The NorthStar News and Analysis

Comcast Signs Cable Network Deals With Magic Johnson And Sean "Diddy" Combs

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:10:40 GMT

by Frederick H. Lowe
Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable-television provider, has signed agreements with two successful African- American entrepreneurs to launch non-white owned cable television networks this summer and in 2013.

Comcast, which is based in Philadelphia, signed deals with Earvin "Magic' Johnson, chairman and CEO of Magic Johnson Enterprises, and entrepreneur Sean "Diddy" Combs.

Johnson, a member of the National Basketball Hall of Fame from his playing days with the Los Angeles Lakers, will launch Aspire, a 24-hour cable television network whose goal is present positive programming for African-American families. This will include movies, documentaries, short films, music, comedy, visual and performing arts, and faith and inspirational programs.

Johnson will launch Aspire in partnership with the GMC TV, a 24-hour advertiser-supported commercial cable and satellite TV network devoted to delivering the highest quality uplifting entertainment programming for the entire family, according to its website.

"Aspire, will encourage and challenge African Americans to reach for their dreams," Johnson said. Magic Johnson Enterprises, which is based in Beverly Hills, Calif., owns movie theatres and restaurants in the including several Starbucks, Sodexo, T.G.I. Friday's and Burger King locations. The company has partnered with Carlson Companies, an international hotel, restaurant and travel business based in Minnetonka, Minn.

Combs will launch Revolt, a cable television network with Andy Schuon, president and CEO of IMF, The International Music Feed. Schuon is also the former head of programming for MTV, VH1, and MTV2.

Revolt will have programming inspired by the music and pop culture, including music performances, music news and interviews. The channel also will incorporate social media interaction with music artists and their fans.

"Revolt is the first channel created entirely from the ground up in this new era of social media," said Combs founder of Bad Boy Entertainment and Bad Boy Records.

Sean "Diddy" Combs

"We're building this platform for artists to reach an extraordinary number of people in a completely different way." Forbes magazine reported that Combs is worth $500 million.

Revolt is scheduled to launch in 2013 and Aspire is scheduled to begin broadcasting this summer. It is not yet clear in what cities the new networks will air their programming, said John Demming, senior director of corporate communications for Financial and Diversity Communications. "We are still determining the markets, but the networks will be broadly distributed to millions of homes," Demming said.

The network will be included in Comcast's basic level of cable service, he added. Comcast signed the deal with Johnson, Combs and two Hispanic cable channel owners on Tuesday as part of its agreement to purchase in 2011 50.1 percent of NBC Universal from General Electric Corp. The deal created a $30 billion business that includes broadcast, cable networks, movie studios and theme parks.

Comcast selected Combs, Johnson, El Rey and BabyFirst Americas from more than 100 proposals. In the next eight years, as part of the NBC Universal agreement, Comcast must launch a total of six independent networks.

NorthStar's Week In Black History

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:57:19 GMT

February 23 through February 29

February 23

1914 ----- James Cameron, lynching survivor, civil rights activist, founder of three chapters of the NAACP and founder and director of America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, was born in La Crosse, Wis.

Raised in Birmingham, Ala. and in Marion, Ind., Cameron was arrested in Marion at 16 with two friends, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith. The trio was charged with killing Claude Deeter, a white man, and raping Deeter’s white girlfriend during an armed robbery attempt. (The charge of rape was later dropped.) The year was 1930. Though Cameron had fled the scene before the victim was killed, all three young men were apprehended, arrested and charged with murder.

When Cameron, Shipp and Smith were transported from the jail in which they were being held to the Grant County (Ind.) Courthouse, they were mobbed by a few thousand men who lynched them. Cameron and his two friends were overtaken and hung by men in the mob, but Cameron was freed from his noose by a man in the mob who declared Cameron’s innocence.

Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith after they had been lynched.

Though both Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith died by hanging, no one from the mob was arrested and charged with lynching.

Cameron, however, was convicted at a trial in 1931 of being an accessory to the murder of Claude Deeter and was sentenced to four years in state prison. Following his parole, Cameron relocated to Detroit, found work at Stroh’s Brewery Company and enrolled at Wayne State University.

Cameron studied to become a boiler engineer, and he worked in that capacity until he was 65. Independently, Cameron studied black history and the history of lynching in the United States, and he found ways both formally and informally to teach others of his findings. Quietly and certainly, Cameron dedicated his life to advocating for civil rights and racial equality.

During the 1940s, when the Ku Klux Klan was still active in the Midwest, Cameron founded three chapters of the NAACP. He served as president of the first NAACP chapter he established, one for Madison County in Anderson, Ind.

From 1942 to 1950, Cameron also served as the Indiana State Director of Civil Liberties, reporting regularly to Indiana’s Governor Henry Schricker on violations of the “equal accommodations” laws intended to end segregation in the nation. Cameron frequently received death threats because of his work as a civil rights activist.

In an attempt to provide a safer environment for his wife, Virginia Hamilton, and their five children, Cameron relocated with his family to Milwaukee, in part because he was able to find work there. While in Milwaukee, Cameron continued his civil rights work, offering public lectures on black history and leading protests in the city to end segregation in housing. He also marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Washington, DC, in 1963.

From 1965 to 1989, Cameron published many articles on civil rights and racial injustice. He also published his own autobiography, A Time of Terror: A Survivor’s Story.

Inspired by having seen the Yad Vashem Memorial, a holocaust museum in Jerusalem, Cameron returned to Milwaukee and founded America’s Black Holocaust Museum in 1988, displaying in the basement of his home materials on black history and lynching in America he had collected during the course of his adult life.

With the financial assistance of philanthropist Daniel Bader, America’s Black Holocaust Museum was built, becoming one of the largest African-American museums in the country. Due to financial difficulties, the museum closed in 2008. Though the city of Milwaukee planned to purchase the museum, but no plan to revitalize the museum has yet been adopted. The historic materials the museum once displayed are now in storage.

James Cameron was pardoned officially by the state of Indiana in 1991. He was also given a key to the city of Marion. In 1999, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee awarded Cameron an honorary doctorate.

Cameron died on June 11, 2006, of congestive heart failure. He was 92.

Robert Smalls

1915 ----- Robert Smalls, who commandeered a Confederate ship to escape slavery and turned the ship over to the Federal fleet and then served in the Union Navy and the Union Army, died on this date.

Smalls’ dramatic escape from slavery was the beginning of a life of courage, service and commitment.

Born into slavery on April 5, 1839, in Beaufort, S.C., Smalls made a daring escape from slavery in 1861 by impersonating a white ship’s captain and steering the CSS Planter, an armed Confederate military transport ship, from Beaufort’s Southern Warf at 3:00 AM on May 12, 1862. None of the ship's principals were aboard at the time. He was accompanied by seven of the eight enslaved crewmen of the vessel as well as enslaved women and children related to the black crewmen.

The ship was carrying important cargo, including four artillery pieces and a code book of the Confederate’s secret signals.

Engraving of CSS Planter Steamship

Smalls piloted the Planter past five Confederate forts that guarded the harbor, including Fort Sumter, toward the Federal fleet that was part of the Union blockage of Confederate ports. As the Planter approached the Union ships, a white sheet was raised on its main mast to prevent the Union ships from firing. Smalls turned over the Planter and its cargo to the captain of the Union vessel, the USS Onward.

Smalls’ courageous escape from slavery was well publicized in the North, and President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill passed by Congress to reward Smalls and his renegade crew prize money for capturing the Planter. Smalls’ share of the prize money was $1,500, the equivalent of nearly $40,000 in today’s economy, a grand sum in those days.

Invaluable to the Union because of his knowledge, Smalls served in the Navy until 1863 and then served in the Army, participating in 17 different military engagements during the Civil War. While serving in the Navy, he piloted the USS Keokuk in an unsuccessful battle at Fort Sumter. The Keokuk was hit heavily and sank.

Ironically, Smalls was reassigned to the Planter, a vessel now in service to the Union. In 1863, the ship was caught in crossfire between Union and Confederate forces, and the Planter’s captain wanted to surrender to the Confederates. Smalls, fearing that the black crewmen would not be treated as prisoners of war and would be shot as escaped slaves instead, refused to surrender the Planter. Instead, he took command of the vessel and moved it away from the Confederate ships. He was recognized for his bravery in action and appointed the captain of the Planter, becoming the first black captain of a vessel in service to the United States.

While serving in the Union Army, Smalls was sent with Mansfield French to Washington to meet with President Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to ask that black men be allowed to fight for the Union. Smalls and those accompanying him were successful in their plea, and Stanton signed an order permitting 5,000 black men to enlist in the Union forces at Port Royal, S.C.

Following the Civil War, Smalls returned to Beaufort and to the home of his original master, purchased that home and moved into it with his mother, who lived with him until she died. Smalls also moved his former master’s widow, suffering from dementia at the end of her life, into the home, where she too was cared for until her death.

With a business partner, Smalls established a store for freedmen in Beaufort in 1866. This was the same year that a group of so-called radical Republicans in Congress overrode President Andrew Johnson’s vetoes and passed an early civil rights act and ratified the 14th amendment to the Constitution, the amendment that extended citizenship to all Americans, regardless of race.

During Reconstruction, Smalls was elected a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1865 to 1870, and to the South Carolina Senate from 1871 to 1874. In 1875, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives, serving there until 1879. From 1882 to 1883, he represented South Carolina’s 5th congressional district, and from 1884 to 1887, he represented South Carolina’s 7th congressional district. He was a member of the 44th, 45th, 47th, 48th and 49th U. S. Congresses.

As Southern whites worked to wrest political power from blacks, Smalls was accused, charged and convicted of accepting a bribe in 1872 for awarding a government-printing contract. He was pardoned as part of deal in which Democrats who had been accused of election fraud were excused.

Smalls remained active in government until a few years before his death. He was a delegate to the 1895 constitutional convention, and four years later, he was appointed the U. S. Collector of Customs. He served in that post in Beaufort from 1889 to 1911. Robert Smalls died in Beaufort in 1915. He was 75.

Fort Robert Smalls, built entirely by freedmen in Pittsburgh in 1863, was named in his honor. Charleston, S.C., is planning commemorative ceremonies for the 150 anniversary of Robert Smalls’ courageous history that began with his bold escape from slavery in 1862. The city will schedule special programs and dedication ceremonies on May 12th and 13th of this year.

February 24

Rebecca Lee Crumpler

1864 ----- Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first African-American woman to earn a medical degree.

Born in 1831 (some report the year of her birth as 1833) in Delaware, but raised by an aunt in Pennsylvania, who was often sought to care for those who were sick, Crumpler was influenced strongly by her aunt’s skills as a caregiver and the respect from the community those skills brought her. Crumpler moved to Charlestown,a section of Boston, in 1852 and worked as a nurse for eight years, though she had no formal training to do so, because training for professional nursing was not available until 1863.

In 1860, Crumpler was admitted to the New England Female Medical College. When she graduated in 1864, she was the first black woman to have earned an MD. The New England Female Medical College closed its doors in 1873.

Crumpler practiced medicine in Boston for a brief period and at the close of the Civil War, she relocated to Richmond, Va., where she joined with other physicians, most of them black, to provide care to recently freed slaves who had had no access to medical care of any kind. As most of her patients were indigent, she and other practitioners worked through the Freedmen’s Bureau and through various community and missionary groups that provided funding for physicians and nurses as well as for needed medical instruments and medicines.

After practicing for many years in Richmond, Crumpler returned to Boston with her husband, Arthur Crumpler, MD, where she resumed her medical practice, primarily treating children. She retired from medicine in 1880 and published a book, Book of Medical Discourses, in 1883. Her book, one of the very first medical works published by an African American, also represented an early work on public health issues.

Crumpler died in 1895. She was 64.

Kwame Nkrumah

1966 ----- Kwame Nkrumah, leader of the Ghanaian independence movement, pan-Africanist and the first president of Ghana (1957-1966), was ousted in a military coup while he was traveling to Hanoi to mediate for peace between Vietnam and the United States.

Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka of the National Liberation Council led the military coup that some political historians believe that the coup was funded in part by the CIA.

Nkrumah, a pan-Africanist, who worked all of his adult life for the political and economic freedom not only of Ghana but for all of Africa, was also an advocate for African unity. He envisioned Africa as a yet undeveloped world power. He worked in behalf of his vision until his death at 62 in 1972.

In 2000, listeners of the BBC World Service voted Kwame Nkrumah Africa’s man of the millennium.

February 25

James Byrd, Jr.

1999 ----- White supremacist, John King, was sentenced to death for the dragging murder of James Byrd, Jr., of Jasper, Texas, a black man.

In one of the most heinous crimes ever committed in the United States, James Byrd, Jr., died as a result of being beaten and then chained and dragged behind a pick-up truck in rural Jasper, Texas. The three perpetrators were Shawn Berry, 24, Lawrence Brewer, 31, and John King, 23. Brewer and King were acknowledged white supremacists who had previously been in prison.

Byrd, who did not own a car, often hitched rides with residents of Jasper. On June 7, 1998, Byrd accepted a ride home from Berry, Brewer and King. Instead of taking him home, the three men kidnapped Byrd and drove him out of town on a little-traveled county road. Stopping in a remote location, the three men jumped Byrd, beat him severely, urinated on him and chained him with heavy-gauge logging chains to the back of Berry’s pick-up truck. They then dragged Byrd for three miles over the bumpy, gritty asphalt surface of the road.

Forensic evidence indicated that Byrd was alive and conscious while being dragged and that he had managed to keep his head up and off the road. When his body hit a culvert, Byrd died when his head and right arm were severed.

Berry, Brewer and King dumped Byrd’s bloody remains in front of an African-American church and then attended a barbecue. Along the road where Byrd had been dragged, police officers found Byrd’s body parts scattered in 81 places, a wrench with the name “Berry” written on it and a cigarette lighter, inscribed with the word “Possum,” the nickname King had been given in prison.

Realizing they were investigating a hate crime, local law enforcement officials called in the FBI. The three perpetrators were swiftly apprehended, arrested and charged with murder.

Because there was no evidence that he was a white supremacist, Berry the most difficult to convict. The jury sentenced him to life in prison. He is incarcerated in the Ramsey Unit in Brazoria County, Texas, confined to small, single-person cell and allowed one hour daily for exercise outside of his cell. His parole eligibility date is June 7, 2038.

Brewer had previously served a prison sentence for burglary and drug possession. He indicated that he and King joined a white supremacy group in prison in order to protect themselves from other [black] inmates.

The jury sentenced Brewer to death. He was executed on September 21, 2011, in the Huntsville Unit, a Texas state prison in Huntsville, for his part in Byrd’s kidnapping, beating and murder.

