1938
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Pan-African Chronology
January
*Jack Chen organized an international art exhibition in the Soviet Union, European countries and the United States, bringing the works of the Chinese artists, against the Japanese aggression in China. It was the first time for the revolutionary art of China to be introduced to the world.
*The New York Times used one of the Jack Chen's prints for a cover of its magazine (January).
January 14
*Allen Toussaint, a record producer known for his New Orleans sound, was born in Gert Town, Louisiana.
January 17
*Life magazine published a four page spread of Jack Chen's politcal cartoons (January 17). The article was entitled "Young Chinese Artists Cartoon Their Country's Conquest in Modern Manner".
January 18
*The New York Journal American published an article on the artwork of Jack Chen (January 18),
February 17
*Historian and civil rights advocate Mary Frances Berry was born in Nashville, Tennessee. She would become chancellor of the University of Colorado and a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights.
February 22
*Poet and novelist Ishmael Reed was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
March 2
*Baritone Simon Estes, who would become known for singing lead roles in Wagnerian operas, was born in Centerville, Iowa.
March 5
*The Black Native Party of Uruguay opened its convention.
On March 5, 1938 the party convention was opened. The convention was a public event. The majority of the 22 participants came from Montevideo. The convention was chaired by Victoriano Rivero, Isabelino José Gares and Félix Tejera. At the meeting a draft candidate list for the upcoming elections was presented. On the second day of the convention (March 7), 16 people participated. The candidate list was approved with Mario Méndez as the top candidate. Other candidates were Carmelo Gentile, Pilar Barrios, Rufino Silva Gonzalez, Juan Carlos Martinez, Rolando R. Olivera, Victoriano Rivero, Cándido Guimaraes, Sandalio del Puerto and Roberto Sosa.
The party failed to win major support as the majority of Afro-Uruguayans preferred to vote for either of the two main parties. The party launched a list of ten candidates ahead of the 1938 general election. The election campaign, carried out in Montevideo, centered around racial discrimination in employment in the state administration. The campaign had meager results, though, receiving a mere 87 votes. Following this humiliating experience, the party never contested elections again.
March 15
*Painter Emilio Cruz was born in New York City.
March 18
*Country singer Charley Pride was born in Sledge, Mississippi.
March 23
*Maynard Jackson was born in Dallas, Texas. He would be elected three times mayor of Atlanta (1974, 1978, and 1990).
April 7
*Trumpeter and bandleader Frederick Dewayne ("Freddie") Hubbard was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He would win a Grammy for his album Straight Life.
April 10
*Joe "King" Oliver, a pioneer jazz cornetist and bandleader, died in Savannah, Georgia. He was an important early influence on Louis Armstrong and on the shape of early jazz.
May 7
*Papa Charlie Jackson, the first successful blues guitarist, died in Chicago, Illinois.
June 6
*Attracted by the ideas of black separatists such as Marcus Garvey, United States Senator from Mississippi, Theodore Bilbo, proposed an amendment to the federal work-relief bill on June 6, 1938, which would have deported 12 million African Americans to Liberia at federal expense to relieve unemployment. Bilbo wrote a book advocating the idea. Garvey praised him in return, saying that Bilbo had "done wonderfully well for the Negro." But Thomas W. Harvey, a senior Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League leader in the US, distanced himself from Bilbo because of his racist speeches.
August 5
*Theologian James Cone was born in Fordyce, Arkansas. He would become the major spokesperson for Black Theology.
August 14
*Niara Sudarkasa, an educator and anthropologist, was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She would become the first woman president of Lincoln Univerity, Pennsylvania.
August 15
*Maxine Waters was born in St. Louis, Missouri. She would become a United States Congressperson representing Los Angeles.
November 24
*Basketball player Oscar "The Big O" Robertson was born in Charlotte, Tennessee. With Kareem Abdul-Jabbar he would lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 1971 NBA championship.
December 12
*In the case of Missouri ex rel Gaines, supported by the NAACP, the United States Supreme Court declared that states must provide equal, even if separate, educational facilities for African Americans within their boundaries. The plaintiff, Lloyd Gaines, mysteriously disappeared following the Court's decision.
December 16
*Jimmie Lee Jackson, a civil rights activist whose death inspired the Selma to Montgomery marches, was born.
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The United States
George Washington Carver
Carver had been frugal in his life, and in his seventies established a legacy by creating a museum on his work and the George Washington Carver Foundation at Tuskegee in 1938 to continue agricultural research. He donated nearly $60,000 in his savings to create the foundation.
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Marcus Garvey
In 1938, Marcus Garvey gave evidence before the West India Royal Commission on conditions in London. Also, in 1938, he set up the School of African Philosophy in Toronto to train UNIA leaders. He also continued to work on the magazine The Black Man.
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The Labor Movement
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The Law
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Literature
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The Movies
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Music
*Papa Charlie Jackson, the first successful blues guitarist, died in Chicago, Illinois (May 7).
In October 1923, the first male to record the blues guitar, either as solo or accompaniment, Sylvester Weaver (1897-1960). However, the first to achieve success was "Papa" Charlie Jackson (1887-1938), who recorded "Lawdy, Lawdy Blues" and "Airy Man Blues" in August 1924. These two men represented the down-home blues as opposed to the classic city blues of the great women blues singers such as Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith.
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The NAACP
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The New Deal
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The United States
George Washington Carver
Carver had been frugal in his life, and in his seventies established a legacy by creating a museum on his work and the George Washington Carver Foundation at Tuskegee in 1938 to continue agricultural research. He donated nearly $60,000 in his savings to create the foundation.
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Marcus Garvey
In 1938, Marcus Garvey gave evidence before the West India Royal Commission on conditions in London. Also, in 1938, he set up the School of African Philosophy in Toronto to train UNIA leaders. He also continued to work on the magazine The Black Man.
