|
|
|
 MLK the life, the legacy the dream... January 15, 1929 God birthed one the most influential leaders of out time. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. over the years accomplished more with his words of wisdom, conviction, encouragement and motivations to do more than just exist, that his life became the beacon of generations to come. Many with celebrate with parades, picnics and parties. Some will work their respectful jobs and others will not even care. Yet, his legacy must represent the change which Kennedy, X and our 44th President of the United States Barack Obama. 1SE family help us celebrate the life, the legacy and the dream. BIO:
During the less than 13 years of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s leadership of the modern American Civil Rights Movement, from December, 1955 until April 4, 1968, African Americans achieved more genuine progress toward racial equality than the previous 350 years had produced. Dr. King is widely regarded as America’s pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence and one of the greatest nonviolent leaders in world history. Drawing inspiration from both his Christian faith and the peaceful teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. King led a nonviolent movement in the late 1950’s and ‘60s to achieve legal equality for African-Americans in the United States. While others were advocating for freedom by “any means necessary,” including violence, Martin Luther King, Jr. used the power of words and acts of nonviolent resistance, such as protests and grassroots organizing, to achieve seemingly-impossible goals. He went on to lead similar campaigns against poverty and international conflict, always maintaining fidelity to his principles that men and women everywhere, regardless of color or creed, are equal members of the human family. Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Nobel Peace Prize lecture and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” are among the most revered orations and writings in the English language. His accomplishments are now taught to American children of all races, and his teachings are studied by scholars and students worldwide. He is the only non-president to have a national holiday dedicated in his honor, and is the only non-president memorialized on the Great Mall in the nation’s capitol. He is memorialized in hundreds of statues, parks, streets, squares, churches and other public facilities around the world as a leader whose teachings are increasingly-relevant to the welfare of humankind. Some of Dr. King’s most important achievements include:
 - In 1955, he was recruited to serve as spokesman for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which was a campaign by the African-American population of Montgomery, Alabama to force integration of the city’s bus lines. After 381 days of nearly universal participation by the black community, many of whom had to walk miles to work each day as a result, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in transportation was unconstitutional.
- In 1957, Dr. King was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an organization meant to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. He would serve as head of the SCLC until his assassination in 1968, a period during which he would emerge as the most important social leader of the modern American civil rights movement.
- In 1963, he led a coalition of numerous civil rights groups in a nonviolent campaign aimed at Birmingham, Alabama, which at the time was described as the “most segregated city in America.” The subsequent brutality of the city’s police, illustrated most vividly by television images of young blacks being assaulted by dogs and water hoses, led to a national outrage resulting in a push for unprecedented civil rights legislation. It was during this campaign that Dr. King drafted the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” which as the manifesto of Dr. King’s philosophy and tactics, is today required-reading in universities worldwide.
- Later in 1963, Dr. King was one of the driving forces behind the March for Jobs and Freedom, more commonly known as the “March on Washington,” which drew over a quarter-million people to the national mall. It was at this march that Dr. King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, which cemented his status as a social change leader and helped inspire the nation to act on civil rights. Dr. King was later named Time magazine’s “Man of the Year.”
- In 1964, at 35 years old, Martin Luther King, Jr. became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize. His acceptance speech in Oslo is thought by many to be among the most powerful remarks ever delivered at the event, climaxing at one point with the oft-quoted phrase “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.”
- Also in 1964, partly due to the March on Washington, Congress passed the landmark Civil Rights Act, essentially eliminating racial segregation in the United States. The legislation made it illegal to discriminate against blacks or other minorities in hiring, public accommodations, education or transportation, areas which at the time were still very racially-divided in many places.
- The next year, 1965, Congress went on to pass the Voting Rights Act, which was an equally-important set of laws that eliminated the remaining barriers to voting for African-Americans, who in some locales had been almost completely disenfranchised. This legislation resulted directly from the Selma to Montgomery March for Voting Rights lead by Dr. King.
- Between 1965 and 1968, Dr. King shifted his focus toward economic justice – which he highlighted by leading several campaigns in Chicago, Illinois – and international peace – which he championed by speaking out strongly against the Vietnam War. His work in these years culminated in the “Poor Peoples Campaign,” which was a broad effort to assemble a multiracial coalition of impoverished Americans who would advocate for economic change.
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s decade-and-a-half of social leadership ended abruptly and tragically on April 4th, 1968, when he was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. King’s body was returned to his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, where his funeral ceremony was attended by high-level leaders of all races and political stripes.