Dennis Rodman

King, who was charged with beating Byrd before he was chained to the back of the pick-up truck, had been diagnosed as a child with a bipolar disorder. He claimed he had been gang-raped by black inmates while he was incarcerated. He, too, indicated that he had joined for self-protection a white supremacy gang while in prison, where he met Brewer. King is now serving time on death row in the Polunsky Unit in West Livingston, Polk County, Texas.

Don King

Dennis Rodman, a member of the National Basketball Hall of Fame, paid for James Byrd’s funeral expenses, and he also gave a gift of $25,000 to Byrd’s family. Don King, fight promoter, gave Byrd’s children $100,000 for future college expenses.

In 2004, two adolescent boys were arrested and charged with criminal mischief for desecrating Byrd’s grave site with spray-painted racial slurs and profanities.

President Barack Obama

On October 28, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The act expanded the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated not solely because of race, but also because of a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

Matthew Shepard was a 21-year-old University of Wyoming student who was attacked, tortured and murdered near Laramie, Wyoming, on the night of October 6, 1998 and pronounced dead at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colo., on October 12. He was in a coma, and his injuries were so severe, medical treatment, other than life support measures, was deemed futile. Shepard was murdered because he was gay.

Shepard’s murderers, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney, were each sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole.

February 26

Fats Domino

1928 ----- Influential R & B/rock and roll pianist, singer and songwriter, Fats Domino, was born and also raised in New Orleans. Singing and playing his rockin’ piano, Domino is credited with having sold 65 million records. He outsold every ‘50s rock and roll performer except Elvis Presley.

Taught to play piano by his musician brother-in-law, Domino performed in public by the age of 10. At 14, he left school in order to work in a factory during the day and play music in New Orleans clubs at night.

In the 1940s, Domino met and began writing songs with bandleader and songwriter Dave Bartholomew. Together, they wrote several of Domino’s hit songs. In 1949, Domino joined the Dave Bartholomew Band.

That same year, Fats Domino signed his first recording contract with Imperial Records. “The Fat Man” was his first recording on the Imperial label, a song jumped onto the R & B chart in 1950, selling as many as one million copies, according to some music industry records.

Domino’s second hit was “Goin’ Home,” released in 1952, but when he recorded “Ain’t That A Shame?” in 1955, his recording career took off like a rocket.

Other hits followed, including “Blueberry Hill” (1956), “I’m Walkin’” (1957), and “Walking to New Orleans”
(1960).

Along with other "old school" R & B and rock and roll performers, Fats Domino's career dimmed largely as the result of the British Invasion, an extended period during the 60s and 70s when British rock groups, led by the Beatles and The Rolling Stones, dominated the popular music scene in this country and abroad.

Domino was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.

Fats Domino was in the news again when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August of 2005. Though his home was damaged and partially flooded as a result of the hurricane and the flooding that followed, Domino refused to evacuate in part because his wife was in poor health. Two days after the hurricane hit, Fats Domino, his wife and other members of his immediate family were rescued by Coast Guard helicopters and moved to a shelter in Baton Rouge.

JaMarcus Russell, who was then the starting quarterback for Louisiana State University’s football team and Domino’s granddaughter’s boyfriend, moved Fats Domino and his wife and other members of the family from the shelter and into his apartment. The Domino home has since been renovated and restored.

Fats Domino will be 84 years old on his birthday. He lives in New Orleans.

1946 ----- A two-day “race riot” ended in Columbia, Tenn.

At the time, the population of Columbia, Tenn. was approximately 8,000, divided between 5,000 whites and 3,000 blacks. Racial tension in the town had been apparent for more than a decade, but the tension increased following World War II, when black soldiers in particular returned home and experienced prevailing racial norms as unacceptable.

On February 25, 1946, James Stephenson, a naval veteran, home from the Pacific theater, accompanied his mother, Gladys, to a Columbia department store to collect a radio she had left there previously for repairs. Mrs. Stephenson and the store clerk argued over the repair order. When their argument became heated, the store clerk threatened Mrs. Stephenson. James Stephenson stepped between the two and wrestled with the clerk, who crashed through one of the store’s windows. Police arrested the mother and son, charging them with disturbing the peace. Both mother and son pleaded guilty to the charge and paid the requisite fifty-dollar fine. The sales clerk was not charged.

Later the same day, James Stephenson was re-arrested by Columbia police, who were acting on a warrant issued by the white store clerk’s father. The new warrant charged Stephenson with assault and with the intent to murder, a felony charge. A local black businessman, Julius Blair, was made aware of the situation and posted bond for James Stephenson, who was released from police custody and permitted to return home.

On the night of February 25, a white mob gathered around the Maury County Courthouse. A block away in a segregated black business district, known as the Mink Slide, black citizens and military veterans also assembled. The Columbia police chief sent four patrolmen to the Mink Slide. The crowd gathered there shouted at the patrolmen to stop and to retreat. The patrolmen moved into the black business district, and all four were shot and wounded.

On the morning of February 26, state highway patrolmen were dispatched to Columbia. They entered the Mink Slide. The officers fired randomly into the buildings, and they stole cash and store goods, searched without consent and without warrants homes in the district, and in their sweep, confiscated any guns they found.

More than 100 black citizens were arrested, and more than 300 firearms were collected. None of the citizens arrested were granted bail or permitted legal counsel.

Thurgood Marshall

The so-called Columbia race riot made headlines in the nation’s papers. Walter White and Thurgood Marshall of the NAACP flew to Nashville to prepare a legal defense for those who had been arrested. The two worked in cooperation with the governor of Tennessee and attorneys based in Nashville.

Just as the situation began to cool, Columbia policemen shot and killed two black prisoners who were in custody. Both prisoners reportedly grabbed guns and fired at their interrogating officers. The police were said to have retaliated, killing two prisoners and wounding a third.

A federal grand jury was convened to investigate misconduct of white police officers. The local all-white jury absolved the officers of any wrongdoing. Twenty-five blacks were tried in the shooting of white policemen. Two of the twenty-five were found guilty, but they were not retried due to lack of evidence.

Only one black man during a trial in November was found guilty of wounding a white highway patrolman. He was sentenced to jail time.

Though all legal matters related to the February racial incident were closed in November, racial tensions and racial harassment continued. Policemen stopped civil rights attorneys for imaginary traffic violations. Thurgood Marshall himself was arrested and falsely charged with drunk driving but was quickly released from police custody.

The eruptive racial incidents in Columbia, Tenn., and in other parts of the South during the 1940s, became the basis for the civil rights era that opened in the 1950s and characterized the dynamism of the 1960s in the United States.

February 27

1853 ----- The first black Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was established. When the YMCA movement took hold in America in 1851, black men were excluded from becoming members in the organization. Apart from the national organization, local areas were free to establish YMCA branches and administer them as autonomous entities.

The first black YMCA was organized in Washington, D.C. It remained an influential part of the city’s black community through the close of the Civil War. Following passage of the Emancipation Proclamation, black YMCA organizations were founded in Charleston, SC, New York City and several other cities. The national organization witnessed this growth of branches in black communities and was compelled to encourage the establishment of other black YMCA groups.

In 1891, William A. Hunton, the first black International Secretary for Colored Work, was hired by the YMCA. Hunton, though he was against segregation, dedicated his life to the growth of the black YMCA, thinking that young black men in particular needed a place and programs to support their positive development. Black YMCAs were committed to training young black men for leadership.

During World War I, black YMCAs supported black soldiers by providing health care and health care referrals and literacy training.

By 1946, YMCAs began to desegregate.

February 28

Richard B. Spikes

1932 ----- Richard B. Spikes, an engineer, invented and patented the automatic-gear shift, which was the first workable automatic transmission, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually. General Motors first introduced the automatic transmission in 1939, and the company went into full production with the automatic transmission in the 1940 Oldsmobile. The automobile manufacturer called it the "Hydra-Matic" transmission.

A San Francisco-based native, Spikes invented the automatic-gear shift on February 28 and the U.S. Patent Office granted him patent number 1,889,814 on December 6, 1932. Although experts agree Spikes invented the automatic- gear shift in 1932, he filed a patent for the device on March 31, 1931, nearly a year before his invention appeared, according to United States Patent Office documents.

Milwaukee Brewing Co.

In his patent application, which had two-pages of detailed drawings and three pages of single-spaced sentences, explaining his invention, Spikes wrote, "An object of my invention is to provide an automatic-gear shift in which the gears for the various speeds are constantly in mesh in which novel clutch mechanisms are used for connecting any desired set of gears with the drive and drive shaft." He licensed his automatic-gear shift patent for more than $100,000.

Spikes was a prolific inventor. In addition to the automatic-gear shift, some of his more significant patents were for the automatic car wash and an automatic-directional signal, which Spikes installed on a Pierce-Arrow automobile in 1913. He also invented the beer keg tap in 1910 used to dispense draft beer. He sold his invention to Milwaukee Brewing Co.

Spikes was born in 1884. As he approached what would be his his last year of life in 1962, Spikes had lost much of his vision.

At the time, he was working on an automatic-safety brake for school buses. To complete the invention, he created a drafting machine for blind designers. The automatic-safety brake is used in almost every school bus in the nation.
The Black Inventors Museum salutes Spikes. But museum officials said it is only now, decades after his death, that he is being recognized for his inventions.

February 29

Hattie McDaniel

1940 ----- Hattie McDaniel won an Oscar for her role in the 1939 film, Gone With the Wind, becoming the first African-American actor to win the award.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences awarded McDaniel an Oscar for best-supporting actress for her role of "Mammy."

The Academy awarded McDaniel the Oscar at the Cocoanut Grove restaurant of The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

"Hattie McDaniel earned that gold Oscar by her fine performance of "Mammy" in Gone With the Wind, wrote Louella Parsons, a newspaper gossip columnist. "If you had seen her face when she walked up to the platform and took the gold trophy, you would have had the choke in your voice that all of us had when Hattie, hair trimmed with gardenias, face alight, and dressed up in the queen's taste, accepted the honor in one of the finest speeches ever given on the Academy floor."

McDaniel received a plaque, which was given at the time for best-supporting actor winners, not the Oscar statute that is given out today.

Parsons failed to mention that McDaniel and her date were seated at a segregated table for two away from Gone With the Wind's white cast members and other members of Hollywood's movie industry.

Her seating arrangement at the ceremony was one of many racial slights McDaniel suffered while associated with the film that glorified the South's efforts to retain a lifestyle based on a slave-driven economy.

Loew's Grand Theater in Atlanta hosted the film's premiere on December 15, 1939, but McDaniel and Gone With the Wind's other black actors and actresses were barred from the theater and their photographs were removed from the movie's program because of Georgia's segregation laws.

She also suffered from criticism from blacks, who called her an "Uncle Tom" for accepting roles as domestics.
McDaniel reportedly said, "Why should I complain about making $700 a week playing a maid? If I didn't, I'd be making $7 a week being one."

Hattie McDaniel

McDaniel was born on June 10, 1888, in Immokalee, Fla., but she grew up in Fort Collins, Colo., and Denver. She graduated from Denver East High School. Her father, Henry McDaniel, fought in the Civil War with the 122nd United States Colored Troops.

A member of an acting family, McDaniel appeared in more than 300 films, although she received screen credits for about 80. Her brother, Sam, played a butler in the 1948 Three Stooges film, Heavenly Daze.

During her career, McDaniel befriended many fellow actors, including actor and future United States President Ronald Reagan. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, including one for contributions to radio and one for motion pictures. She is believed to be the first black woman to speak over the radio.

The Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame inducted her into their organization in 1975, and in 2006, McDaniel became the first African-American Oscar winner honored on a U.S. Postage Stamp.

She was 57 when she died of breast cancer on October 26, 1952. In her will, McDaniel, who did not have any children, left her Oscar to Howard University in Washington, D.C. Howard students had honored McDaniel with a luncheon after she won the Oscar.

The 84th Annual Academy Awards ceremony will be broadcast live on ABC on Sunday, February 26 at 7:00 PM/EST.

Black Leaders Divide Over Effect of Payroll Tax Cut

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:44:57 GMT

Some black leaders were divided over the one-year extension of the payroll tax cut that would give 160 million working Americans an extra $40 per week or about $1,000 annually.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank for black-elected officials, hailed the bill's passage, but the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and the organization's lone Republican expressed qualms and even hostility towards the bill.

Emanuel Cleaver, chairman of the CBC, said in statement posted on its Website that he could not fully support the legislation because it negatively affects the income of federal employees.

“Time and time again, the Republican Leadership has asked a single group of Americans to bear the burden of reducing the deficit,” said Cleaver (D., Mo.). “Federal employees have already sacrificed $60 billion through pay freezes, toward reducing our deficit. This is a clear assault on our public servants, the majority of whom work throughout our nation as police officers, mechanics, lawyers and environmentalists, nurses, mine inspectors and more.”

Cleaver said the bill cuts the Affordable Health Act by more than $11 billion, including $5 billion in cuts from preventative care and $4 billion cuts for hospitals.

“Finally, even though this bill extends unemployment insurance, many states could lose significant benefits due to the nature of the calculation of the total unemployment rate in the overall bill,” said Cleaver. “We are literally taking one step forward and ten leaps back.”

Cleaver voted against the bill known as the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011. He conceded, however, that the bill will provide critical help to unemployed workers who are searching for work and that it will help senior citizens who depend on Medicare.

U.S. Rep. Allen West, the CBC's lone Republican member, was outwardly hostile to the payroll tax cut, which the U.S. House of Representatives passed on Friday by a vote of 293 to 132.

U.S. Rep. Allen West

In Allen's eNewsletter, West (R.,Fla.) wrote, “Payroll tax cut? Please, America, see this for the politicized gimmick it really is and do not allow yourself to be bribed over a short term $40. We are destroying Social Security. This is not a tax cut. It hastens the demise of the Social Security System." West also voted against the bill.

The legislation extends a 2 percentage point cut in the tax that funds Social Security. Although Cleaver and West were vocal in their opposition to the bill, the CBC was divided over the legislation. Some members voted for the bill and others voted against it. Still others did not vote on the legislation.

The Joint Center said the payroll extension tax cut will put additional dollars into the pockets of African Americans and Hispanics, whose 2010 median income was much lower than the median income of whites and Asians.

6 On Ethics Panel Step Away from Maxine Waters’ Case

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:35:32 GMT

Six members of the House Ethics Committee, which is investigating U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.), have recused themselves to avoid an appearance of unfairness, U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, the committee's chairman, wrote in a letter dated Friday, February 17.

Committee members who requested recusal are: Bonner, as well as U.S. Reps. Linda Sánchez, the committee's ranking member; Michael T. McCaul; K. Michael Conaway; Charles W. Dent, and Gregg Harper. The committee, which has 10 members, accepted all of the requests.