*Attracted by the ideas of black separatists such as Marcus Garvey, United States Senator from Mississippi, Theodore Bilbo, proposed an amendment to the federal work-relief bill on June 6, 1938, which would have deported 12 million African Americans to Liberia at federal expense to relieve unemployment. He wrote a book advocating the idea. Garvey praised him in return, saying that Bilbo had "done wonderfully well for the Negro." But Thomas W. Harvey, a senior Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League leader in the US, distanced himself from Bilbo because of his racist speeches.
While imprisoned Garvey had corresponded with segregationist Earnest Sevier Cox who was lobbying for legislation to "repatriate" African Americans to Africa. Garvey's philosophy of Black racial self-reliance, could be combined with Cox's White Nationalism - at least in sharing the common goal of an African Homeland. Cox dedicated his short pamphlet "Let My People Go" to Garvey, and Garvey in return advertised Cox's book White America in UNIA publications.
While imprisoned Garvey had corresponded with segregationist Earnest Sevier Cox who was lobbying for legislation to "repatriate" African Americans to Africa. Garvey's philosophy of Black racial self-reliance, could be combined with Cox's White Nationalism - at least in sharing the common goal of an African Homeland. Cox dedicated his short pamphlet "Let My People Go" to Garvey, and Garvey in return advertised Cox's book White America in UNIA publications.
In 1937, a group of Garvey's rivals called the Peace Movement of Ethiopia openly collaborated with the United States Senator from Mississippi, Theodore Bilbo, and Earnest Sevier Cox in the promotion of a repatriation scheme introduced in the United States Senate as the Greater Liberia Act. In the Senate, Bilbo was a supporter of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Bilbo, an outspoken supporter of segregation and white supremacy and, attracted by the ideas of black separatists like Garvey, proposed an amendment to the federal work-relief bill on June 6, 1938, proposing to deport 12 million African Americans to Liberia at federal expense to relieve unemployment. He took the time to write a book entitled Take Your Choice, Separation or Mongrelization, advocating the idea. Garvey praised him in return, saying that Bilbo had "done wonderfully well for the Negro".
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The Labor Movement
*In Harlem, the Greater New York Coordinating Committee for Employment, chaired by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., compelled employers to hire staffs that were at least one-third African American and to provide equal advancement (promotion) opportunities for African Americans and European Americans.
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The Law
*The United States Supreme Court ruled that Missouri could not compel Lloyd L. Gaines, an African American law student, to attend an out-of-state school, but must supply equal educational facilities for African Americans and European Americans within the state borders.
The Supreme Court heard the case of Missouri ex rel. Gaines vs. Canada Registrar of the University et. al. Lloyd Gaines had been denied admission to the University of Missouri Law School and had appealed to the courts. The Supreme Court ruled that a state was required to allow African American admission at the state university if equal educational facilities were not available. The practical effect of this decision was the creation of separate graduate schools for African Americans.
The Supreme Court heard the case of Missouri ex rel. Gaines vs. Canada Registrar of the University et. al. Lloyd Gaines had been denied admission to the University of Missouri Law School and had appealed to the courts. The Supreme Court ruled that a state was required to allow African American admission at the state university if equal educational facilities were not available. The practical effect of this decision was the creation of separate graduate schools for African Americans.
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Literature
*Richard Wright's novel Uncle Tom's Children was published.
*Two books by Sterling A. Brown were published. The Negro in American Fiction was a study of African Americans and African American themes in American literature. Negro Poetry and Drama surveyed the African American contributions in these areas.
*Two books by Sterling A. Brown were published. The Negro in American Fiction was a study of African Americans and African American themes in American literature. Negro Poetry and Drama surveyed the African American contributions in these areas.
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The Movies
*In this year, the Goldberg movie company produced two films for African Americans: Siren of the Tropics, starring Josephine Baker, and Mystery in Swing, starring Monte Hawley, Marguerite Whittin and Bob Webb. The latter movie became one of their most successful films commercially.
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Music
*Papa Charlie Jackson, the first successful blues guitarist, died in Chicago, Illinois (May 7).
In October 1923, the first male to record the blues guitar, either as solo or accompaniment, Sylvester Weaver (1897-1960). However, the first to achieve success was "Papa" Charlie Jackson (1887-1938), who recorded "Lawdy, Lawdy Blues" and "Airy Man Blues" in August 1924. These two men represented the down-home blues as opposed to the classic city blues of the great women blues singers such as Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith.
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The NAACP
*The NAACP appointed Thurgood Marshall special counsel for its legal cases.
Thurgood Marshall was appointed by the NAACP as special counsel in charge of all its cases. He remained with the NAACP until 1961 when he became a federal judge in the Circuit Court of Appeals.
Thurgood Marshall was appointed by the NAACP as special counsel in charge of all its cases. He remained with the NAACP until 1961 when he became a federal judge in the Circuit Court of Appeals.
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The New Deal
*African American participation in the administration of the WPA had been slight. In September 1938, only 91 African Americans were employed at the Washington headquarters.
*The Fair Labor Standard Act, by setting minimum wages, caused increased competition for jobs and thus encouraged discrimination against African Americans.
*In Birmingham, Alabama, African Americans and European Americans were segregated in the state relief offices.
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Notable Births
*Theologian James Cone was born in Fordyce, Arkansas (August 5). He would become the major spokesperson for Black Theology.
*Painter Emilio Cruz was born in New York City (March 15).
*Baritone Simon Estes, who would become known for singing lead roles in Wagnerian operas, was born in Centerville, Iowa (March 2).
*Painter Emilio Cruz was born in New York City (March 15).
*Baritone Simon Estes, who would become known for singing lead roles in Wagnerian operas, was born in Centerville, Iowa (March 2).
*Trumpeter and bandleader Frederick Dewayne ("Freddie") Hubbard was born in Indianapolis, Indiana (April 7). He would win a Grammy for his album Straight Life.
*Jimmie Lee Jackson, a civil rights activist whose death inspired the Selma to Montgomery marches, was born (December 16).
