carter. Carter received the National Medal of Arts in 1997.May 17
Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka (1954): African American. On this date the Supreme Court unanimously issued its historic decision holding that segregation in public education was a denial of the right to equal protection under the law and directing the lower courts to oversee the desegregation of the nation’s schools “with all deliberate speed.” This decision, which established the principle that segregation is unconstitutional, formed the legal basis for the civil rights movement of the late 1950 and 1960s.May 18
May 18
Frank Capra (1897-1991): Italian American. Film director. From the 1920s to the 1950s, Capra was one of Hollywood’s most successful directors. Remembered especially for his comedies celebrating the integrity and spirit of the common man, Capra won three Academy Awards as best Director for It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, and You Can’t Take It With You.May 18
Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965) : African American. Playwright and civil right activist. Hansberry is best known for her play “A Raisin in the Sun”, the first play by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway. The play was an enormous success with critics and audiences when it opened in 1959, was made into a popular film, and has attained the status of a modern classic. Before her brilliant career was cut short by cancer, she wrote several other stage and television plays and a number of essays, and devoted much of her time to working and speaking out for the civil rights movement.May 18
Malcolm X (1925-1965: African American. Civil rights leader. Malcolm Little adopted the name Malcolm X when he joined the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims), a religious movement advocating Black separatism, while serving a prison term for burglary. Upon his release in 1952 he became a leading spokesman for the Muslims. In 1964 he broke with the group, rejecting racial separatism and forming his own group, the Organization of Afro-American Unity. He continued to speak out until his assassination on February 21, 1965, urging Blacks to take pride in their race and to take action to claim their civil and human rights.May 18
Ataturk Commemoration and Youth & Sports Day: Turkey. Kemal Ataturk was the first president of the Turkish Republic, which he founded in 1923 and served until 1938. Ataturk westernized and secularized Turkey, creating the basis for a modern nation state.May 18
Santo Christo Day : Portugal. This holiday begins on the fifth Sunday after Easter and is celebrated for a full week. It commemorates the gift to the Cathedral of Sao Miguel in the Azore Island (off the coast of Portugal) of a statue depicting Jesus wearing a crown of thorns. The holiday is celebrated by processions, religious services, and festive gatherings.