The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, John Boehner, appointed six members, Bob Goodlatte, Michael K. Simpson, Steven C. LaTourette, Shelly Moore Capito, Tim Griffin and John P. Sarbanes, as replacements.

U.S. Rep. Goodlatte will serve as acting committee chairman, and U.S. Rep. John A. Yarmuth will serve as acting ranking member.

Committee members who recused themselves said they did so to ensure public confidence in the investigation and to show Waters that the investigation is moving ahead in a “fair and unbiased manner.”

The committee is investigating Waters for allegedly using her influence to help an African American-owned, Boston-based Internet bank, in which her husband, Sidney Williams, owned stock.

Waters is in line to become chairman of the House Financial Services Committee if Democrats retake the House in the 2012 election and if the Ethics' Committee charges amount to nothing or go away.

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, the committee's ranking Democrat, has announced his retirement from Congress, opening the door to Waters' ascension.

Chris Rock Will Present at Oscars

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:02:30 GMT

Chris Rock, the first African-American man to serve as the sole host the Academy Awards, will present an Oscar at the 84th Academy Awards, Brian Grazer and Don Mischer, the show's producers, recently announced.

Rock, a comedian, stage and screen actor, writer and producer, hosted in 2005 the 77th Academy Awards, which was considered a breakthrough for an African American man.

He will join other movie stars, including Tom Hanks, Jennifer Lopez, Tom Cruise and Halle Berry, in presenting that 84th Academy Awards.

The Oscar awards will be held on Sunday, February 26, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Calif. The ABC Television Network will broadcast the event live.

Payroll Tax Plan: More Money Now, Higher Deficit Later And Worries About Social Security

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:52:06 GMT

by Frederick H. Lowe
Extension of the payroll tax cut will put more money into the wallets and pocketbooks of African Americans and other consumers.

However, the extension will add to nation's budget deficit, and tax holiday will keep payments at a lower, fixed rate for Social Security, an important source of funding for black retirees.

“The typical American family will still see an extra $40 in every paycheck, keeping nearly $1,000 of their hard-earned money this year,” said President Barack Obama, adding that the tax cut extension will prevent 160 million working Americans from experiencing a tax hike.

On Friday, February 17, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives voted to extend until December 31, 2012, the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011, which was scheduled to expire February 29, 2012.

During a news conference at a Boeing Co. airplane manufacturing plant in Everett, Wash., on Friday, President Obama said he would sign the legislation into law.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, workers would pay 4.2 percent into the Social Security retirement system instead of 6.2 percent. A worker making $50,000 a year would pay $2,100 in Social Security taxes this year, instead of $3,100 if the tax returned to its normal 6.2 percent level.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank for black-elected officials, praised the extension of the payroll tax cut in a statement.

“The extension of the payroll tax cut also helps to address significant earning disparities between races,” Joint Center officials said. “Last year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that Hispanic and African Americans have considerably lower earnings than Asians and whites. In 2010, median weekly full-time earnings were $611 for blacks and $535 for Hispanics, compared with $765 for whites and $855 for Asians. The payroll tax cut will allow weekly earnings to be slightly more than they would be without the tax cut. The extra money can be used to purchase basic necessities, which will help stimulate the economy and potentially create more jobs that pay more.”

The government would dip into the general tax fund to replace the lost funding for Social Security, which would add to the nation's budget deficit. The Congressional Budget Office said the payroll tax cut extension will cost $94.5 billion.
An earlier one-year tax holiday and two-month extension passed late last year meant that $130 billion had to be transferred from general tax fund for Social Security.

The transfers, so far, have not hurt Social Security, but some fear that Congress may never restore the Social Security tax to its normal 6.2 percent level.

U.S. Rep. Allen West, (R., Fla.) and a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, criticized the payroll tax cut in his weekly newsletter, Allen's eNewsletter. "Lastly, we must realize that this is not a tax cut, it hastens the demise of the Social Security system."

"Payroll tax cut? Please America, see this for the politicized gimmick it really is and do not allow yourself to be bribed over a short term $40," West wrote.

The Joint Center, however, did not address a major concern in the African-American community about any changes that could affect Social Security. African Americans are extremely dependent on Social Security for retirement income and disability benefits and a Joint Center official declined to comment on legislation's affect on Social Security.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit think tank, reported in August 2010, that Social Security benefits represent 90 percent of income for African Americans 65 years old and older.

African Americans benefit from Social Security because on average they have higher rates of disability and lower lifetime earnings than whites, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which describes itself as a "policy organization that works at federal and state levels on fiscal policy and on public programs that affect low-and moderate-income families and individuals."

More Black Men Marry Women Outside Their Race

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:05:05 GMT

The number of newlywed black men who had married outside their race in 2010 increased slightly over 2008, according to a Pew Research Center study that tracked interracial marriages.

Interracial marriages between African Americans and whites, however, lag behind marriages between whites, Hispanics and Asians, the four groups studied, Pew found.

The study also reported that more than half of black/white couples live in the South.

The report titled, “The Rise of Intermarriage: Rates, Characteristics Vary By Race and Gender,” reported that 23.6 percent of the black men married outside their race in 2010, which is up from 21.7 percent two years earlier. The proportion of black women who married outside their race was 9 percent in 2010, compared with 8.9 percent in 2008.

In the latest study, as in the earlier one, Pew Research Center analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey in 2008-2010 and it own findings from three nationwide telephone surveys that explored public attitudes toward intermarriage. The two reports, however, cannot be compared because the first study measured the number of black men who married Hispanic, Asian and white women. The Pew Report, which was released on February 16, is much more limited than its 2008 study.

In the earlier one, Pew looked at the number of blacks marrying Hispanics, Asians, as well as whites. It also reported on Asians marrying Hispanics, as well as whites. In the latest document, Pew analyzed only couples with a white spouse because they represent 68 percent of all intermarried newlywed couples from 2008 to 2010, the report noted. Pew defined newlyweds as couples who married 12 months prior to Pew's American Community Survey, which is a telephone poll.

The report concludes that about 15 percent of all new marriages in the United States in 2010 were between spouses of different race and ethnicity, more than double the 6.7 percent in 1980. The report stated that there were approximately 275,500 new interracial marriages in 2010. Whites and Hispanics accounted for 43 percent of them, whites and Asians accounted for 14 percent of them, and African-Americans and whites accounted for 12 percent.

Pew concludes from its analysis that more individuals accept interracial marriage. Overall, 43 percent of Americans view interracial marriage as a change for better, but 11 percent consider it a change for the worse.

The level of acceptance depends on what racial or ethnic group is responding to the question.
Among African Americans, 80 percent, or 8 out of 10, say it would be fine for a family member to marry someone of another race. Sixteen percent said it would bother them, but they would accept it. Among whites, 64 percent said they would be fine with a family member marrying a black person, but 27 percent said it would bother them.

The acceptance of black and white couples is fairly evident based on the number of interracial couples who are regularly featured on television programs and in television commercials.

Two of the most-prominent examples are “Ice Loves Coco,” about the marriage between black rapper and actor Ice-T and his blond wife, Coco Austin and “Khloe and Lamar,” a reality television series about Lamar Odom, who plays for the Dallas Mavericks in the National Basketball Association, and his wife, Khloe Kardashian, both on E!, a cable television network.

HGTV, the House and Garden Television Network also has included , without fanfare, interracial couples in much of its programming, and it is not unusual to see black- and white couples in television commercials. Most television broadcasts show a white man with a black woman, not a white woman holding onto the arm of a black man.

Although Ice T and Coco have homes in Los Angeles and New Jersey and Lamar and Khloe live in Los Angeles and Dallas, Pew reported that 50.9 percent of black/white couples live in the South, a region that has a well-documented history of castrating and lynching black men for becoming involved with white women. The study recites data culled from the Census Bureau and its own telephone survey, but it does not comment on why this has occurred.

Some 15.7 percent of black/white interracial couples live in the West, 19.8 percent live in the Midwest and 13.6 percent live in Northeast.

Although black and white couples dominate discussions regarding interracial marriages, that focus has obscured the fact that Asian women marry outside their race more than any other group. Pew reported that in 2010, 36 percent of Asian women newlyweds married someone outside their race.

Pew noted that black/white couples report higher annual incomes than black/black couples. Black/white couples earn $53,200 annually, versus $47,700 yearly for black/black couples. In addition, black/white couples are more likely to have college degrees, versus a black/black couple.

NorthStar’s Week in Black History

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:33:46 GMT

February 16 through February 22

February 16

1852 ----- Classics scholar and university president, William S. Scarborough, was born in Macon, Ga.

Born into slavery and emancipated during the Civil War, Scarborough was admitted to Atlanta University in 1869 where he earned a bachelor’s degree. He also earned a master’s degree from Oberlin College. A classics scholar, Scarborough taught at Wilberforce University, eventually becoming president of the institution in 1908. He served in that post for 12 years. His textbook, First Lessons in Greek (1881), was widely used in colleges and universities throughout the country. It was the first textbook of its kind to be written by an African-American scholar.

Scarborough actively challenged Booker T. Washington’s position that blacks should prepare for careers in the industrial arts by saying that blacks were as able intellectually as whites and should seek liberal arts educations and careers in the professions and in academia. As president of the Afro-American League of Ohio, he worked to prohibit legal segregation in the state’s schools. He also worked to block railroad cars from the Jim Crow South coming into Ohio.

In 1921, President Warren G. Harding appointed Scarborough to serve in a high-level post in the Department of Agriculture. Scarborough served in that position until Harding’s death in 1924.

Scarborough died in 1926. He was 74.

Bessie Smith

1923 ----- Often referred to as the Empress of the Blues, singer Bessie Smith, the country's most popular singer in the 1920s and 1930s, recorded her first single, “Downhearted Blues,” for Columbia Records. The recording was a hit and sold 800, 000 copies. In 2002, the National Recording Preservation Board included her recording in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

In 2001, “Downhearted Blues” was included in the list of Songs of Century, a list compiled by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment of the Arts. Smith’s first recording is also listed among the 500 songs the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame deemed the most influential in the development of rock and roll as a genre.

In 2006 “Downhearted Blues” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Two more recordings of Bessie Smith’s were also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. “Empty Bed Blues,” recorded in 1928, was inducted in 1983, and “St. Louis Blues,” recorded in 1925, was inducted in 1993.

1944 ----- “The Golden Thirteen,” the first African-American naval officer-training group in America, is celebrated on this date.

In 1944, there were nearly 100, 000 African-American enlisted men serving in the Navy. None of these men were officers and none were being trained to become officers. For years, American civil rights groups exerted pressure on the Navy to redress this inequity. Finally, the Navy responded, albeit reluctantly, and commissioned 16 men to train as officers at Camp Robert Smalls, Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois.

The 16 men commissioned were A. Alves, Jesse W. Arbor, Samuel Barnes, Philip Barnes, Dalton Baugh, George C. Cooper, Reginald Goodwin, James E. Hair, Charles Lear, Graham E. Martin, Dennis Nelson, J. B. Pinkney, John W. Reagan, Frank E. Sublett, Jr., William S. White, and Lewis Williams.

All of the men selected demonstrated leadership abilities as enlisted men. During their period of training, the men compiled a class average of 3.89, an academic record that has not yet been broken by another naval officer-training group.

All 16 men completed the training course, and in March 1944, 13 of the group of 16 made history by becoming the U. S. Navy’s first African-American officers on active duty. They became known as “The Golden Thirteen.” Unfortunately, these officers were not always granted the respect and the privileges usually accorded naval officers, and they were often assigned more menial tasks than their white counterparts.

Wilt Chamberlain

1972 ----- NBA star Wilt Chamberlain became the first NBA player to score 30,000 points as a player. He achieved this milestone while he was playing for the Los Angeles Lakers. The 7’-1’’ Chamberlain scored the points playing in 941 games.

February 17

1891 ----- Inventor Albert C. (A. C.) Richardson invented the butter churn, U. S. patent #466,470.

The device consisted of a large wooden cylindrical container with a long, plunger-like handle that moved up and down. The movement separated the oily parts of the cream and the watery parts of the cream, making it easier to make butter. The churn was a convenience both in the home and in the food-manufacturing industry.

Richardson also designed a casket-lowering device, a hame fastener for horses’ harnesses and an improved design for the glass bottle.

Marian Anderson

1902 ----- Celebrated contralto operatic singer Marian Anderson was born in Philadelphia. She devoted her life to a career in music and to opening opportunities for black artists to perform in venues previously closed to them.

Born to parents who were devout Christians and members of South Philadelphia’s Union Baptist Church, Anderson exhibited musical talent at a very early age and began singing in the church choir at the age of six. She also sang at public events and was paid 25 or 50 cents for each song she performed. She graduated to the church’s adult choir as an adolescent and received more invitations to perform at public events.

When he father died as a result of a workplace accident when Anderson was 12, she sang in public more often in order to help her family financially. There were no funds to further her education, but her pastor and a group of congregants raised money to send her to high school and to fund lessons with a private voice teacher.

Though barred by racism from taking advantage of many musical educational opportunities, Anderson studied independently. She got her first break in 1925 when she won a singing competition sponsored by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Though she could not sing in many venues, Anderson did sing at Carnegie Hall in 1928 and soon after, launched a successful European singing tour.

In 1935, Anderson performed at a recital in New York City’s Town Hall. She received stunning reviews and spent the following four years touring throughout the United States and Europe. She also recorded operatic arias, and these recordings sold well both in the U. S. and abroad.

When she toured in the United States during the late 1930s, she was barred from staying in certain hotels and dining in certain restaurants. Albert Einstein, a civil rights advocate, hosted Anderson in his home on the occasions Anderson performed at Princeton. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused Anderson’s request to schedule a recital at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. An uproar ensued following the organization’s denial of Anderson’s request, and thousands of DAR members, including First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, resigned from the organization in protest.

In 1939, the Roosevelts, the NAACP, Anderson’s manager, and impresario Sol Hurok collaborated with Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior, to arrange an open air concert, featuring Marian Anderson and others singing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The concert, organized and scheduled for Easter Sunday, April 9, opened with Anderson singing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” A racially diverse crowd of 75,000 people were in attendance, and the historic concert was broadcast over the radio, reaching millions of listeners.

At mid-life, Anderson entertained troops during both World War II and the Korean War. In 1955, she sang with the Metropolitan Opera, becoming the first African American to sing with the company. She disliked acting and did not continue singing in operatic roles, preferring instead to sing in concerts and recitals.

She sang at the inaugural ceremony for President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1957 and for President John F. Kennedy in 1961.

Anderson retired from singing in 1965, though she appeared in occasional concerts. She was awarded the UN Peace Prize in 1972, the Congressional Gold Medal in 1977, a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1991 as well as many other prestigious awards.

Marian Anderson died in 1993, approximately one year after the death of her husband of 43 years, Orpheus Fisher. She was 96.