Jimmie Lee Jackson (December 16, 1938 - February 26, 1965) was a civil rights activist in Marion, Alabama, and a deacon in the Baptist church. On February 18, 1965, he was beaten by troopers and shot by Alabama State Trooper James Bonard Fowler while participating in a peaceful voting rights march in his city. Jackson was unarmed; he died several days later in the hospital.
His death inspired the Selma to Montgomery marches in March 1965, a major event in the American Civil Rights Movement that helped gain Congressional passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This opened the door to millions of African Americans being able to vote again in Alabama and across the South, regaining participation as citizens in the political system for the first time since the turn of the 20th century, when they were disenfranchised by state constitutions and discriminatory practices.
In 2007 former trooper Fowler was indicted in Jackson's death, and in 2010 he pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He was sentenced to six months in prison.
Jimmie Lee Jackson was a deacon of the St. James Baptist Church in Marion, Alabama, ordained in the summer of 1964. Jackson had tried to register to vote for four years, without success under the discriminatory system maintained by Alabama officials. Jackson was inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr., who had come with other SCLC staff to Selma, Alabama, to help local activists in their voter registration campaign. Jackson attended meetings several nights a week at Zion's Chapel Methodist Church. His desire to vote led to his death at the hands of an Alabama State Trooper. It inspired SCLC leader James Bevel to initiate and organize the dramatic Selma to Montgomery marches, which directly contributed to President Lyndon Johnson calling for, and Congress passing, the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
On the night of February 18, 1965, about 500 people organized by Southern Christian Leadership Conference activist C. T. Vivian, left Zion United Methodist Church in Marion and attempted a peaceful walk to the Perry County jail, about a half a block away, where young civil-rights worker James Orange was being held. The marchers planned to sing hymns and return to the church. Police later said that they believed the crowd was planning a jailbreak.
They were met at the Post Office by a line of Marion City police officers, sheriff's deputies, and Alabama State Troopers During the standoff, streetlights were abruptly turned off (some sources say they were shot out by the police), and the police began to beat the protesters. Among those beaten were two United Press International photographers, whose cameras were smashed, and NBC News correspondent Richard Valeriani who was beaten so badly that he was hospitalized. The marchers turned and scattered back towards the church.
Jackson, his mother Viola Jackson, and his 82-year-old grandfather, Cager Lee, ran into Mack's Café behind the church, pursued by Alabama State Troopers. Police clubbed Lee to the floor in the kitchen; when Viola attempted to pull the police off, she was also beaten. When Jackson tried to protect his mother, one trooper threw him against a cigarette machine. A second trooper shot Jackson twice in the abdomen. James Bonard Fowler later admitted to pulling the trigger, saying he thought Jackson was going for his gun. The wounded Jackson fled the café, suffering additional blows by the police, and collapsed in front of the bus station.
In the presence of FBI officials, Jackson told a lawyer, Oscar Adams of Birmingham, that he was "clubbed down" by State Troopers after he was shot and had run away from the café. Jackson died of his wounds at Good Samaritan Hospital in Selma, on February 26, 1965.
Jackson was buried in Heard Cemetery, an old slave burial ground, next to his father, with a headstone paid for by the Perry County Civic League.
Jackson's death led James Bevel, SCLC Director of Direct Action and the director of SCLC's Selma Voting Rights Movement, to initiate and organize the first Selma to Montgomery march to publicize the effort to gain registration and voting. Held a few days later, on March 7, 1965, the event became known as "Bloody Sunday" for the violent response of state troopers and posse, who attacked and beat the protesters after they came over the Edmund Pettus Bridge and left the city. The events captured national attention, raising widespread support for the voting rights campaign. In the third march to Montgomery, protesters traveled the entire way, and a total of 25,000 people peacefully entered the city, protected by federal troops and Alabama National Guard under federal command.
In March 1965, President Lyndon Johnson announced his federal bill to authorize oversight of local practices and enforcement by the federal government; it was passed by Congress as the Voting Rights Act of 1965. After the act was passed, Jimmie Lee Jackson's grandfather Cager Lee, who had marched with him in February 1965 in Marion, voted for the first time at the age of 84.
A grand jury declined to indict Fowler in September 1965, identifying him only by his surname.
On May 10, 2007, 42 years after the crime, Fowler was charged with first degree and second-degree murder for Jackson's death, and surrendered to authorities. On November 15, 2010, Fowler pled guilty to manslaughter and apologized publicly for killing Jackson. He said he had acted in self-defense. He was sentenced to six months in jail, but served five months due to health problems which required medical surgery.
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*Maynard Jackson was born in Dallas, Texas (March 23). He would be elected three times as mayor of Atlanta (1974, 1978, and 1990).
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Benjamin Earl King (September 28, 1938 – April 30, 2015), known as Ben E. King, was an American soul and R&B singer. He was perhaps best known as the singer and co-composer of "Stand by Me" -- a US Top 10 hit, both in 1961 and later in 1986 (when it was used as the theme to the film of the same name), a number one hit in the United Kingdom in 1987, and no. 25 on the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA's list of Songs of the Century -- and as one of the principal lead singers of the R&B vocal group the Drifters.
King was born Benjamin Earl Nelson on September 28, 1938, in Henderson, North Carolina, and moved to Harlem, New York, at the age of nine in 1947. King began singing in church choirs, and in high school formed the Four B’s, a doo-wop group that occasionally performed at the Apollo.
In 1958, King (still using his birth name) joined a doo-wop group called the Five Crowns. Later that year, the Drifters' manager George Treadwell fired the members of the original Drifters, and replaced them with the members of the Five Crowns. King had a string of R&B hits with the group on Atlantic Records. He co-wrote and sang lead on the first Atlantic hit by the new version of the Drifters, "There Goes My Baby" (1959). He also sang lead on a succession of hits by the team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, including "Save the Last Dance for Me", "This Magic Moment", and "I Count the Tears". King only recorded thirteen songs with the Drifters—two backing other lead singers and eleven as lead vocal — including a non-single called "Temptation" (later redone by Drifters vocalist Johnny Moore). The last of the King-led Drifters singles to be released was "Sometimes I Wonder", which was recorded May 19, 1960, but not issued until June 1962.