- Later in 1968, Dr. King’s wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, officially founded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, which she dedicated to being a “living memorial” aimed at continuing Dr. King’s work on important social ills around the world.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Legendary blues singer Etta James dies in CaliforniaJan. 20, 2012, 11:35 AM ESTLOS ANGELES (AP) — Etta James' performance of the enduring classic "At Last" was the embodiment of refined soul: Angelic-sounding strings harkened the arrival of her passionate yet measured vocals as she sang tenderly about a love finally realized after a long and patient wait.In real life, little about James was as genteel as that song. The platinum blonde's first hit was a saucy R&B number about sex, and she was known as a hell-raiser who had tempestuous relationships with her family, her men and the music industry. Then she spent years battling a drug addiction that she admitted sapped away at her great talents. Search: Etta James musicIn other words, she was one of music's original bad girls."The bad girls ... had the look that I liked," she wrote in her 1995 autobiography, "Rage to Survive." ''I wanted to be rare, I wanted to be noticed, I wanted to be exotic as a Cotton Club chorus girl, and I wanted to be obvious as the most flamboyant hooker on the street. I just wanted to be."James' spirit could not be contained — perhaps that's what made her so magnetic in music; it is surely what made her so dynamic as one of R&B, blues and rock 'n' roll's underrated legends. The 73-year-old died at Riverside Community Hospital, with her husband and sons at her side, her manager Lupe De Leon said."It's a tremendous loss for her fans around the world," he said. "She'll be missed. A great American singer. Her music defied category."Despite the reputation she cultivated, she would always be remembered best for "At Last." The jazz-inflected rendition wasn't the original, but it would become the most famous and the song that would define her as a legendary singer. Over the decades, brides used it as their song down the aisle and car companies to hawk their wares, and it filtered from one generation to the next through its inclusion in movies like " American Pie." Perhaps most famously, President Obama and the first lady danced to a version at his inauguration ball.The tender, sweet song belied the turmoil in her personal life. James — born Jamesette Hawkins — was born in Los Angeles to a mother whom she described as a scam artist, a substance abuser and a fleeting presence during her youth. She never knew her father, although she was told and had believed, that he was the famous billiards player Minnesota Fats. He neither confirmed nor denied it: When they met, he simply told her: "I don't remember everything. I wish I did, but I don't."She was raised by Lula and Jesse Rogers, who owned the rooming house where her mother once lived in. The pair brought up James in the Christian faith, and as a young girl, her voice stood out in the church choir. James landed the solos in the choir and became so well known, she said that Hollywood stars would come to see her perform.But she wouldn't stay a gospel singer for long. Rhythm and blues lured her away from the church, and she found herself drawn to the grittiness of the music."My mother always wanted me to be a jazz singer, but I always wanted to be raunchy," she recalled in her book.She was doing just that when bandleader Johnny Otis found her singing on San Francisco street corners with some girlfriends in the early 1950s."At the time, Hank Ballard & the Midnighters had a hit with 'Work With Me, Annie,' and we decided to do an answer. We didn't think we would get in show business, we were just running around making up answers to songs," James told The Associated Press in 1987. Also: Johnny Otis of 'Willie and the Hand Jive' diesAnd so they replied with the song, "Roll With Me, Henry."When Otis heard it, he told James to get her mother's permission to accompany him to Los Angeles to make a recording. Instead, the 15-year-old singer forged her mother's name on a note claiming she was 18."At that time, you weren't allowed to say 'roll' because it was considered vulgar. So when Georgia Gibbs did her version, she renamed it 'Dance With Me, Henry' and it went to No. 1 on the pop charts," the singer recalled. The Gibbs song was one of several in the early rock era when white singers got hits by covering songs by black artists, often with sanitized lyrics.After her 1955 debut, James toured with Otis' revue, sometimes earning only $10 a night. In 1959, she signed with Chicago's legendary Chess label, began cranking out the hits and going on tours with performers such as Bobby Vinton, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee Lewis and the Everly Brothers."We would travel on four buses to all the big auditoriums. And we had a lot of fun," she recalled in 1987.James recorded a string of hits in the late 1950s and '60s including "Trust in Me," ''Something's Got a Hold on Me," ''Sunday Kind of Love," ''All I Could Do Was Cry" and, of course, "At Last.""