1997 ----- Virginia retired its state song, because it glorified slavery.

“Carry Me Back to Old Virginny,” a song written in 1878 by African-American songwriter and minstrel, James A. Bland, who wrote over 700 folk songs, served as Virginia’s state song from 1940 to 1997. The Virginia Senate voted to retire the song because some of its lyrics were offensive to African Americans. The song was relegated to emeritus status.

Though a contest was held for the writing of a new state song and though one song, “Shenandoah,” was accepted as an interim state song, no replacement song has been chosen as Virginia’s state song.

February 18

Paul Revere Williams

1894 ----- Master architect Paul Revere Williams was born in Los Angeles.

Orphaned at four and reared by foster parents who encouraged diligence, Williams was educated in Los Angeles public schools, where he was often the only black student. He drew constantly and demonstrated clear artistic talent. An early interest in architecture was also encouraged.

While working as an art teacher, Williams supported himself while he studied at UCLA. Though he knew of no black architects, he studied to become one, and in 1915, he became a certified architect.

Following certification, he studied at the Los Angeles School of Art and Design and at the Beaux Arts Institute of Design in New York City. When he completed these advanced studies, Williams was the only African-American architect licensed west of the Mississippi in the 1920s.

When he returned to Los Angeles, Williams worked for several firms and developed his skills. He established his own architectural firm and accepted almost any project work presented to him. Most of the work he accepted was residential. Williams designed mansions for many Hollywood stars, including Lon Chaney, Lucille Ball, Barbara Stanwyck and Tyrone Power. He also designed smaller homes that became models for housing developments that sprung up throughout California and Nevada.

Known for his progressive ideas and an ability to complete designs quickly when needed, Williams was in great demand. Before World War II, he was known as the architect to the stars. Later, he took on more public projects, including the 28th Street YMCA in South Central Los Angeles, featuring portraits of Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass. He also designed the Founder’s Church of Religious Science.

Williams presented thoughtful ideas for developing appealing homes for low-income groups. He also served on the Los Angeles City Planning Commission and the Municipal Housing Commission. He worked with others to design the Los Angeles International Airport and the Los Angeles County Courthouse as well as several hotels, department stores and churches.

Paul Williams died in Los Angeles in 1980. He was 85.

1896 ---- Inventor H. Grenon patented a razor-stropping device, U. S. patent # 554,867.

The device made razors safer to handle and use.

February 19

John William Sublett

1902 ----- Known as the “father of rhythm tap,” dancer and entertainer John Bubbles, named John William Sublett at birth, was born in Louisville, Kentucky and reared in Indianapolis.

Bubbles began his singing career at seven and his career in dance at the age of 11, when he teamed up with Ford Lee Washington. They billed their act as Buck and Bubbles. Sometimes performing in black face, they won amateur song and dance competitions throughout the country.

Bubbles stopped singing when his voice changed and concentrated his efforts on dancing. He developed complicated tap routines that no one else had attempted or could duplicate. In 1920, Bubbles gave tap dancing lessons to Fred Astaire. Years later, Michael Jackson said that John Bubbles influenced his dancing style more than any other performer. Jackson named his beloved pet chimpanzee Bubbles, in honor of John Bubbles.

Buck and Bubbles

By 1922, Buck and Bubbles were white-circuit vaudeville headliners, performing at New York’s Palace Theater. They were also featured in the Broadway Frolics of 1922, Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1930 and Ziegfeld Follies of 1931. In 1935, Bubbles made history playing the character Sportin’ Life in George Gershwin’s hit Broadway musical, Porgy and Bess.

Buck and Bubbles performed almost continuously in the 1930s and 1940s. John Bubbles appeared in films during this period, including Varsity Show (1937), A Cabin in the Sky (1943) and A Song Is Born (1948). The duo folded as an act in 1955 when Buck, Ford Lee Washington, died.

As a solo performer, Bubbles entertained the troops in Vietnam with Bob Hope. In 1965, he was the first black entertainer to appear on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He also returned to singing and recorded several albums. Bubbles made his final public appearance as an entertainer in 1980 in the revue Black Broadway.

John Bubbles died in 1986 in his hometown of Louisville. He was 84.

W. E. B. Du Bois

1919 ----- Organized by W. E. B. Du Bois, the first Pan-African Congress met at the Grand Hotel in Paris. It was the first of seven Congress meetings held.

There were 57 delegates in attendance at the conference, representing 15 countries. The number of delegates was smaller than anticipated, because both the American and British governments refused to issue passports to the citizens who intended to participate in the Congress.

Sixteen delegates from the United States were in attendance, and 14 delegates from African countries and colonies were also in attendance. Blaise Diagne of Senegal was elected president of the congress, and W. E. B. Du Bois was elected the body’s secretary.

Though the Congress addressed many issues, the group’s primary task was to petition the Paris-based Versailles Peace Conference with two demands:

1. The Allies should be in charge of the administration of former territories in Africa on behalf of the Africans who were living there.

2. Africa should be granted home rule and that Africans themselves should be governing their own countries after a period of development with this goal clearly in mind.

Vonetta Flowers

2002 ----- Vonetta Flowers of Birmingham, Ala., and her partner, Jill Bakken, of Portland, Ore., took the gold medal in the inaugural women’s two-person bobsledding event at the XIX Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. With the win, Flowers became the first African-American athlete to win a gold medal in the history of the Winter Olympic Games.

A star sprinter and long jumper at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Flowers trained for the Summer Olympic Games, but failed to place during the trials. She turned to bobsledding and was successful as a brakeswoman, which led her to qualifying for the Winter Olympics.

Bakken and Flowers

Flowers won the two-women bobsledding event at the 2004 FIBT World Championships in Konigssee, Germany. She also competed in the 2006 XX Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, taking sixth place. She retired from competition after the games.

In 2010, Vonetta Flowers was elected to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

February 20

Frederick Douglass

1895 ----- Abolitionist, scholar, editor, fiery lecturer and leader, Frederick Douglass, died suddenly after collapsing in his home in Anacostia Heights, Washington, DC. He was 78.

Services for Douglass were held in his home and also at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church on February 25. The church service was attended by an overflow crowd that included many dignitaries from around the country and abroad, members of Congress and faculty from Howard University. Dignitaries from Haiti and members of women's suffrage organizations were well represented at Douglass' service. Susan B. Anthony, a long-time friend of Douglass,’ spoke at the service.

Following the services in Washington, Douglass’ body was transported by train to Rochester, New York, Douglass’ former home and a city for which he held fond feelings. The crowd that met the train when it arrived in Rochester was so large, it was difficult for officials to convey the casket to City Hall, where Douglass’ body lay in-state.

By resolution of Congress, Frederick Douglass also lay in-state in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington. He was the first African American to be so honored. Douglass was buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Rochester.

In June of 1899, a bronze statue of Frederick Douglass, created by Sidney W. Edwards, was erected in Rochester.

1929 ----- “Harlem,” a play written by Harlem Renaissance writer/publisher Wallace Thurman, opened on Broadway. Though the play received mixed reviews from critics, it was nonetheless the first play written by an African American to command this degree of attention and success.

The same year his play was produced, Thurman’s novel, The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life, was published, receiving more favorable critical reviews. The novel was considered a groundbreaking work because it addressed intra-racial prejudice, particularly between light-skinned and dark-skinned black people.

Otis Boykin

1961 ----- Otis Boykin patented the Electrical Resistor, U. S. patent # 1,972,726.

The electrical device is used in all guided missiles and IBM computers. Boykin also invented 26 additional electrical devices, including a control unit for an artificial heart stimulator or pacemaker.

February 21

Thelonious Monk

1917 ----- Thelonious Monk, an innovative jazz pianist, was born on this day in Rocky Mount, N.C. His mother, Barbara, soon moved the family to New York City, where Thelonious Monk was raised. His father, Thelonious Monk, Sr., was bi-polar, and he died in a North Carolina psychiatric hospital for African Americans.

Thelonious Monk did not become a successful musician until 1957 when after decades of struggle he landed a steady gig at the Five Spot Café, a jazz club in Greenwich Village. He was 40 years old, and he, like his father, suffered from bi-polar disorder.

Members of the beat generation, including poet Alan Ginsberg and novelist Jack Kerouac frequented the Five Spot, and they helped make Monk a success. The Beats were experimenting with new forms of writing, and they saw Monk as a musician developing a new form of music.

February 22

Horace Pippin (Self Portrait)

1888 ---- Horace Pippin, an American folk painter, was born in West Chester, Pa.

Pippin's childhood was spent in Goshen, N.Y., a town that sometime appears in his paintings. He held various odd jobs after being discharged in 1918 from the U.S. Army. He then settled in West Chester, where he began to paint anti-war pictures, such as Shell Holes and Observation Balloon. By 1937, following several successful exhibits, Pippin's painting gained national attention.

The subject matter for Pippin's painting was varied. In addition to painting anti-war images, he also created paintings of the daily lives of African Americans, historic moments in African-American history, portraits, including one of Marian Anderson singing, landscapes and religious subjects.

"John Brown Going To His Hanging"

Pippin painted 140 works. His paintings are part of the permanent collections of several prestigious American museums, including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the Pennsylvania Academy of Arts in Philadelphia and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Horace Pippin died in 1946 at the age of 58.

NorthStar's Week in Black History is compiled by Susan M. Miller.

susanmiller@TheNorthStarNews.com

Super Bowl, Super Dollars

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:08:09 GMT

by Cheryl Pearson-McNeil
Being that I’m not a football fan, it stands to reason that the Super Bowl isn’t normally high on my priority list. But I felt I had a vested interest in tracking the results of Super Bowl XLVI this year for a few reasons.

First of all, I’m from Fort Wayne, Indiana (don’t hate) and since the big game was being held in Indianapolis this year I wanted to be sure my state delivered a quality product of which I could be proud.

Secondly, I was interested in seeing if this year’s Super Bowl XLVI could deliver more viewers than last’s record setting game (including African-American viewers). And lastly, I love creativity and wanted to see how much was apparent in the commercials that usually debut during the game. So of course I did not actually watch the game. But hey, I work for a research company, so I know exactly what happened!

Apparently, Indianapolis delivered. There were no major catastrophes or mishaps that will make the state hang its head in shame. In fact, I dare say I had a couple of East Coast friends who attended the game say how impressed they were with the city. That they were surprised not to see corn stalks growing in the middle of downtown. Yes, we Hoosiers can be sophisticated when we need to be.

As for delivering viewers – Super Bowl XLVI did not disappoint. I have observed in previous columns that the popularity of football seems to have replaced baseball as that age-old American pastime – at least when it comes to television viewing. Last year, Super Bowl XLV, ranked as the #1 Most Watched Show for African-Americans (ages 2+), with 12.5 million viewers, from January 2011 – June 2011. This year’s Super Bowl XLVI upheld that new tradition, and attracted even more viewers, an estimated 111.3 million total viewers. Whether you are a diehard fan or a non-football enthusiast such as myself – that’s pretty impressive. (At press time I didn’t know how many of this year’s viewers were Black, but of course I’ll share that information with you as soon as I get it).

What’s even more impressive was the $3.5 million advertisers were willing to pay for each thirty second commercial for a chance to reach those millions of viewers. That’s up from $3.1 million from last year’s Super Bowl. I watched every single one of the 54 commercials online back to back. Even minus the football game itself, that took me a while. Nostalgic, confusing, goofy, bad taste, sentimental, action-packed, morbid, sexy, intriguing, fantasy-filled, hilarious – although there were a couple of spots that were unremarkable, there was most assuredly at least one spot that resonated with every viewer (and what’s a Super Bowl game without a cameo appearance by Betty White or a shout out to Aretha Franklin these days?).

Of course I have my favorites. We all do, which is why those spots cost so much. They grab our attention and are discussed around the water cooler – or, er, in the age of Twitter – tweeted about ad nausea for the next few days. The types of ads that dominate the Super Bowl scene historically tend to be the same each year. According to Nielsen, five advertising categories dominated Super Bowl broadcasts from 2007 – 2011:

Automotive:	$172.2 million spent over that period
Beer:	$126.9 million
Motion Picture:	$120.7 million
Regular Soft Drink:	$81.2 million
Tortilla Chips:	$42.5 million

Advertisers make such substantial investments because data, analysis and the bottom line – brand awareness, which translates into spending dollars – prove that the Super Bowl is a sure thing. The investment returns are measurable. Ads that aired during 2011’s Super Bowl XLV were, on average, 58% more memorable than commercials which ran during regular programming in the first quarter of 2011. That all important brand awareness for commercials airing during the Super Bowl time slot was nearly 275% higher than awareness for the same spots which ran during regular programming.

Did your affinity toward any of your favorite brands increase because of their commercials? Or, were you enticed by the elaborate advertising to try the other guy? That’s what it’s all about. While we are certainly entertained, we are also presented with a myriad of choices. How and where we choose to spend our hard-earned consumer dollars is up to us. As always – even for the non-sports fans among us – that’s power, people.

And oh, by the way – I saw streaming video of the halftime show after the live broadcast. Madonna, girl, if that’s what 53 looks like, I want to be like you when I grow up!

Cheryl Pearson-McNeil is senior vice president of public affairs and government relations for Nielsen. For more information and studies go to www.nielsenwire.com

Museum Of African American History And Culture Schedules Groundbreaking

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 01:05:57 GMT

The National Museum of African American History and Culture will officially break ground next week in Washington, D.C., six years after the project was launched.

The groundbreaking is scheduled for Wednesday, February 22, Lonnie Bunch, the museum's founding director, wrote in a letter to supporters.

"This day represents a major milestone in our development, keeping us on track to meet our projected opening in 2015," said Bunch, who also used the announcement of the groundbreaking to solicit funds for the museum.
The museum's website is AfricanAmerican.si.edu, and its email address is AAHCmember@si.edu.

Once completed, the museum will occupy a five-acre site on the National Mall, adjacent to the Washington Monument. The museum's collections will include material culture, documents, and art from the era of slavery, the period of Reconstruction, the Harlem Renaissance, the civil rights movement, and more recent developments in history and culture from 1968 to the present, Bunch said.

Black Gay Men Differ On Roland Martin’s Punishment

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:47:24 GMT

by Frederick H. Lowe
Black gay men are divided over whether CNN should take a tougher stance against political commentator Roland Martin, regarding his anti-gay tweets during the Super Bowl.

“I think CNN needs to fire him because it would send a message to others,” Malcolm Westfield, a social worker who works for a gay- support agency in Chicago, tells The NorthStar News & Analysis. “CNN took several days to suspend Martin, which leads me to believe that the network tolerates this kind of behavior.”

But Max Smith, president of Adodi Chicago, the largest African-American same-gender loving organization in the United States, called Martin's tweets and subsequent suspension by CNN a 'teachable moment.'