Due to contract disputes with Treadwell in which King and his manager, Lover Patterson, demanded greater compensation, King rarely performed with the Drifters on tour or on television. On television, fellow Drifters member Charlie Thomas usually lip-synched the songs that King had recorded with the Drifters.
In May 1960, King left the Drifters, assuming the stage name Ben E. King in preparation for a solo career. Remaining with Atlantic Records on its Atco imprint, King scored his first solo hit with the ballad "Spanish Harlem" (1961). His next single, "Stand by Me", written with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, ultimately would be voted as one of the Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). King cited singers Brook Benton, Roy Hamilton, and Sam Cooke as influences for his vocals. "Stand by Me", "There Goes My Baby", and "Spanish Harlem" were named as three of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll; and each of those records plus "Save The Last Dance For Me" has earned a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.
King's records continued to place well on the Billboard Hot 100 chart until 1965. British pop bands began to dominate the pop music scene, but King still continued to make R&B hits, including "What is Soul?" (1966), "Tears, Tears, Tears" (1967), and "Supernatural Thing" (1975). A 1986 re-issue of "Stand by Me" followed the song's use as the theme song to the movie Stand By Me and re-entered the Billboard Top Ten after a 25-year absence.
As a Drifter and as a solo artist, King achieved five number one hits: "There Goes My Baby", "Save The Last Dance For Me", "Stand By Me", "Supernatural Thing", and the 1986 re-issue of "Stand By Me". He also earned 12 Top 10 hits and 26 Top 40 hits from 1959 to 1986. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Drifter. He was also nominated as a solo artist.
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*Country singer Charley Pride was born in Sledge, Mississippi (March 18).
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*Poet and novelist Ishmael Reed was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee (February 22).
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*Basketball player Oscar "The Big O" Robertson was born in Charlotte, Tennessee (November 24). With Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he would lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 1971 NBA championship.
Oscar Robertson was born in Charlotte, Tennessee, and moved with his family to Indianapolis, Indiana. He attended the University of Cincinnati and as a sophomore became the nation's leading scorer. A 3-time All-American, in 1960, he was signed by the Cincinnati Royals of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robinson, known as the "Big O", is considered to be one of the greatest guards in the history of basketball, and his name became synonymous with overall basketball skill. In 1964, he won the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award.
Oscar Robertson was born in Charlotte, Tennessee, and moved with his family to Indianapolis, Indiana. He attended the University of Cincinnati and as a sophomore became the nation's leading scorer. A 3-time All-American, in 1960, he was signed by the Cincinnati Royals of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robinson, known as the "Big O", is considered to be one of the greatest guards in the history of basketball, and his name became synonymous with overall basketball skill. In 1964, he won the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award.
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*Niara Sudarkasa, an educator and anthropologist, was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (August 14). She would become the first woman president of Lincoln Univerity, Pennsylvania.
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*Allen Toussaint, a record producer known for his New Orleans sound, was born in Gert Town, Louisiana (January 14).
*Allen Toussaint, a record producer known for his New Orleans sound, was born in Gert Town, Louisiana (January 14).
Allen Toussaint (b. January 14, 1938, Gert Town, Louisiana – d. November 10, 2015, Madrid, Spain) was an American musician, songwriter, arranger and record producer, who was an influential figuge in New Orleans R&B from the 1950s to the end of the century described as "one of popular music's great backroom figures". Many other musicians recorded Toussaint's compositions, including "Java", "Mother-in-Law", "I Like It Like That", "Fortune Teller", "Ride Your Pony", "Get Out of My Life, Woman", "Working in the Coal Mine", "Everything I Do Gonna be Funky", "Here Come the Girls", "Yes We Can Can", "Play Something Sweet", and "Southern Nights". As a producer, his credits included Dr. John's hit "Right Place, Wrong Time", and Labelle's "Lady Marmalade".
In 1998 Toussaint was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2009 into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. On May 9, 2011, Allen Toussaint was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. In 2013, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama.
*Maxine Waters was born in St. Louis, Missouri (August 15). She would become a United States Congressperson representing Los Angeles.
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Notable Deaths
*There were six recorded lynchings of African Americans in 1938.
*Papa Charlie Jackson, the first successful blues guitarist, died in Chicago, Illinois (May 7).
*Joe "King" Oliver, a pioneer jazz cornetist and bandleader, died in Savannah, Georgia (April 10). He was an important early influence on Louis Armstrong and on the shape of early jazz.
*Papa Charlie Jackson, the first successful blues guitarist, died in Chicago, Illinois (May 7).
Papa Charlie Jackson (November 10, 1887 – May 7, 1938) was an early American bluesman and songster who accompanied himself with a banjo guitar, a guitar, or a ukulele. His recording career began in 1924. Much of his life remains a mystery, but his draft card lists his birthplace as New Orleans, Louisiana, and his death certificate states that he died in Chicago, Illinois on May 7, 1938.
Born William Henry Jackson, he originally performed in minstrel and medicine shows. From the early 1920s into the 1930s, Jackson played frequent club dates in Chicago, and was noted for busking at Chicago's Maxwell Street Market. In August 1924, he recorded the commercially-successful "Airy Man Blues" and "Papa's Lawdy Lawdy Blues" for Paramount Records. One of his following tracks, "Salty Dog Blues", became his most famous song. Among his recordings are several in which he accompanied classic female blues singers singers such as Ida Cox, Hattie McDaniel, and Ma Rainey.