(Chess Records founder) Leonard Chess was the most aware of anyone. He went up and down the halls of Chess announcing, 'Etta's crossed over! Etta's crossed over!' I still didn't know exactly what that meant, except that maybe more white people were listening to me. The Chess brothers kept saying how I was their first soul singer, that I was taking their label out of the old Delta blues, out of rock and into the modern era. Soul was the new direction," she wrote in her autobiography. "But in my mind, I was singing old style, not new."In 1967, she cut one of the most highly regarded soul albums of all time, "Tell Mama," an earthy fusion of rock and gospel music featuring blistering horn arrangements, funky rhythms and a churchy chorus. A song from the album, "Security," was a top 40 single in 1968.Her professional success, however, was balanced against personal demons, namely a drug addiction."I was trying to be cool," she told the AP in 1995, explaining what had led her to try heroin."I hung out in Harlem and saw Miles Davis and all the jazz cats," she continued. "At one time, my heavy role models were all druggies. Billie Holiday sang so groovy. Is that because she's on drugs? It was in my mind as a young person. I probably thought I was a young Billie Holiday, doing whatever came with that."She was addicted to the drug for years, beginning in 1960, and it led to a harrowing existence that included time behind bars. It sapped her singing abilities and her money, eventually, almost destroying her career.It would take her at least two decades to beat her drug problem. Her husband, Artis Mills, even went to prison for years, taking full responsibility for drugs during an arrest even though James was culpable."My management was suffering. My career was in the toilet. People tried to help, but I was hell-bent on getting high," she wrote of her drug habit in 1980.She finally quit the habit and managed herself for a while, calling up small clubs and asking them, "Have you ever heard of Etta James?" in order to get gigs. Eventually, she got regular bookings — even drawing Elizabeth Taylor as an audience member. In 1984, she was tapped to sing the national anthem at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and her career got the resurgent boost it needed, though she fought addiction again when she got hooked on painkillers in the late 1980s.Drug addiction wasn't her only problem. She struggled with her weight, and often performed from a wheelchair as she got older and heavier. In the early 2000s, she had weight-loss surgery and shed some 200 pounds.James performed well into her senior years, and it was "At Last" that kept bringing her the biggest ovations. The song was a perennial that never aged, and on Jan. 20, 2009, as crowds celebrated that — at last — an African-American had become president of the United States, the song played as the first couple danced.But it was superstar Beyonce who serenaded the Obamas, not the legendary singer. Beyonce had portrayed James in " Cadillac Records," a big-screen retelling of Chess Records' heyday, and had started to claim "At Last" as her own.An audio clip surfaced of James at a concert shortly after the inauguration, saying she couldn't stand the younger singer and that Beyonce had "no business singing my song." But she told the New York Daily News later that she was joking, even though she had been hurt that she did not get the chance to participate in the inauguration.James did get her accolades over the years. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, captured a Grammy in 2003 for Best Contemporary Blues Album for "Let's Roll," one in 2004 for Best Traditional Blues Album for "Blues to the Bone" and one for Best Jazz Vocal performance for 1994's "Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday." She was also awarded a special Grammy in 2003 for lifetime achievement and got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.Her health went into decline, however, and by 2011, she was being cared for at home by a personal doctor.She suffered from dementia, kidney problems and leukemia. Her husband and her two sons fought over control of her $1 million estate, though a deal was later struck keeping Mills as the conservator and capping the singer's expenses at $350,000. In December 2011, her physician announced that her leukemia was terminal, and asked for prayers for the singer.In October 2011, it was announced that James was retiring from recording, and a final studio recording, "The Dreamer," was released, featuring the singer taking on classic songs, from Bobby "Blue" Bland's "Dreamer" to Guns N' Roses "Welcome to the Jungle" — still rocking, and a fitting end to her storied career. Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Stewart B. Fulbright, 92, a Tuskegee Airman during World War II who later became the first dean of the School of Business at North Carolina Central University, died in Durham on Jan. 1. Born in Springfield, Mo., in 1919, Dr. Fulbright attended Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo., graduating in 1941 with a bachelor’s degree in French. He remained at Lincoln as an instructor in French. In early 1943, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps, which in 1941 had created a program in Tuskegee, Ala., to train African-American aviators. He was one of nearly 1,000 men who trained there to be pilots, navigators and bombardiers during the war. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and pilot in December 1943 and served as a B-25 bomber pilot for the rest of the war. His all-black 477th Bombardment Group was preparing for deployment in the Pacific theater when the war ended in 1945. After completing his military service, he enrolled at the University of Chicago, where he received an MBA degree in 1947. He joined the faculty of the Commerce Department at North Carolina College (now NCCU) that same year. He subsequently earned a Ph.D. in business administration from Ohio State University in 1953. He served as acting dean of the Undergraduate School from 1966 to 1968, then returned to the Commerce Department as its chair in 1968. When the department became the School of Business in 1972, he became its first dean, serving in that position until 1976. After his retirement in 1982, Dr. Fulbright was honored by the university with the title of professor emeritus. “Everyone thought of him as a friend,” said Dr. Howard Fitts, former chair of Public Health programs at NCCU and a longtime colleague. “He was well-liked and respected, and students felt at ease with him.” NCCU Chancellor Charlie Nelms added, “During my tenure here, I have always felt I owed a great debt of gratitude and respect to the men and women who founded and built this university. I know I stand on the shoulders of giants, and Dr. Fulbright was one of those giants.” Dr. Fulbright remained in contact with his wartime comrades through his active membership in the Wilson V. Eagleson Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, based in Goldsboro. He was among the Tuskegee Airmen present in Washington in 2007 when they were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. Dr. Fulbright is survived by his wife of 68 years, Della Marie Fulbright; a daughter, Gina Fulbright-Powell, of Silver Spring, Md., a son, Edward, of Durham; a granddaughter, Camille Fulbright; and a sister, Marilyn Fisher, of Las Vegas, Nev. The funeral service will be on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 2620 Weaver St. in Durham. The family will receive friends an hour before the service. The family requests that donations be sent to two institutions that Dr. Fulbright loved. One is the Dr. Stewart B. Fulbright Memorial Fund at NCCU. Contributions should be sent to the NCCU Foundation, P.O. Box 19363, Durham, N.C., with the Fulbright Memorial Fund in the memo line. The other is the Covenant Presbyterian Church Building Fund, 2620 Weaver St. Durham, NC 27707. - See video below honoring the works of Dr. Stewart Fulbright and other Tuskegee Airmen
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
Evelyn "Annie" Hairston Sunrise:
April 25, 1954 Place of Birth: Springfield, Missouri Sunset: Nov 17, 2011 Evelyn "Annie" Hairston Of Springfield peacefully journeyed home to dance with her father again on Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 1:07 am in Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis. She was born the third of ten children to Howard Clayton Fewell, Sr. and Evelyn Gloria Jean Shockley Fewell in Springfield, Missouri on April 25, 1954. Annie graduated from Central High School in 1972 and married Barry Hairston, Sr. on September 16, 1973. She was a member of Deliverance Temple.
She is preceded in death by her father, Howard Fewell, Sr., paternal grandparents, Herbert and Alice Fewell, maternal grandfather, Doug Shockley, Sr., and a very special grandmother, Mary “Nanny” Shockley. Annie is survived by her loving husband, Barry of the home; a son, Barry “Deno” Hairston, Jr. and wife, Melissa of Atlanta, GA; two daughters, Trecie Hairston of Dallas, TX and Gloria Hereford and husband, James of Springfield, MO; her mother, Gloria Fewell; seven grandchildren, Deveno, Lexie, Barry III, DeAyra, Donaven and Dawsen Hairston, and Gloria Hereford; one great-grandchild, Malaya Hairston; six brothers, Howard Fewell, Jr. and wife JoAnn, Doug Fewell and wife, Gayla, Tony Fewell, Sr., David Blakey and wife, Lois, Steve Small, and Eshan Thomas and wife, Christy; three sisters, Carletta Adams, Marti Fewell, and Yolanda Fewell; and a host of relatives and friends. To know her was to love her; an inspiration to all she came in contact with. Evelyn will be truly missed. Funeral services will be Wednesday, November 23, 2011 at 10:00 am in Washington Avenue Baptist Church with Bishop David Knox officiating under the care of Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home. Burial will follow in Hazelwood Cemetery. Visitation will be Tuesday, November 22, 2011 from 6:00-8:00 pm in the funeral home. *Memorial contributions may be made to Victory Mission, P.O. Box 2884, Springfield, Missouri 65801.  1SE: Remembers Dwight Arrington Myers aka "Heavy D" Sunrise: May 24th, 1967 Sunset: November 8th, 2011 Heavy D, born as Dwight Arrington Myers, was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital around noon, and pronounced dead an hour later, according to the site. A 911 call placed at 11:25 am reported an unconscious male on the walkway of Heavy D's Beverly Hills home. When paramedics arrived, he was reportedly conscious and speaking before being transported to the hospital. Heavy D performed at the 2011 BET Hip-Hop Awards in October, as well as the Michael Jackson tribute concert in Wales that same month. (c) All Rights Reserved 1SE LLC. 2011 |
Cheryl L. Kinsey Sunrise: September 15, 1960 Sunset: July 30th, 2011 The Apostle family celebrated the life and memory of this beautiful woman, mother and friend. Sunset July 30, 2011 which our father in heaven took her home to glory. Apostle member, singer and psalmist Marcia Bennett (pictured to the left) daughter of Mrs. Cheryl (Full of Faith) Dotson continues her lively spirit through living life as well ministry which she displays nationally with Gospel Recording Artist The Apostles . Help The Apostles Celebrate her memory by remember the good times, sharing your thoughts and prayers while lifting up the name of Jesus Christ. We love you Marcia as our thoughts and prayers go out to the Bennett, Kinsey-Dotson family in their time of morning. If you would like to send a message of encouragement to the Marcia Bennett and The Family of Cheryl L. Kinsey Dotson (Click Here) |
|
|
|
|
|