“I am not that thin-skinned. I don't think CNN should fire him,” said Smith, adding that he thought Martin tweeted during a Super Bowl party where they may been too much beer being consumed. “I think Martin should get up to speed. This is not 1957 when you can joke about the LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] community and people just snicker.”

Last Wednesday, the Atlanta-based CNN wasn’t snickering or laughing. The network suspended Martin indefinitely for his 'regrettable and offensive' tweets sent during the Super Bowl between the New York Giants and New England Patriots.

One of Martin's tweets said, “If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham's H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him!”

Another tweet said, “Who the hell was that New England Patriot they showed in a head-to-toe pink suit? Oh, he needs a visit from #teamwhipdatass.”

Right after Martin's tweets, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), posted an online petition with 7,500 signatures calling for CNN to fire Martin. The following Monday, GLAAD posted a video of a black gay man being brutally beaten while the attackers shouted anti-gay slurs.

“For some people, this is what 'smacking the ish out of them' can look like” GLAAD said.

Martin later apologized.

Martin received a strong pushback for his tweets because of his years at Chicago radio station WVON (Voice of the Negro), where as an on-air personality he was 'hostile and dismissive' of the LGBT community, Smith, a regular WVON listener, charged. Callers flooded WVON's telephone lines after Martin was fired to discuss his antipathy toward gays and Lesbians, he added.

Martin, Chicago Defender executive editor, in September 2005 began hosting a three-hour show on WVON-AM from 10 a.m. to 1p.m. Monday through Friday. Five years later on February 8, 2010, Martin stopped hosting WVON's "The Urban Business Roundtable" due to his busy schedule.

“Martin's hostility to the LBGT community has been ongoing,” Smith said.

He charged that Martin's wife, Rev. Jacquie Hood Martin, was an active participant of Pray Away The Gay, a group that counsels gay men and lesbian women to abandon their homosexuality.

“Mr. and Mrs. Roland Martin don't accept the concept of in-born sexual orientation,” Smith said. “They want us to be dishonest about our sexuality. When I was six years old, people at my school called me a sissy."

Martin, who also is a minister, and his wife are featured in Ebony magazine's February issue.

Martin and GLAAD members met on Tuesday in Los Angeles. GLAAD posted on its website that it was the beginning of an open and honest dialogue.

"Both parties came away with a better understanding of one another and look forward to continuing this dialogue," said Herndon Graddick, senior director of programs at GLAAD.

Westfield strongly believes, however, that the meeting was a waste of time.

“He is homophobic, and he will be homophobic until he dies,” Westfield said. ”It is ingrained in him. He is frightened by black gay men. Their masculinity frightens him.”

He added that Martin's comments will make older black gay men stay in the closet, but younger gay black men will want Martin fired.

Smith said Martin shouldn't confine his meetings to GLAAD, a mostly white organization. He also should meet with same-gender loving black men and women.

This is the third time within a year that a high-profile black man has been cited by GLAAD for anti-gay comments.

In April, the National Basketball Association fined Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers star, $100,000 for uttering an anti-gay slur during a game with the San Antonio Spurs.

Actor Tracy Morgan also apologized to the gay and lesbian community after an anti-gay rant last June in Nashville.

Whitney Elizabeth Houston

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:48:25 GMT

Private funeral services for the singer Whitney Houston will be held on Saturday, February 18, in Newark, N. J., a spokesperson for the Whigham Funeral Home, which is handling the arrangements, told The NorthStar News & Analysis.

"The funeral is scheduled for noon at New Hope Baptist Church, and it is invitation only," the spokesperson said.

Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born in Newark on Aug. 9, 1963, and she was found dead on Feb. 11, 2012, in her room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., a day before the 2012 Grammy Awards.

The cause of 48-year-old Houston's death is not known. She was found submerged in the room's bathtub.

Houston was a recording artist, actress, producer, and model. In 2009, the Guinness World Records cited her as the most-awarded female act of all time. Her honors include two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, and 22 American Music Awards, among a total of 415 career awards in her lifetime.

Houston was also one of the world's best-selling vocal artists. She sold over 170 million albums, singles and videos worldwide. She began singing with her New Jersey church's junior gospel choir at the age of 11.

Ms. Houston is considered by many to be the greatest singer of our time because of her vocal range. Her career, however, was marred by an addiction to drugs and to alcohol.

NorthStar News & Analysis Briefs

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:16:44 GMT

Economic Policy Institute to Host Panel Discussion on Black Unemployment

U.S. Rep. John Conyers, Jr., (D.,Mich.) will deliver the keynote address before a panel discusses African Americans and the economic recession today, February 16, at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.

The institute is hosting the free event, which is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Individuals who plan to attend must register here: http://secure.epi.org/page/event/ detail/epiforums/jrc . The institute's address is suite 300, 1333 H Street NW, Washington, D.C.

Panelists will include Algernon Austin, director of the program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute; Valerie Rawlston Wilson, vice president of research and an economist at the National Urban League Policy Institute; Tanya Clay House, director of Public Policy, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Brandon Garrett, policy director for the Congressional Black Caucus.

The University of California Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education recently reported that unemployment within the black community remained the same throughout 2011, although it dropped among other ethnic and racial groups.

Congressional Black Caucus Foundation To Co-Sponsor Panel On Political Engagement
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation will co-sponsor a panel discussion on Thursday, February 16, regarding voting rights and the importance of the 2012 elections for African Americans. The panel discussion will be held from 7p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, 1518 M Street, NW in Washington, D.C.

The Harvard Black Alumni Society and the Bethel Literary and Historic Society of Metropolitan A.M.E. are the event's co-sponsors.

Haki R. Madhubuti

Haki R. Madhubuti To Celebrate 70th Birthday
Haki R. Madhubuti, founder of Third World Press, a Chicago-based independent-book publisher, and a prolific poet and author, will celebrate his 70th birthday next weekend in Chicago.

The celebration is scheduled from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday, February 25, 2012, at the Betty Shabazz International Charter School, 7823-25 S. Ellis. Attendees are being asked to make a tax-deductible donation to the Third World Press Foundation, 7822 S. Dobson, Chicago, IL. 60619. The suggestion donation is $70 or whatever attendees can afford.

Men and women who plan to attend should call 773-651-0700 or send an email to twpress3@aol.com. Founded in 1967, Third World Press is one of the nation's oldest and most-respected independent publishers of black thought and literature. Madhubuti has written at least 24 books, including Black Men: Obsolete, Single, Dangerous?: The Afrikan American Family in Transition.

South Africa Will Issue Banknotes Honoring Nelson Mandela

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:23:05 GMT

by Frederick H. Lowe

The South African Reserve Bank, the country's central bank, will issue new banknotes with a specially designed engraving of Nelson Mandela, the country's first black president.

Officials of the bank, which is based in Pretoria, made the announcement on February 11, 22 years after Mandela walked out of prison a free man and assumed a greater presence on the world stage.

Bank officials said they were upgrading the security features on the banknotes to prevent counterfeiting.

“The current note series was upgraded in 2005, and while the security features remain effective, we decided that it is time to produce a new note series,” bank officials said. “In consultation with South African President Jacob Zuma and Pravin Gordhan, South Africa Finance Minister, the currency will have the same denominations, sizes and colors, but the front of all the notes will carry a specially designed engraving of former President Nelson Mandela.”

South Africa's currency is the Rand, which is widely used for payments throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and globally. The Nelson Mandela banknote will be issued toward the end of 2012, said bank officials. South Africa is the first country to honor Mandela with a banknote featuring his portrait, said Owen W. Linzmayer of Banknote News, which is based in San Francisco.

There are, however, numerous streets and squares, in Europe, in the United Kingdom and in Africa, named in honor of Mandela. Tourists who visit Kingston, Jamaica, drive there on the Nelson Mandela Highway. In 1988, the former Soviet Union issued a commemorative stamp, honoring Mr. Mandela as a freedom fighter.

Prison officials released Mr. Mandela on Feb. 11, 1990. He had served 27 years in prison, spending many of these years on Robben Island. Following his release from prison, Mandela led his party in the negotiations to a multi-racial democracy in 1994. Mr. Mandela served as South Africa's president from 1994 to 1999. In 1993, Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk, then president of South Africa, shared the Nobel Peace Prize for ending apartheid.

As president, Mandela frequently gave priority to reconciliation, while introducing policies to combat poverty and inequality in South Africa. Mandela has retired from public life.

Banks Involved In The Mortgage Settlement Agreement And Their Contact Information

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 02:11:24 GMT

Ally/GMAC: 800-766-4622
Ally Financial Inc., which is based in Detroit, has agreed to make $110 million in federal and state payments. The bank also will provide $200 million in relief to borrowers. This includes principal writedown, refinancing and other programs.
The bank's website is https://www.gmacmortgage.com/finform/hhstart.htm

Bank of America

Bank of America: 877-488-7814
Bank of America, which is based in Charlotte, N.C., has agreed to make $3.24 billion in federal and state payments. The bank also will provide $8.58 billion in relief to borrowers. This includes principal writedown, refinancing and other programs. The bank's website is http://homeloanhelp.bankofamerica.com

Citigroup

Citigroup: 866-272-4749
Citigroup Inc., which is based in New York City, has agreed to make $415 million in federal and state payments. The bank also will provide $1.79 billion in relief to borrowers, including principal writedown, refinancing and other programs.
The bank's website is https://www.citimortgage.com/Mortgage

JPMorgan Chase

JPMorgan Chase: 866-372-6901
JPMorgan Chase & Co., which is based in New York City, has agreed to make $1.08 billion in federal and state payments. The bank also will provide $4.21 billion in relief to borrowers, including principal writedown, refinancing and other programs. The bank's website is https://www.chase.com/chf/mortgage/keeping-your-home

Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo: 800-288-3212
Wells Fargo & Co., which is based in San Francisco, has agreed to make $1.01 billion in federal and state payments. The bank also will provide $4.34 billion in relief to borrowers, including principal writedown, refinancing and other programs.
The bank's website is https://www.wellsfargo.com/homeassist/

Mortgage Settlement Agreement's Key Points

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:58:44 GMT

•   According to the agreement, which needs federal court approval, the servicers are required to dedicate collectively $20 billion toward various forms of relief to borrowers.

•   At least $10 billion will go to reducing the principal on loans for borrowers who, as the date of the settlement, are either delinquent or at imminent risk of default and owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

•   At least $3 billion will go toward refinancing loans for borrowers who are current on their mortgages but who owe more on their mortgage than their homes are worth.

•   Up to $7 billion will go towards other forms of relief, including forbearance of principal for unemployed borrowers, benefits for military service members who were forced to sell their home at a loss as a result of a permanent change in station order and other programs.

•   In addition, the agreement requires servicers to pay $5 billion in cash to the federal and state governments. Some $1.5 billion of this payment will be used to establish a Borrower Payment Fund to provide cash payments to borrowers whose homes were sold or taken in foreclosure between Jan. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2011. This amounts to $2,000 per home owner.The remaining $3.5 billion will go to state and federal governments to be used to repay public funds lost as a result of servicer misconduct and to fund housing counselors, legal aid and other similar public programs determined by the state attorneys generals.

•   The $5 billion includes a $1 billion resolution of a separate investigation into fraudulent and wrongful conduct by Bank of America and various Countrywide entities related to origination and underwriting of Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgage loans and systematic inflation of appraisal values concerning these loans from Jan. 1, 2003, through April 30, 2009.

•   The settlement also prohibits robo-signing, improper documentation and lost paperwork. Banks must review foreclosure documents individually as the law requires. Financial institutions must communicate with mortgage holders, reducing delays in the loan-modification process.

•   The agreement makes foreclosure the last resort by requiring servicers to evaluate homeowners for other loss mitigation.

•   Banks will be restricted from foreclosing while the homeowner is being considered for a loan modification.

Mortgage Settlement Agreement

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:18:07 GMT

Five Banks Agree To Pay $25 Billion To Settle Mortgage Abuses

African Americans have been disproportionately hurt by the mortgage foreclosure crisis, but it is not clear how much they will be helped by this deal.

By Frederick H. Lowe
Federal and state officials last week signed a $25 billion settlement agreement with five of the nation's largest banks relative to mortgage loan servicing and mortgage foreclosure abuses, but it is not clear how many black homeowners will be helped by the deal, said a spokesperson for the Center for Responsible Lending.

"We know that African-Americans and Hispanics have been disproportionately hurt by the foreclosure crisis, but the agreement only affects mortgages banks have held on their books, not ones sold into the secondary mortgage market to Freddie and Fannie," said Kathleen Day, spokesperson for the Washington, D.C. office of the Center for Responsible Lending (CLR), a nonpartisan research group that protects home ownership and family wealth.

Banks keep high-risk “jumbo loans” on their books, said a spokesperson for the Mortgage Bankers Association, which represents the real estate finance industry.

The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, known as Freddie Mac, and the Federal National Mortgage Association, known as Fannie Mae, purchase prime mortgages in the secondary market, package them and sell them to investors. Loans insured by the Federal Housing Finance Agency also are not included in the agreement, said the Mortgage Bankers Association spokesperson.

Day said the agreement will affect 8 percent to 18 percent of mortgages held by Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo, Citigroup Inc., and Ally Financial Inc. The agreement applies to mortgages that were sold by banks in 49 states and Washington, D.C.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, and attorneys general from Colorado and Iowa announced on Thursday, Feb. 9, that state and federal officials reached the agreement with the five banks that provides homeowners financial relief and establishes new homeowner protections in the future.

"It holds mortgage services accountable for abusive practices and requires them to commit more than $20 billion toward financial relief to consumers," Holder said during a news conference in Washington, D.C. "As a result, struggling homeowners throughout the country will benefit from reduced principals and refinancing of their loans. The agreement also requires substantial changes in how servicers do business, which will ensure the abuses of the past are not repeated."

According to the agreement, the servicers are required to dedicate collectively $20 billion toward various forms of relief to borrowers. At least $10 billion will go to reducing the principal on loans for borrowers who, as the date of the settlement, are either delinquent or at imminent risk of default and owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

At least $3 billion will go toward refinancing loans for borrowers who are current on their mortgages but who owe more on their mortgage than their homes are worth. Up to $7 billion will go toward other forms of relief, including forbearance of principal for unemployed borrowers, benefits for service members who were forced to sell their home at a loss as a result of a permanent change in station order and other programs.

In addition, the agreement requires servicers to pay $5 billion in cash to federal and state governments. Some $1.5 billion of this payment will be used to establish a Borrower Payment Fund to provide cash payments to borrowers whose homes were sold or taken in foreclosure between Jan. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2011.

The settlement will be filed as a consent judgment in the United States Court for the District of Columbia and will remain in effect for 3½ years.