Jackson achieved a musical peak of sorts in September of 1929 when he got to record with his longtime idol, Blind (Arthur) Blake, often known as the king of ragtime guitar during this period. 'Papa Charlie and Blind Blake Talk About It' parts one and two are among the most unusual sides of the late '20s, containing elements of blues jam session, hokum recording, and ragtime. A few more recordings for the Paramount label followed in 1929 and 1930. In 1934, Jackson recorded for Okeh Records, and the following year he recorded with Big Bill Broonzy. Altogether, Jackson recorded 66 sides during his career.
Jackson was an influential figure in blues music, the first self-accompanied blues musician to make records. He was one of the first musicians of the "Hokum" genre, which uses comic, often sexually suggestive lyrics and lively, danceable rhythms. He wrote or was the first to record several songs that became blues standards, including "Spoonful" and "Salty Dog".
Jackson's "Shake That Thing" was covered by Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions in 1964. "Loan Me Your Heart" appeared on The Wildparty Sheiks eponymous album in 2002. The Carolina Chocolate Drops recorded "Your Baby Ain't Sweet Like Mine" on their Grammy Award winning 2010 album, Genuine Negro Jig, and often played the song in interviews after its release.
In 1973, Jackson's song "Shake That Thing" was briefly featured in the Sanford and Son episode, "The Blind Mellow Jelly Collection". Fred, played by Redd Foxx, could be seen dancing and singing to it at the beginning of the episode.
*Joe "King" Oliver, a pioneer jazz cornetist and bandleader, died in Savannah, Georgia (April 10). He was an important early influence on Louis Armstrong and on the shape of early jazz.
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Performing Arts
With a Carnegie Hall concert by the African American musicians Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, and Pete Johnson, boogie-woogie became an overnight craze, and began to be applied to almost all songs. Boogie-woogie developed from house-rent parties in the 1920's especially in Chicago. The style originated with African American pianists such as "Cat-Eye," "Jack the Bear", and "Tippling Tom."
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Performing Arts
*For a performance of jazz at Carnegie Hall, European American bandleader Benny Goodman overrode management's reservations and insisted on having two African American musicians in his group, Teddy Wilson (piano) and Lionel Hampton (vibraphone).
*The musicians Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, and Pete Johnson performed at Carnegie Hall, starting a "Boogie-Woogie" craze.
With a Carnegie Hall concert by the African American musicians Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, and Pete Johnson, boogie-woogie became an overnight craze, and began to be applied to almost all songs. Boogie-woogie developed from house-rent parties in the 1920's especially in Chicago. The style originated with African American pianists such as "Cat-Eye," "Jack the Bear", and "Tippling Tom."
*Jazz singer Billie Holiday made her first appearance with Artie Shaw's band.
Artie Shaw hired Billie Holiday to sing with his European American band. One of the greatest of jazz singers, and the daughter of an accomplished guitarist, Holiday has been one of the great jazz influences, not only on other singers, but instrumentalists as well. She published an autobiography in 1956, three years before her death.
*Contralto Marian Anderson was awarded an honorary doctorate by Harvard University.
*The Harlem Suitcase Theatre launched its first season with Langston Hughes' Don't You Want to be Free?, starring Robert Earl Jones, the father of actor James Earl Jones.
Artie Shaw hired Billie Holiday to sing with his European American band. One of the greatest of jazz singers, and the daughter of an accomplished guitarist, Holiday has been one of the great jazz influences, not only on other singers, but instrumentalists as well. She published an autobiography in 1956, three years before her death.
*Contralto Marian Anderson was awarded an honorary doctorate by Harvard University.
*The Harlem Suitcase Theatre launched its first season with Langston Hughes' Don't You Want to be Free?, starring Robert Earl Jones, the father of actor James Earl Jones.
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Politics
*Crystal Bird Fauset became the first African American woman elected to serve in a state legislature, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
*Fortune magazine reported that 84.7% of African Americans supported President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
*Fortune magazine reported that 84.7% of African Americans supported President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
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Social Organizations
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Sports
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Statistics
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Visual Arts
Social Organizations
*In Philadelphia, Marion Turner Stubbs founded Jack and Jill of America, Inc., an organization offering educational and cultural programs to African American children. It would expand to 180 chapters across the country.
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Sports
*Joe Louis retained his title as world heavyweight boxing champion by defeating German boxer Max Schmeling, a Nazi hero and the proclaimed exemplar of Aryan superiority. African Americans and European Americans hailed the match as victory for democracy as well as for the black race.
More than any other individual during the 1930s, Joe Louis was regarded by African Americans as a symbol of black power and achievement. He was born Joseph Louis Barrow on May 13, 1914, in rural Alabama, where his parents were tenant farmers. When he was still a boy, he and his family moved to Detroit. He dropped out of school to start boxing and, after winning the national amateur light heavyweight championship in 1934, turned professional. In a 1936 match, he was knocked out by Max Schmeling, a German boxer who symbolized Aryan supremacy. It was a crushing defeat in the eyes of all Americans, black and white. A year later, however, Louis defeated James J. Braddock (the "Cinderella Man") to become world heavyweight champion. In 1938, he fought Schmeling again and, this time, Louis knocked him out in the first round, causing celebration across the country. Called the "Brown Bomber" by some of his fans, Louis successfully defended his title 24 times and retired, undefeated as champion, in 1949. He fought 71 matches between 1934 and 1949 and won every match, except for his 1936 loss to Schmeling.
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*Henry Armstrong won both the welterweight and the lightweight boxing championship. Having already won the featherweight championship, he held all three titles concurrently.
Statistics
*While 9.8% of Federal employees were African American, with few exceptions they held jobs as postal clerks, mailmen, unskilled laborers and janitors.
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Visual Arts
*Jacob Lawrence completed his Toussaint L'Ouverture series, which would be exhibited in its own room at the 1939 Baltimore Museum show.
*Horace Pippin's work was included in the show "Masters of Popular Painting -- Artists of the People" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
*The New York Times used one of the Jack Chen's prints for a cover of its magazine (January).