Joseph A. Smith, Jr., who has served as North Carolina Commissioner of Banks since 2002, will serve as the agreement's independent monitor. Smith will be able to impose penalties of up to $1 million for each violation and up to $5 million for certain repeat violations.

In the past, banks have signed agreements regarding mortgage abuse only to ignore them, Day said. "This agreement has a strong enforcement arm," she added.

African-American home owners have been hit hard by mortgage foreclosures and more are still struggling to hold onto their homes.

The Center for Responsible Lending published in November 2011 a study titled, "Lost Ground, 2011: Disparities in Mortgage Lending and Foreclosures." The study provided a snapshot regarding mortgages issued from 2004 through 2008.

It reported that 396,824 African Americans had lost their homes through foreclosure, which is larger than the population of New Orleans. In 2010, 343,829 residents lived in New Orleans.

The Center for Responsible Lending also reported that 572,249 African-American home owners were seriously delinquent –60 or more days behind—on their mortgage payments.

Foreclosures also depreciate the value of nearby properties. The center reported in June 2010 that between 2009 and 2012, an estimated $194 billion was drained from the black community because of foreclosures.

49 Attorneys General Signed Federal-State Mortgage Agreement

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:52:26 GMT

Their Contact Information Is Listed
Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange (R)
501 Washington Ave. P.O. Box 300152 Montgomery, AL 36130-0152
(334) 242-7300
http://www.ago.state.al.us/

Alaska Attorney General Michael Geraghty (R)
P.O. Box 110300 Juneau, AK 99811-0300
(907) 465-2133
http://www.law.state.ak.us/

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne (R)
1275 W. Washington St., Phoenix, AZ 85007
(602) 542-4266
http://www.azag.gov/

Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel (D)
200 Tower Bldg., 323 Center St., Little Rock, AR 72201-2610
(800) 482-8982
http://www.ag.arkansas.gov/

California Attorney General Kamala Harris (D)
1300 I St., Ste. 1740, Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-9555
http://ag.ca.gov/

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers(R)
1525 Sherman St. Denver, Colorado 80203
303-866-4500
http://www.ago.state.co.us/index.cfm

Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen (D)
55 Elm St., Hartford, CT 06141-0120
(860) 808-5318
http://www.ct.gov/ag/

Delaware Attorney General Joseph R. "Beau" Biden, III (D)
Carvel State Office Bldg., 820 N. French St., Wilmington, DE 19801
(302) 577-8338
http://attorneygeneral.delaware.gov/

District of Columbia Attorney General Irvin Nathan
John A. Wilson Building, 1350 PA Ave, NW Suite 409, Washington, DC 20009
(202) 727-3400
http://occ.dc.gov

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R)
The Capitol, PL 01, Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050
(850) 414-3300
http://myfloridalegal.com/

Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens (R)
40 Capitol Square, SW, Atlanta, GA 30334-1300
(404) 656-3300
http://law.ga.gov/02/ago/home/0,2705,87670814,00.html

Hawaii Attorney General David Louie (D)
425 Queen St., Honolulu, HI 96813
(808) 586-1500
http://www.hawaii.gov/ag/

Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden (R)
Statehouse, Boise, ID 83720-1000
(208) 334-2400
http://www2.state.id.us/ag/

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D)
James R. Thompson Ctr., 100 W. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 814-3000
http://illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller (R)
Indiana Government Center South - 5th Floor, 302 West Washington Street, Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 232-6201
http://www.in.gov/attorneygeneral/

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller (D)
Hoover State Office Bldg., 1305 E. Walnut, Des Moines, IA 50319
(515) 281-5164
http://www.iowaattorneygeneral.gov

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt (R)
120 S.W. 10th Ave., 2nd Fl., Topeka, KS 66612-1597
(785) 296-2215
http://www.ksag.org/home/

Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway (D)
700 Capitol Avenue, Capitol Building, Suite 118, Frankfort, KY 40601
(502) 696-5300
http://ag.ky.gov/

Louisiana Attorney General James D. "Buddy" Caldwell (R)
P.O. Box 94095, Baton Rouge, LA 70804-4095
225-326-6000
http://www.ag.state.la.us/

Maine Attorney General William J. Schneider (R)
State House Station 6, Augusta, ME 04333
(207) 626-8800
http://www.maine.gov/ag/

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler (D)
200 St. Paul Place, Baltimore, MD 21202-2202
(410) 576-6300
http://www.oag.state.md.us

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley (D)
1 Ashburton Place, Boston, MA 02108-1698
(617) 727-2200
http://www.mass.gov/ago/

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette (R)
P.O.Box 30212, 525 W. Ottawa St., Lansing, MI 48909-0212
(517) 373-1110
http://www.michigan.gov/ag

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson (D)
State Capitol, Ste. 102, St. Paul, MN 55155
(651) 296-3353
http://www.ag.state.mn.us

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood (D)
Department of Justice, P.O. Box 220, Jackson, MS 39205
(601) 359-3680
http://www.ago.state.ms.us/

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster (D)
Supreme Ct. Bldg., 207 W. High St., Jefferson City, MO 65101
(573) 751-3321
http://ago.mo.gov/

Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock (D)
Justice Bldg., 215 N. Sanders, Helena, MT 59620-1401
(406) 444-2026
http://www.doj.mt.gov

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning (R)
State Capitol, P.O.Box 98920, Lincoln, NE 68509-8920
(402) 471-2682
http://www.ago.state.ne.us/

Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto (D)
Old Supreme Ct. Bldg., 100 N. Carson St., Carson City, NV 89701
(775) 684-1100
http://ag.state.nv.us/

New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney (D)
State House Annex, 33 Capitol St., Concord, NH 03301-6397
(603) 271-3658
http://doj.nh.gov/

New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa (R)
Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex, 25 Market Street P.O. Box 080 Trenton, NJ 08625
(609) 292-8740
http://www.state.nj.us/lps/

New Mexico Attorney General Gary King (D)
P.O. Drawer 1508, Sante Fe, NM 87504-1508
(505) 827-6000
http://www.nmag.gov/

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D)
Dept. of Law - The Capitol, 2nd fl., Albany, NY 12224
(518) 474-7330
http://www.ag.ny.gov/

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper (D)
Dept. of Justice, P.O.Box 629, Raleigh, NC 27602-0629
(919) 716-6400
http://www.ncdoj.gov/

North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem (R)
State Capitol, 600 E. Boulevard Ave., Bismarck, ND 58505-0040
(701) 328-2210
http://www.ag.state.nd.us

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine (R)
State Office Tower, 30 E. Broad St., Columbus, OH 43266-0410
(614) 466-4320
http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/

Oregon Attorney General John Kroger (D)
Justice Bldg., 1162 Court St., NE, Salem, OR 97301
(503) 378-4732
http://www.doj.state.or.us/

Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda L. Kelly
1600 Strawberry Square, Harrisburg, PA 17120
(717) 787-3391
http://www.attorneygeneral.gov

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin (D)
150 S. Main St., Providence, RI 02903
(401) 274-4400
http://www.riag.state.ri.us

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson (R)
Rembert C. Dennis Office Bldg., P.O.Box 11549, Columbia, SC 29211-1549
(803) 734-3970
http://www.scattorneygeneral.org

South Dakota Attorney General Marty J. Jackley (R)
1302 East Highway 14, Suite 1, Pierre, SD 57501-8501
(605) 773-3215
http://atg.sd.gov/

Tennessee Attorney General Robert E. Cooper, Jr. (D)
425 5th Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37243
615-741-3491
http://www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (R)
Capitol Station, P.O.Box 12548, Austin, TX 78711-2548
(512) 463-2100
http://www.oag.state.tx.us

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff (R)
State Capitol, Rm. 236, Salt Lake City, UT 84114-0810
(801) 538-9600
http://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/

Vermont Attorney General William H. Sorrell (D)
109 State St., Montpelier, VT 05609-1001
(802) 828-3173
http://www.atg.state.vt.us/

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R)
900 East Main Street Richmond, VA 23219
(804) 786-2071
http://www.oag.state.va.us/

Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna (R)
1125 Washington St. SE, PO Box 40100, Olympia, WA 98504-0100
(360) 753-6200
http://www.atg.wa.gov/

West Virginia Attorney General Darrell V. McGraw, Jr. (D)
Project: Save Our Homes
PO Box 1789, Charleston, WV 25326
(800) 368-8808
http://www.wvago.gov/

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen (R)
State Capitol, Ste. 114 E., P.O.Box 7857, Madison, WI 53707-7857
(608) 266-1221
http://www.doj.state.wi.us

Wyoming Attorney General Greg Phillips (D)
State Capitol Bldg., Cheyenne, WY 82002
(307) 777-7841
http://attorneygeneral.state.wy.us

NorthStar News & Analysis Briefs

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:53:39 GMT

Amanda Knox Found Guilty of Slandering A Black Man For 2007 Murder in Italy.
An Italian court has found Amanda Knox guilty of slander after she falsely implicated a black man in the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, Knox's roommate.

Police arrested Diya "Patrick" Lumumba and held him in jail for two weeks before determining there was no evidence linking him to Kercher's murder. Kercher, a British national, was stabbed more than 40 times.

Kerchner was found dead in the apartment she shared with Knox. When Lumumba was released, he said would never forgive Knox, a former University of Washington student.

Diya "Patrick" Lumumba

"I still don't understand how I finished up in all this. Because I'm black? Because I'm the prefect guilty one," said Lumumba, an owner of a bar in Perugia, Italy, where Knox was employed.

Knox claimed police pressured her to implicate Lumumba. According to news reports, Knox said she vaguely remembered Patrick killing Meredith. Knox said she covered "her ears to block out the screams."

Court officials jailed Knox in 2009 for Kercher's murder. She was released in October 2011, but a judge found her guilty of slandering Lumumba. He sentenced Knox to three years in prison.

Knox's lawyer said she will appeal her conviction for slander, according to press reports.

Rudy Guede, black man from the Ivory Coast, was convicted in a separate trial of Kercher's murder. He is serving a 16-year prison sentence.

NAACP To Host Job Fair In Chicago
The NAACP will host a regional job fair Tuesday, February 21, on the Lakeview Terrace at Navy Pier in Chicago. Navy Pier's address is 600 E. Grand Ave.
Employers are seeking candidates with experience and interest in sales, engineering, government, security, education, military, medical, banking, financial services and more. The job fair is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, visit http://psijobfair.com/Schedule/ChicagoFebruary212012.aspx or call (952) 595-4496, ext. 115.

Black Men Only Networking Event Is Scheduled
The Ties That Bind will hold its 6th Annual networking event for black men on Thursday, March 8, at the Union Art Gallery, 1527 Otto Blvd., Chicago Heights, Ill.
The men's only event is scheduled from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is free.
Men who plan to attend should RSVP by February 24 by emailing Sean Smith at ssmith@prairiestate.edu.

Poll Finds Small-Business Owners Optimistic About Hiring
More small business-owners expect to hire more workers this year at their companies, according to a new Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index Poll conducted January 9-13. Wells Fargo and Gallup survey 600 small-business owners quarterly to assess conditions within their companies as well as their outlook.

"Small-business owners are more optimistic about hiring now than at any time in the past four years," the poll found.

NorthStar’s Week in Black History

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:19:09 GMT

February 9 through February 15

February 9

1906 ----- Paul Laurence Dunbar, poet, novelist and playwright, died.

Though he wrote his first poem at age 6, Dunbar began writing in earnest while a student at Dayton (Ohio) Central High School, where he served as senior class president, chair of the student literary society and editor of the school newspaper.

In 1888, Dunbar published his first two poems in Dayton’s daily newspaper. He also wrote and edited Dayton’s first weekly African-American newspaper, The Tattler, which was printed by former classmates, Orville and Wilbur Wright. The paper folded after six issues.

Though the newspaper failed, Dunbar continued to publish poems singly and to give public readings of his work. He wrote poems in standard English and in African-American dialect. The United Brethren Publishing House published Dunbar’s first book of poems, Oak and Ivy, in 1893. Dunbar, who supported himself by working as an elevator operator, sold copies of his books to his riders.

Eventually, Dunbar’s work became better known and drew the attention of novelist and critic William Dean Howells, who wrote a praiseworthy review of Dunbar’s second book of poems, Majors and Minors, published in 1896. Howells’ review lent Dunbar international attention.

In all, Dunbar produced twelve books of poetry, four volumes of short stories, five novels and one play. He also wrote the lyrics for the musical Dahomey, the first Broadway production to feature an all-black cast. The musical debuted in 1903 and was so successful its cast toured throughout America and England for four years.

Married in 1898, Dunbar moved with his wife to Washington, DC, where he took a position with the Library of Congress.

Two years later, Dunbar was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was encouraged by his physicians to relocate to a healthier climate. Dunbar moved to Colorado in an attempt to improve his health, but he also became dependent on alcohol. He separated from his wife in 1902.

His health in decline, Dunbar moved from Colorado to Dayton to be near family and friends. He never regained his health and died in 1906. He was 33.

In 2002, African-American history scholar, Molefi Kete Asante of Temple University, included Paul Laurence Dunbar on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.

Barbara Lewis

1943 ----- R & B/ soul singer and songwriter, Barbara Lewis was born in Salem, MI.

Lewis was writing and recording songs by the time she was an adolescent, working exclusively at the time with Ollie McLaughlin, an African-American DJ for Ann Arbor radio station WHRV, now WAAM.

In 1962, Lewis released her first single, “My Heart Went Do Dat Da,” and while the record gained no national attention, it was popular in Detroit and helped Lewis earn a name for herself in R & B circles.

Lewis wrote all of the songs included in her debut album, Hello, Stranger, released in 1963. The album’s title song reached the #3 position on the U. S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

In the years following the release of her debut album, Lewis experienced moderate success until her next big hit single, “Baby, I’m Yours,” written by Van McCoy, was released in 1965. Many of Lewis’ best-known songs were covered by other singers and singing groups, becoming hits for them.

In 1969, Lewis recorded an album for Stax Records, but the recording sold only modestly, and Lewis gradually stepped away from the music industry. Some of her hit records are still played and respected today.

Lewis’ hit, “Baby, I’m Yours,” was featured as part of the soundtrack for the Meryl Streep/Clint Eastwood film, The Bridges of Madison County, released in 1995. In 1999, Barbara Lewis received the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.

Bernard Harris

1995 ----- Bernard Harris, MD, NASA astronaut, became the first African American to walk in space, during the second of his two space shuttle flights. His two NASA missions were STS-55 and STS-63.

During mission STS-55, Harris logged just over 239 hours and 4,164,183 miles in space. On the second mission, STS-63, Harris logged 198 hours in space, completed 129 orbits of the earth and traveled more than 2.9 million miles.