*Life magazine published a four page spread of Jack Chen's politcal cartoons (January 17). The article was entitled "Young Chinese Artists Cartoon Their Country's Conquest in Modern Manner".
*The New York Journal American published an article on the artwork of Jack Chen (January 18),
The New York Journal American article was generous in its praise of Jack Chen's being a son worthy of his father, the former Chinese foreign minister Eugene Chen. "Jack Chen is known to both Chinese and Japanese as "Bitter Brush," because he has visually portrayed the fiery anti-Japanese sentiments his father portrayed in words before the ascendancy of General Chiang Kaishek's nationalist government in China. Chen, in one of his drawings, pictures the Rising Sun of Japan as a huge skull, coming up over the horizon of China."
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*Jack Chen organized an international art exhibition in the Soviet Union, European countries and the United States, bringing the works of the Chinese artists, against the Japanese aggression in China. It was the first time for the revolutionary art of China to be introduced to the world.
*Life magazine published a four page spread of Jack Chen's politcal cartoons (January 17). The article was entitled "Young Chinese Artists Cartoon Their Country's Conquest in Modern Manner".
*The New York Journal American published an article on the artwork of Jack Chen (January 18),
The New York Journal American article was generous in its praise of Jack Chen's being a son worthy of his father, the former Chinese foreign minister Eugene Chen. "Jack Chen is known to both Chinese and Japanese as "Bitter Brush," because he has visually portrayed the fiery anti-Japanese sentiments his father portrayed in words before the ascendancy of General Chiang Kaishek's nationalist government in China. Chen, in one of his drawings, pictures the Rising Sun of Japan as a huge skull, coming up over the horizon of China."
The Americas
Uruguay
On March 5, 1938 the party convention was opened. The convention was a public event. The majority of the 22 participants came from Montevideo. The convention was chaired by Victoriano Rivero, Isabelino José Gares and Félix Tejera. At the meeting a draft candidate list for the upcoming elections was presented. On the second day of the convention (March 7), 16 people participated. The candidate list was approved with Mario Méndez as the top candidate. Other candidates were Carmelo Gentile, Pilar Barrios, Rufino Silva Gonzalez, Juan Carlos Martinez, Rolando R. Olivera, Victoriano Rivero, Cándido Guimaraes, Sandalio del Puerto and Roberto Sosa.
The party failed to win major support as the majority of Afro-Uruguayans preferred to vote for either of the two main parties. The party launched a list of ten candidates ahead of the 1938 general election. The election campaign, carried out in Montevideo, centered around racial discrimination in employment in the state administration. The campaign had meager results, though, receiving a mere 87 votes. Following this humiliating experience, the party never contested elections again.
Europe
France
Soviet Union
*Jack Chen organized an international art exhibition in the Soviet Union, European countries and the United States, bringing the works of the Chinese artists, against the Japanese aggression in China. It was the first time for the revolutionary art of China to be introduced to the world.
Africa
*Jack Chen organized an international art exhibition in the Soviet Union, European countries and the United States, bringing the works of the Chinese artists, against the Japanese aggression in China. It was the first time for the revolutionary art of China to be introduced to the world.
Africa
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Nelson Mandela
Chad
*Ibrahim Abatcha, a Muslim Chadian politician, was born.
Ibrahim Abatcha (1938 – February 11, 1968) was a Muslim Chadian politician reputed of Marxist leanings and associations. His political activity started during the decolonization process of Chad from France, but after the country's independence he was forced to go into exile due to the increasing authoritarinism of the country's first President Francois Tombalbaye. To overthrow Tombalbaye he founded in Sudan in 1966 the FROLINAT, of which he was the first leader and field commander. Two years later he was killed in a clash with the Chadian Army.
Originally from Borno (a province of the British colony of Nigeria), Abatcha was born into a family with a Muslim background in the French colony of Chad at Fort-Lamy (today N'Djamena) in 1938, and learned to speak French, English and Chadian Arabic, but not to write Classical Arabic, as he did not study in a Qur'anic school. He found work as a clerk in the colonial administration and became a militant trade unionist.
Abatcha entered politics in 1958, becoming a prominent figure in the new radical Chadian National Union (UNT), mainly a split from the African Socialist Movement (MSA) by promoters of the No-vote in the referendum on Chad's entry into the French Community. The party's followers were all Muslims, and advocated Pan-Africanism and socialism. Towards the end of the colonial rule, Abatcha was jailed for a year either for his political activities or for mismanagement in the performance of his duties.
After independence in 1960, Abatcha and his party staunchly opposed the rule of President Francois Tombalbaye, and the UNT was banned with all other opposition parties on January 19, 1962. After that Abatcha was briefly imprisoned by the new Chadian government.
After his release, the UNT cadres decided that if the political situation in Chad became too unbearable to allow the party to survive, it would be wise to send out of the country some party members so that the organization would in any case maintain its existence. Thus Abatcha, who held the position of second adjutant secretary-general of the UNT, was sent in 1963 to Accra, Ghana, where he was later joined by UNT members Aboubakar Djalabo and Mahamat Ali Taher. By going into exile, the UNT members meant also to ensure their personal safety and organize abroad an armed revolt in Chad. As part of the means to preserve the unity of the movement, Abatcha wrote for the UNT a policy statement; this draft was to be the core of the official program of the FROLINAT.
Abatcha led the typical life of the Third World dissident in search of support in foreign capitals, first residing in Accra, Ghana, where he received his first military training and made friends among members of the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon that had found asylum there. The Cameroonians helped him attend conferences organized by international Communist groups.