Born in Temple, Texas and a graduate of the University of Houston and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, Harris completed a National Research Council Fellowship with NASA in 1987, where he conducted research on muscle physiology. The following year, he trained as a flight surgeon at the Aerospace School of Medicine
on Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio.

Following his training, Harris joined NASA’s Johnson Space Center and worked as both a scientist and a flight surgeon. He also studied flight adaptation.

As a member of one of NASA’s research teams, Bernard Harris was the first African American to go in space. He was also engaged in the construction of space rovers.

In 1998, two years after leaving NASA, Harris founded the Houston-based Harris Foundation to ‘support initiatives in education, health and wealth.’ The recipient of numerous academic awards and honorary degrees, Harris was further honored when a new middle school, built in San Antonio, was named for him in 2006.

February 10

Ronald “Ron” Brown

1989 ----- Attorney Ronald “Ron” Brown was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee, becoming the first African American in history to hold that post.

Brown was instrumental in organizing and running the 1992 Democratic National Convention and in mounting and maintaining a successful campaign for the election of Bill Clinton to the presidency that year.

In 1993, following his taking office as president, Bill Clinton appointed Brown to the position of Secretary of Commerce. Brown served in that post for three years before he and 34 others were killed in a plane crash in Croatia in 1996 while serving on an official U. S. trade mission.

In 2001, Brown was awarded posthumously the Presidential Citizens Award by President Clinton. Clinton also established the Ron Brown Award for corporate leadership. The U. S. Department of Commerce also gives out annually the Ronald H. Brown American Innovator Award, a further honor for Brown.

Andrew Brimmer

1966 ----- Economist and businessman, Andrew Brimmer, was the first African American to serve as governor of the Federal Reserve System. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Brimmer to the post for an eight-year term.

Born in Louisiana to parents who were sharecroppers, Brimmer was educated in segregated public schools. He served in the Army from 1945 t0 1946 and then entered the University of Washington in Seattle, where he earned both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree. He studied in India on a Fullbright scholarship in 1951 and then entered Harvard University the next year, earning a doctorate in economics in 1957.

While studying at Harvard, Brimmer worked as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and he was an instrumental part of a group that established a central bank in Sudan. After he left Harvard, Brimmer worked as assistant secretary of economic affairs in the U. S. Department of Commerce. From this position, he was appointed as a governor in the Federal Reserve System.

In 1974, Brimmer left the Federal Reserve System and taught economics at Harvard for two years. He left Harvard to establish his own consulting firm, Brimmer & Co. He also serves as trustee of the group Economists for Peace and Security.

February 11

Jarena Lee

1783 ----- Jarena Lee, the first woman to preach in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in Cape May, NJ, to parents who were former slaves. Lee was fully authorized to preach by Reverend Richard Allen, who founded the church denomination in 1819.

Because she was black and because she was a woman, Lee was not readily accepted as a minister and often faced hostility when she served in that capacity. She eventually became a traveling minister, walking thousands of miles to offer her teachings. She reported that in one year alone, she traveled 2, 329 miles and preached 178 sermons.

Sent from her family as an adolescent to work as a household servant, Lee, who had had little previous religious training, discovered Christianity, underwent a conversion experience and began studying independently and praying fervently, trying, as she reported later in her memoirs, to address her depression and suicidal thoughts. Eventually, she felt called to serve God and the church.

She kept a journal throughout her adult life. These journals became the basis of an autobiography, and her writings in aggregate offer a rich history of her life, her conversion and calling and her years of service as a minister. The writings also offer an account of religious life in the 19th century and the experiences of women called to the religious life at a time when their participation in organized religion was not widely accepted.

In 1833, she collaborated with an editor in order to transform her religious journal into a full autobiography. In 1836, she published 1000 copies of her Religious Experience and Journal and distributed it at camp meetings, church services and on the streets to strangers. In 1839, Lee joined the American Antislavery Society, and she printed another 1000 copies of her spiritual memoir. In 1949, she expanded the work, bringing it up to her fiftieth year, and had additional copies published.

While it is known that Lee married a minister, Joseph Lee, and raised a son, there is little else known about her and her life, save what she recounted in her autobiographical writings. The time and place of her death are unknown.

1886 ----- Dorsie Willis, a survivor of the Brownsville, Texas, Massacre, was born in Meridian, Miss.

Born in Mississippi but raised as part of a large family in Oklahoma, Willis enlisted in the Army in 1904. In 1906, while the Spanish-American War was being waged, Willis’ unit, the first battalion of the 25th infantry regiment, was transferred from Fort Niobrara in Nebraska to Fort Brown, near Brownsville, Texas, on the Rio Grande. The fort was positioned there to protect the country from Mexican revolutionaries.

Willis and his fellow soldiers—there were 167 of them—had outstanding service credentials, and many had been recognized for bravery in combat. Many of the soldiers had fought in Cuba and the Philippines. Six black soldiers had been awarded the Medal of Honor and 13 had been cited for bravery during the Spanish-American War.

Many of the residents of Brownsville, however, protested vehemently that black soldiers were in residence at Fort Brown. A citizens’ petition was sent to President Taft, demanding that he place the all-white 26th infantry at Fort Brown instead.

When Taft refused the Brownsville residents’ demands, Brownsville residents banded together and placed signs throughout their community, particularly in commercial establishments, making it clear that neither dogs nor blacks were allowed.

On the night of August 14, 1906, a group of armed men, dressed in army uniforms, fired into the buildings of Fort Brown and shot out all the streetlights bordering the fort. One man was killed and a police lieutenant on the scene was severely wounded.

White Brownsville residents reported to investigating authorities that they had seen black men shooting. Officers at Fort Brown countered, saying that all soldiers at the fort obeyed a 10: 00 PM curfew and were in their barracks and accounted for at curfew check.

President Theodore Roosevelt ordered two investigations of the incident, though he delayed his decision to do so until after his re-election to the presidency. He feared losing black-voter support if the investigations were unfavorable to the black soldiers at Fort Brown. One of Roosevelt’s chosen investigators was General Ernest Garlington, a native of South Carolina, known to be a racist.

On November 28, 1906, Roosevelt ordered the discharge without honor and without financial benefit of 167 soldiers of the first battalion. The soldiers were not granted legal counsel or a formal trial.

On January 10, 1974, sixty-eight years later, Dorsie Willis, 87, then the sole survivor of the Brownsville Massacre and the last survivor of the 25th infantry, received a check for $25, 000 from the U. S. government. Earlier that same year, the Secretary of the Army ordered all of the discharges of the 167 Fort Brown soldiers changed to “honorable.”

Dorsie Willis died in Minneapolis on August 24, 1977. He was 91.

February 12

1962 ----- Seven years after the Montgomery Bus Boycott was launched by Jo Ann Gibson Robinson and E. D. Nixon, William P. "Daddy Bill" Randall led a similar action against the buses in Macon, Ga.

The Macon bus boycott, which did not receive nearly as much attention as the one in Montgomery, Ala., that made Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a household name, lasted three weeks. Randall, Macon's most-influential civil rights activist, wanted Bibb Transit Co., a private company that operated the city's bus system, to desegregate the seating on its buses and to increase the number of African Americans employed as bus drivers and mechanics.

Randall mailed a letter demanding equal treatment to Linton D. Baggs, who headed Bibb Transit. Baggs and city officials ignored the correspondence.

Randall then called for a bus boycott. Although courts had ruled in other Georgia cities segregation was illegal, African Americans faced fierce resistance to integration in Macon. The city's cops arrested students and ministers who attempted to sit in the front seats of Bibb buses.

Randall and members of Macon's civil rights community responded by hiring Donald L. Hollowell, a noted civil rights lawyer. He sued Bibb in state and federal courts. On March 2, 1962, U.S. District Court Judge William Bootle ruled segregated bus seating laws were unconstitutional. Judge Bootle ordered Bibb to comply with his ruling.

Two days later, the boycott ended.

February 13

1970 ---- Joseph L. Searles, III became the first African-American member of the New York Stock Exchange. Searles was one of three floor traders and a general partner for Newburger, Loeb & Co. A protégé of New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay, Searles was a lawyer and financier. He graduated from Kansas State University and George Washington University Law School. Searles was the first chairman of the 125th Street Business Improvement District in Harlem, and he is considered a leading expert in urban retailing.

February 14

Morehouse College Logo

1867 ----- Augusta Institute, one of Morehouse College's predecessor institutions, was founded on this date in Augusta, Ga. There were two other predecessor colleges until 1913 when the name Morehouse College first came into the American lexicon. The school was named in honor of Dr. Henry Morehouse, corresponding secretary of the American Baptist Home Mission Society, which along with the Rockefeller family, supported the school.

In 1906, Dr. John Hope became Morehouse's first African-American president and one of the school's most influential leaders. Hope pushed for an academically rigorous college, the antithesis of Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee Institute, which focused on an agricultural and trade-focused education for African Americans.

Morehouse is a private, all-male, liberal arts, historically black college. The school is one of two Historically Black Colleges that has produced Rhodes Scholars.

Some of its graduates are known throughout the world. They include Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., filmmaker Spike Lee, actor Samuel L. Jackson, Walter E. Massey, former chairman of Bank of America, Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's first African-American mayor, Louis W. Sullivan, former Secretary of Health and Human Services, David Satcher, former United States Surgeon General and Herman Cain, former Republican Party candidate for president.

The school sits on 61 acres of land, and it has an enrollment of approximately 3,000. Morehouse is a member of the Atlanta University Center, which includes Clark Atlanta University, Interdenominational Theological Center, Morehouse School of Medicine and Spelman College, a school for women.

Morehouse President Robert M. Franklin recently announced that he plans to step down when his term ends on June 30, 2012. Franklin, who had been the school's president for five years, will become scholar-in-residence at Stanford University's Martin Luther King, Jr. Institute. He also plans to return to Morehouse as Distinguished Professor of Social Ethics.

Asa Phillip Randolph

1936 ----- The National Negro Congress, which was founded in 1935 at Howard University, held it first national meeting a year later in Chicago.

More than 800 delegates, representing 500 organizations, attended the conference. Delegates elected Asa Phillip Randolph of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters the organization's president.

The goal of the congress was to fight for black liberation. Delegates also opposed war, fascism and racial discrimination. In addition, they wanted to bring black laborers together in unions such as Congress of Industrial Organizations or CIO.

February 15

Shadrach Minkins

1851 ----- Black men burst into a Boston courtroom, rescuing Shadrach Minkins, the first escaped slave seized in New England under the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.

Minkins, an escaped slave from Norfolk, Va., was working as a waiter in a Boston coffee house, when John Caphart, a constable and a professional slave hunter from Norfolk, and Patrick Riley, a deputy U. S. Marshal, arranged to arrest Minkins. U.S. Marshals, waiting outside the coffee shop, seized Minkins when left the store to carry out an errand.

The marshals dragged him to Boston's federal courthouse. Word quickly spread about Minkins' arrest. An angry crowd gathered outside the building and inside the courtroom. Lawyers offered to assist Minkins, but there was little they could do since his arrest was legal under the Fugitive Slave Act.

The atmosphere in the courtroom, however, grew tense and then exploded when an unnamed black man yelled, "Boys, are you ready? Now is the time or never!"

Twenty black men rushed into the courtroom and overpowered the marshals. They grabbed Minkins and took him from the courtroom.

The men gave Minkins food and water and helped him escape to Canada. He settled in Montreal. He married and worked as barber until he died on Dec. 13, 1873. Minkins is buried in an unmarked grave near two of his children in Mount Royal Cemetery.

The federal government arrested nine of the black men, including Lewis Hayden, an African-American leader, ex-slave, abolitionist, businessman, Republican Party worker and a representative from Boston to the Massachusetts State Legislature in 1873. The federal government put all of the men on trial, but all were acquitted.

This incident in his home state involving Minkins deeply embarrassed U.S. Secretary of State Daniel Webster, who hoped to be elected president in 1852 with Southern support.

NorthStar's Week in Black History is compiled by Susan M. Miller.

Capital Grille Chain Accused of Discrimination in Promotions and Pay

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:45:24 GMT

by Frederick H. Lowe
ColorofChange.org, an African-American political website, has launched an online campaign demanding that the Darden Restaurants Inc., institute a promotions policy that allows black workers to advance so they can earn a livable wage in the company’s Capital Grille chain.

Two of Darden's top executives are African American.

ColorofChange issued the demand after African-American and Hispanic-American employees of The Capital Grille in Chicago, New York and Chevy Chase, Md., on January 31, filed a lawsuit against Darden and Capital Grille Holdings in U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, charges that Capital Grille has violated federal law and the laws of New York, Maryland and Illinois by failing to pay plaintiffs the minimum wages for restaurant workers who receive tips.

The federal rate for employees who receive tips is $2.13 per hour. Tips are supposed to make up the difference for the $7.25 per hour minimum, according to the University of California, Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education. Restaurants pay workers who don't receive tips $7.25 per hour. In Illinois, waiters and waitresses receive 60 percent of the state's $8.25 minimum wage or $4.95 per hour.

Capital Grille managers also require waiters to share their tips with non-tip employees, said Chris Williams, the plaintiffs' attorney. As a result, waiters are paying part of the salaries of non-tip employees, Williams charged.

Capital Grille managers also sign non-tip workers out for their work day without the employees' knowledge. The managers, however, require the employees to continue working to reduce the restaurants' overtime, Williams told The NorthStar News & Analysis. "The managers receive bonuses for keeping down overtime," he said.

In addition, the lawsuit alleges that Capital Grille violated Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which prohibits employers from assigning work based on a person's race. Black workers complain they are denied opportunities to move up at Capital Grille because they do not fit the chain's image. They also alleged that tables which generate the highest tips are assigned to white women waitresses.

In a statement, Rich Jeffers, Darden's spokesperson, denied the allegations.

“For more than 40 years, Darden has made a firm commitment to diversity and inclusion at all levels of the company. And, we maintain a zero tolerance policy for any acts of discrimination,” Jeffers said. “One of our guiding principles is to attract, retain, engage and develop a workforce that reflects our diverse customer base. This holds true at the restaurant manager level where 30% of our managers are minorities and 41% are women. In addition, 35% of the participants in our manager-in-training program are minorities. After repeated requests for specifics from ROC [Restaurant Opportunities Center United], the first response we received was this lawsuit. We continue to believe these allegations are baseless. However, as with any claims of impropriety, we will investigate them thoroughly.”

Jeffers added that Black Enterprise magazine has praised Darden for its workforce diversity. Clarence Otis, Jr., who is Darden's chairman of the board and CEO, is African American. Teresa Sebastian, the company's senior vice president, general counsel and secretary, also is an African-American.

Teresa Sebastian

“We are glad to see that he [Clarence Otis] has moved up in the organization, but that doesn't mean African American workers have not suffered from racial discrimination,” Meghana Reddy, communications coordinator for Restaurant Opportunities Center United, a New York-based organization, told The NorthStar News & Analysis.

Darden, which operates 1,900 restaurants nationwide, reported second-quarter sales of $1.73 billion in December. The company purchased Capital Grille, for $1.19 billion from Rare Hospitality International Inc. of Atlanta.

Capital Grille, which operated 45 restaurants nationwide in 2011, is a fine-dining restaurant known dry-aged steaks, free seafood and a generous wine list. Capital Grilled reported a 5.7 percent increase in second-quarter same-store sales.

Based in Orlando, Fla., Darden also owns Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze and Seasons 52. Those restaurant chains, however, are not part of the lawsuit, although Restaurant Opportunities Center United's website is beginning to receive similar complaints from employees of those restaurants, Reddy said.

Capital Grille employees' 62-page lawsuit was filed with the assistance of the Restaurant Opportunities Center United, which was founded after September 11, 2001, to provide assistance to restaurant employees who were displaced by the World Trade Center tragedy. The organization now has 9,000 members in nine states, and the group has won agreements totaling $5 million for restaurant workers who faced illegal treatment, Restaurant Opportunities Center officials say.

The same day employees filed their lawsuit, Restaurant Opportunities Center United released a six-page study, “Blacks in the Restaurant Industry,” written by the University of California, Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education. The report noted that African-American diners spent nearly $25 billion in restaurants in 2010. African-American workers, however, are segregated in the lowest-paying restaurant jobs, the study found.

“Whites disproportionately take up the highest paid positions in the highest-paid segments, while blacks disproportionately work in low-wage positions and low-wage segments,” wrote Dr. Steven Pitts, the report's author.

Proposed Rules Could Pose A Barrier To Black Home Buyers

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:55:46 GMT

by Frederick H. Lowe
Federal regulators are considering setting higher standards on new mortgages, a move that could prevent a large percentage of African Americans from purchasing homes, reports the Center for Responsible Lending and the Center for Community Capital.

The new standards also could widen the wealth gap between blacks and whites because home ownership is key to families accumulating wealth.

As part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, regulators are planning to establish provisions for Qualified Mortgages (QM) and Qualified Residential Mortgages (QRM) to prevent a recurrence of housing foreclosures on a large scale like those that led to The Great Recession, which nearly sank the nation's economy.

The regulators would set down-payment standards on new mortgages that would require home buyers to put 20 percent or 10 percent down to purchase a home.

The higher down payments, if enacted, would exclude 75 percent of African Americans from obtaining a fairly priced mortgage, the Center for Responsible Lending and Center for Community Capital wrote in a research report, “Balancing Risk and Access: Underwriting Standards for Qualified Residential Mortgages.”

“The proposed QM loan standards define loans and underwriting criteria that will help to ensure that the borrower has a 'reasonable ability to repay the obligation,' and will restrict the origination of loans with features associated with higher default rates, such as a lack of income documentation, prepayment penalties, and loans with interest-only, negatively amortizing or balloon payments,” the report said.

On the other hand, the QRM defines which loans will be exempt from requirements that at least five percent of the credit risk be retained by securitizer (a firm that pools residential mortgage loans into a package for sale to investors).
“The assumption is that both lenders and investors will view QM and QRM loans as safer, and that lenders will be more likely to originate loans that fit into both definitions in order to minimize their liabilities and maximize their ability into the secondary market,” the report said.

Regulators from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are responsible for writing provisions regarding Qualified Mortgages. Regulators from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates national banks, and the Federal Reserve , the nation’s central banking system, will write the rules regarding Qualified Residential Mortgages.

The study notes that African Americans and Latinos have experienced much higher mortgage foreclosure rates than white borrowers, even after controlling for income.

“As of February 2011, approximately 25 percent of loans to African Americans and Latinos originated between 2004 and 2008 were 60 or more days delinquent and already had been foreclosed upon,” the study found.

The Center for Responsible Lending and the Center for Community Capital conclude, however, that by adding a down-payment threshold, a large number of creditworthy potential home buyers would be pushed from the market.

Such a move would widen the wealth gap between blacks and whites. "I don't want to put words in the mouth of the report, but home ownership helps people climb up the economic ladder," said Kathleen Day, spokesperson for the Washington, D.C., office of the Center for Responsible Lending.

“These findings are particularly significant because the stalled housing market has been a key obstacle to the economy recovery,” said the Center for Responsible Lending, a non-partisan research and policy organization.

The UNC Center for Community Capital at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill is the leading center for research and policy analysis.

Black Employment Ratio Improves

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:36:04 GMT

by Frederick H. Lowe
The employment-population ratio for black men and black women 20 years old and older improved in January, compared with December, according to the University of California at Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education.

The ratio captures employment prospects more accurately than the unemployment rate, since jobless individuals who are not in the labor force, such as discouraged workers, are not calculated in the employment rate. The employment-population ratio represents the percentage of the population that is employed, and it can be interpreted as the probability that a member of the population is employed.

Black men's employment-population ratio was 59.7 percent in January, up from 58.2 percent in December, according to University of California's Work in the Black Community. Although the figure improved in January, the employment-population ratio in January is still well below December 2007's figure of 64.7 percent. The country's "Great Recession" began that month.

The employment-population ratio for black women, also rose -- to 54.2 percent in January from 53.5 percent in December 2011. Again, the population ratio for black women in January was still below December 2007, which was 59.1 percent.

The employment -population ratio for both sexes was 56.6 percent in January, compared with 55.6 percent in December 2011.

Foundation Backs Grants To 20 Black Men For Community Programs

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 03:05:28 GMT

The Open Society Foundations Campaign for Black Male Achievement recently announced that it has named 20 men in Philadelphia and Detroit as winners of the Black Male Engagement (BME) Leadership Award for launching programs designed to improve their communities.

The winners received a total of $443,000, said Shawn Dove, manager of the Open Society Campaign for Black Male Achievement, which is co-sponsoring the award in partnership with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Earlier this year, the Open Society Foundations asked men in the two cities to share stories about what they would do to make their communities stronger. More than 2,000 individuals submitted personal video and written testimonials. (See the videos at http://www.bmechallenge.org/ )

The funds are being spent to prime the pump so local residents will be inspired to take the lead in improving their surroundings, instead of waiting for someone else to do the work. Many of the winners are ex-convicts, and the award provides them with an opportunity to repair their lives and intervene in the lives of others at risk.

“There is no cavalry coming to save the day in black communities in America,” Dove said. “The answers we're looking for reside right within the hearts, hands, and heads of community residents. BME recognizes black men and boys as assets to the community, not as problems to be solved, and we're thrilled to be a partner in this strategy.”
The Open Society Foundations is based in New York City, and it is part of the Soros Open Society Network.

Detroit winners:

1. Eddie Connor. He received $10,000 to lead book clubs at schools and field trips to expose Detroit teenagers to important life skills.

2. Andre Dandridge. A law school graduate, he received $25,000. He will lead a series of workshops that his organization, “New Young Fathers,” will conduct across Detroit. The workshops are designed to better prepare young men for fatherhood and help them become more aware of their potential.

3. Brook Ellis, a former ex-convict who received $40,000, will lead the Reginald Francis Lewis Reading Academy to improve literacy, civic responsibility and academic achievement at Martin Luther King, Jr., High School. The reading program is named in honor of the late billionaire black businessman Reginald Lewis.

4. Emu Michael Humane, a manager in the automobile industry, received $25,000. He will lead a project to expose 100 young people to the business world.

5. Curtis Lipscomb, who received $20,000, will oversee the LEAP project, which will train 22 young Detroit residents to become effective advocates facing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community.

6. Miguel Pope, a motivational life coach, received $5,000. He will launch “Be Exposed,” a program designed to inspire ambition in young people by taking them to restaurants, stage shows and field trips to other cities.

7. Shake Senghor, who began writing while in prison, received a $25,000 grant. He uses the funds to launch and oversee the “Live in Peace Digital and Literary Arts Project.” Senghor will coach young people in how to tell their stories across media.

8. Yusuf Shaker, a former ex-convict, received $10,000. He will offer classes in reading, writing and digital training at a neighborhood café. Senghor also will provide the students with school supplies.

9. Dennis Talbert, a minister who received $20,000, will lead Rescue 51, which is designed to develop literacy skills, character, and a knowledge of health and wellness issues for 51 children in Detroit's Brightmoor neighborhood.

10. Fran Westbrooks, a Detroit advertising executive, who founded Detroit Comeback Kids, which will use his $20,000 grant to help young people plant vegetable gardens in the city's vacant lots. The children will be matched with local chefs and senior citizens who own the lots. The students also could sell the extra produce.

Philadelphia winners:

1. Greg Corbin, a teacher who received $25,000, will launch “The Legacy Project,” which will explore the multi-layered experience of black men through a one-man theatrical performance and in community workshops.

2. Tyree Dumas, CEO of Youth Now on Top who received $35,000, will launch an after-school program that offers a safe haven, dance instruction and help with homework.

3. Russell Hicks, owner of Ebony Suns Enterprises, will lead FLASH MOB, which help young black men create business-branding campaigns through social media. Hicks received $20,000.

4. Brandon Jones, a former ex-convict, who works to reduce shootings in North Philadelphia. He will use his $35,000 grant to help keep young people from going to prison or returning to prison.

5. Reuben Jones, a former ex-convict, who founded Frontline Dads, which helps fathers deal with custody and child-support issues. After being released from prison, Jones regained custody of his son. Frontline Dads, which received $20,000, will launch a mentoring/intervention program that fosters critical thinking skills, conflict resolution, counseling and creative expression.

6. Solomon Jones, a writer will expand “Words on the Street,” a literacy program, which aims to increase the literacy of more than 600 students. The students also will have an opportunity to write an article that will be published by the Philadelphia Inquirer. Jones received a $20,000 grant.

7. Ari Merretazon, a Vietnam veteran, will use his $25,000 to expand Pointman Soldiers Heart Ministry. The organization will help returning veterans from the Middle East find counseling, job services and benefits.

8. Alex Peay, who is founder of Rising Sons, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of black men, will use his $4,650 grant to strengthen the group's after-school program. The program also will enlist students to mentor boys in high school.

9. Eric D. Williams is the father of autistic child and started a program when he could not find services in his neighborhood for the child. He will use his $38,700 grant to expand Project Elijah Autism, an after-school program for middle-spectrum autistic students 8 to 14 years old. Project Elijah Autism plans to open a new facility in Philadelphia for autistic children. The facility will offer therapies in speech, gross motor, recreation, music and life skills.

10. Shawn White will launch Phreman Audio Studio Academy with his $19,300 grant. He is project director for the University of Pennsylvania's “Shape Up: Barbers Building Better Brothers Program,” which conducts HIV/AIDS and violence prevention through barbers and their clients. White, who also is a recording artist and producer, will teach audio recording and mixing to young people while promoting HIV/AIDS prevention and anti-violence strategies.

Jobless Rate for Black Men Comes Crashing Down, But No One Knows Why

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:47:18 GMT

Unemployment Rate Drops Overall For African Americans

by Frederick H. Lowe
The jobless rate for black men 20 years old and older dropped dramatically in January, compared with December, but their unemployment rate is still nearly double that of white men, according to a report released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for black men last month was 12.7 percent, down from 15.8 percent in December, according to the bureau. January's jobless rate for black men compares with a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for white men 20 years old and older of 6.9 percent.

Unemployment also dropped on a seasonally adjusted basis for black women 20 years old and older. Their jobless rate was 12.6 percent in January, compared with 13.9 percent in December. The unemployment rate for white women the same age was 6.8 percent, the same as in December.

The reasons for the dramatic drop in unemployment among black men and the black community as a whole, however, is a mystery that private detective John Shaft may have to be hired to solve.

“This month’s decline was highly unusual. Part of this steep drop results from new statistical weighting by BLS. Still adjusting for this change, the large reduction is hard to explain,” the University of California at Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education wrote in the data brief, “Black Employment and Unemployment in January 2012.”

Algernon Austin, an analyst with the Economic Policy Institute, agreed the dramatic drop in unemployment for black men is a mystery.

"The decline was apparently driven by a fairly strong decline in black-male unemployment," said Austin, who is director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy. "Who hired a significant number of black men in January? I don't know, and I haven't found anyone who does. Analysts would not be surprised if we saw a partial reversal of this number in the coming months."

Despite the mystery, U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, was clearly elated with the latest figures.

“I am encouraged that for the fourth straight month we have seen improvement in our nation’s overall unemployment,” said Cleaver, a Missouri Democrat. “Now, finally, we see improvement in African-American unemployment. While I am pleased that these numbers have improved, the fact is, unemployment in the African-American community still remains in the double digits as has since the beginning of the recession. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have seen first-hand the devastating economic conditions of millions of American families, which is why we launched our national For the People Jobs initiative last summer and introduced over fifty job creation bills since the beginning of the 112th Congress.”

In December, Congressional Black Caucus members met with President Barack Obama and African-American business leaders to discuss job creation, according to the organization’s January newsletter, For The People.

President Obama said the latest employment report proved the economy was improving, but more work still needs to be done.“The unemployment rate came down because more people found work. And altogether, we’ve added 3.7 million new jobs over the last 23 months,” he said.

“Now, these numbers will go up and down in the coming months, and there's still far too many Americans who need a job, or need a job that pays better than the one they have now. But the economy is growing stronger," the President Obama said. The recovery is speeding up. And we've got to do everything in our power to keep it going.”

Alan Krueger, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, used the good news to push President Obama's economic agenda.

"Today's employment report provides further evidence that the economy is continuing to heal from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression," Krueger wrote in his blog. "It is critical that we continue the economic policies that are helping us to dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the recession that began at the end of 2007. Most importantly, we need to extend the payroll tax cut and continue to provide emergency unemployment benefits through the end of this year, and take additional steps that President Obama proposed in the State of the Union address to create an economy built to last.”

January's overall seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the African-American community was 13.6 percent, a decline from 15.8 percent in December. In comparison, joblessness among whites was 7.4 percent in January, compared with 7.5 percent in December. The jobless rate for Hispanics in January was 10.5 percent, down from 11.0 percent in December.

The BLS reported an overall drop in unemployment as the nation's non farm payroll employment rose by 243,000 in January, and the private sector created 257,000 jobs.

The largest employment gains occurred in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality and manufacturing. Leisure and hospitality added 44,000 jobs, wholesale traded added 14,000 jobs, manufacturing added 50,000 jobs, construction added 50,000 jobs and mining added 10,000 jobs, but government employment changed little and the motion picture and sound recording industry lost 8,000 jobs.

The jobless rate in January was 8.3 percent, compared with 8.5 percent in December. There were 12.8 million people unemployed and looking for work in January. Last month's jobless rate is down from a high of 10 percent in October 2009.