After leaving Accra in 1965, Abatcha started traveling to other African capitals always seeking support for his project of beginning an insurgency against Tombalbaye. The first capital he reached in 1965 was Algiers, where the UNT had already a representative, probably Djalabo. His attempts were unsuccessful, as were those made from there to persuade the Chadian students in France to join him in his fight. From Algiers, he traveled to Cairo, where a small secret committee of anti-government Chadian students of the Al-Azhar University had formed. The students in Cairo had developed a strong political sensitivity because they had come to resent that the degrees obtained by them in Arab countries were of no use in Chad, as French was the only official language. Among these students, Abatcha recruited his first supporters, and with the help of the UPC Cameroonian exiles contacted the North Korean embassy in Egypt, which offered him a military stage. Seven Cairo students volunteered, leaving Egypt in June 1965 and returning in October; these were to be with Abatcha the first military cadres of the rebels. Abatcha with his "Koreans" went then to Sudan in October 1965.
Once in Sudan, Abatcha found fertile ground for further recruitment, as many Chadian refugees lived there. Abatcha was also able to enroll in his movement former Sudanese soldiers, including a few officers, of whom the most distinguished was to become Hadjaro Senoussi. He also contacted Mohamed Baghlani, who was in communication with the first Chadian insurgents already active in Chad, and with the insurgent group Liberation Front of Chad (FLT).
A merger was negotiated during the congress at Nyala between June 19 and June 22, 1966 in which the UNT and another rebel force, the Liberation Front of Chad (FLT) combined, giving birth to the FROLINAT, whose first secretary-general was agreed to be Abatcha. The two groups were ideologically ill-fitted, as they combined the radicalism of the UNT and the Muslim beliefs of the FLT. FLT's president, Ahmed Hassan Musa, missed the conference because he was imprisoned in Khartoum; Musa suspected with some reason that Abatcha had deliberately chosen the moment of his incarceration to organize the conference due to his fear of FLT's numerical superiority over the UNT. As a result, once freed Musa broke with the FROLINAT, the first of many splits that were to plague the history of the organization. Thus Abatcha had to face from the beginning a level of considerable internal strife, with the opposition guided by the anti-communist Mohamed Baghlani.
The unity was stronger on the field, with Abatcha and his so-called Koreans passing to Eastern Chad in mid-1966 to fight the government, and El Hadj Issaka assuming the role of his chief-of-staff. While his maquis were badly trained and equipped, they were able to commit some hit-and-run attacks against the Chadian army, mainly in Ouaddai, but also in Guera and Salamat. The rebels also toured the villages, indoctrinating the people on the future revolution and exhorting youths to join the FROLINAT forces.
The following year Abatcha expanded his range and number of operations, officially claiming in his dispatches 32 actions, involving prefectures previously untouched by the rebellion, that is Moyen-Chari and Kanem. Mainly due to Abatcha's qualities as both secretary-general and field-commander, what had started in 1965 as a peasant uprising was becoming a revolutionary movement.
On January 20, 1968 Abatcha's men killed on the Goz Beida-Abéché road a Spanish veterinarian and a French doctor, while they took hostage a French nurse. Abatcha disavowed this action and ordered his men to free the nurse. However, due to these actions, on February 11, Abatcha was tracked down by the Chadian army and killed in a clash.
Abatcha's death was the end of an important phase in the history of the FROLINAT and more generally of the rebellion. Abatcha had been the one generally acceptable leader of the insurrection. After him, the FROLINAT was more and more divided by inner rivalries, making it more difficult to provide the insurgents with a coherent organization.
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Democratic Republic of Congo
*Between 1938 and 1944, the number of workers employed in the mines of the Union Miniere du Haut Katanga (UMHK) rose from 25,000 to 49,000 to cope with the increased demand.
Following World War I, Belgium possessed two colonies in Africa—the Belgian Congo, which it had controlled since its annexation of the Congo Free State in 1908, and Ruanda-Urundi, a former German colony that had been mandated to Belgium in 1924 by the League of Nations. The Belgian colonial military numbered 18,000 soldiers, making it one of the largest standing colonial armies in Africa at the time.
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Libya
Nigeria
*Governor Bourdillon met with the leaders of the Nigerian Youth Movement (February 1).
Governor Bernard Bourdillon was aligned with the reforming trend in colonial policy, and rapidly gained the respect and friendship of the educated elite of Nigeria. On February 1, 1938 he met with the Nigerian Youth Movement to hear their complaints about the way in which the European Cocoa Pool agreement was limiting competition. When asked to take a neutral position in the dispute he refused, saying he supported the African position. A few days later the Colonial Office announced a commission of inquiry and soon after the pool was suspended. Nnamdi Azikiwe's West African Pilot was full of praise for Bourdillon. He continued to remain on close terms with Nigerian opinion leaders throughout his term.
South Africa
*Between 1938 and 1944, the number of workers employed in the mines of the Union Miniere du Haut Katanga (UMHK) rose from 25,000 to 49,000 to cope with the increased demand.
Following World War I, Belgium possessed two colonies in Africa—the Belgian Congo, which it had controlled since its annexation of the Congo Free State in 1908, and Ruanda-Urundi, a former German colony that had been mandated to Belgium in 1924 by the League of Nations. The Belgian colonial military numbered 18,000 soldiers, making it one of the largest standing colonial armies in Africa at the time.
The Belgian government followed a policy of neutrality during the interwar years. Nazi Germany invaded on May 10, 1940 and, after 18 days of fighting, Belgium surrendered on May 28 and was occupied by German forces. King Leopold III, who had surrendered to the Germans, was kept a prisoner for the rest of the war. Just before the fall of Belgium, its government, including the Minister of the Colonies Albert de Vleeschauwer, fled first to Bordeaux in France, then to London, where it formed an official Belgian government in exile in October 1940.
The Governor-General of the Congo, Pierre Ryckmans, decided on the day of Belgium's surrender that the colony would remain loyal to the Allies, in stark contrast to the French colonies that later pledged allegiance to the pro-German Vichy government. The Congo was therefore administered from London by the Belgian government in exile during the war.
Despite this assurance, disruption broke out in the city of Stanleyville (now Kisangani in the eastern Congo) among the white population panicking about the future of the colony and the threat of an Italian invasion.
Soon after the arrival of the Belgian government in exile in London, negotiations began between the Belgians and the British about the role which the Congo would play in the Allied war effort. The British were determined that the Congo should not fall into Axis hands, and planned to invade and occupy the colony if the Belgians did not come to an arrangement. This was particularly because, after the fall of Dutch and British colonies in the Far East to Japan, the Allies were desperate for raw materials like rubber which the Congo could produce in abundance. Eventually, the two parties came to an arrangement in which virtually all the British demands were accepted, including a 30 percent devaluation of the Congolese franc.
With the official agreement and the Congolese declaration of support for the Allies, the economy of the Congo and in particular its production of important raw materials, was placed at the disposal of Belgium's Allies, particularly Britain and the United States.
The Congo had become increasingly centralized economically during the Great Depression of the 1930s, as the Belgian government encouraged the production there of cotton, which had value on the international market. The greatest economic demands on the Congo were related to raw materials. Between 1938 and 1944, the number of workers employed in the mines of the Union Miniere du Haut Katanga (UMHK) rose from 25,000 to 49,000 to cope with the increased demand. In order to increase production for the war effort, the colonial authorities increased the hours and the speed at which workers, both European and African, were expected to work. This led to increasing labor unrest across the colony. Discontent among the white population was also increased by the raising of a 40 percent "war tax". High taxes and price controls were enforced from 1941, limiting the amount of profit that could be made and curbing profiteering.
The vast majority of the Congolese-produced raw resources were exported to other Allied countries. By 1942, the entire colony's output of copper, palm oil and industrial diamonds were being exported to the United Kingdom, while almost all the colony's lumber was sent to South Africa. Exports to the United States also rose from $600,000 in early 1940 to $2,700,000 by 1942.
Tax revenue from the Belgian Congo enabled the Belgian government in exile and Free Belgian Forces to fund themselves, unlike most other states in exile, which operated through subsidies and donations from sympathetic governments. It also meant that the Belgian gold reserves, which had been moved to London in 1940, were not needed to fund the war effort, and therefore were still available at the end of the war.
Libya
After the end of the war in Ethiopia in late 1936 early 1937, the Corps of "Polizia Coloniale" (Colonial Police) was created to be the police in the colonies in Africa (Libya) and it started issuing its own license plates in March 1938. The unit was created as a result of the reorganization of public safety units operating in Italian North Africa (Africa Settentrionale Italiana, or ASI) and to later garrison Ethiopia and the rest of Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana, or AOI).
*Governor Bourdillon met with the leaders of the Nigerian Youth Movement (February 1).
Governor Bernard Bourdillon was aligned with the reforming trend in colonial policy, and rapidly gained the respect and friendship of the educated elite of Nigeria. On February 1, 1938 he met with the Nigerian Youth Movement to hear their complaints about the way in which the European Cocoa Pool agreement was limiting competition. When asked to take a neutral position in the dispute he refused, saying he supported the African position. A few days later the Colonial Office announced a commission of inquiry and soon after the pool was suspended. Nnamdi Azikiwe's West African Pilot was full of praise for Bourdillon. He continued to remain on close terms with Nigerian opinion leaders throughout his term.
South Africa
*Centenary celebrations of the Great Trek occurred.
The Great Trek (Afrikaans: Die Groot Trek) was an eastward and north-eastward emigration away from British control in the Cape Colony during the 1830s and 1840s by Boers (Dutch/Afrikaans for "farmers"). The migrants were descended from settlers from western mainland Europe, most notably from the Netherlands, north-west Germany and French Huguenots. The Great Trek itself led to the founding of numerous Boer republics, the Natalia Republic, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal being the most notable.
There was perhaps no more ardent, visible expression of Afrikaner solidarity and patriotism than in the symbolic ox-wagon trek of 1938, the main event of the centenary celebrations commemorating the Great Trek.
Retracing the steps his Voortrekker forefathers had taken was a longstanding dream of Henning Klopper, the Port Superintendent at Mossel Bay and founding member of the Afrikaner Broederbond. When Klopper heard of the government's plan to build a memorial to the Voortrekkers outside Pretoria, and to inaugurate it on December 16, 1938 -- 100 years after the Battle of Blood River -- he could think of no better occasion to make his dream come true.
Klopper's idea -- a symbolic trek from Cape Town to Pretoria -- was enthusiastically taken up by the Broederbond which in turn undertook to co-ordinate this event. It was to be sponsored by the Federation of Afrikaners Cultural Organizations (FAK), organized by the Afrikaner Language and Cultural Society (ATKV) of the South African Railways and Harbours, and chaired by Klopper.
On August 8, 1938, two stinkwood ox-wagons, the Piet Retief and the Andries Pretorius, were positioned in front of Jan van Riebeeck's statue on the Foreshore in Cape Town surrounded by a jostling, cheering crowd of some 100,000 people. Klopper was astounded by this overwhelming response. He spoke to the crowd, reminded them of the Covenant and then prayed that the trek would unite Afrikaners everywhere.
The slow trek pulled out of Cape Town and headed north on a carefully charted course, the work once again of Klopper. At every town where they stayed overnight, the trekker pilgrims were assured of a friendly reception organized by the town's dominee and someone from the Broederbond. They were further inspired by the news that six more wagons from different points were winding their way to the capital.
With undiminished fervor, the pilgrims visited places where Afrikaners had fought and often died. Streets were renamed after Voortrekker heroes -- Seventh Street in Boksburg became Sarel Cilliers Street and so on. Thousands of men grew bushy Voortrekker beards and donned corduroy breeches, waistcoat and knotted scarf. Women were seen in traditional Voortrekker dresses.
In Bloemfontein, a team of torchbearers from the Cape caught up with the trek. The burning torch was immediately seen as a symbol of nationhood, and the Broederbond was inspired to collect money for the poor urban Afrikaner in what became a Reddingsdaad -- an Act of Rescue.
The ox-wagons eventually entered Pretoria amid more speeches, sermons, the singing of the new Afrikaner anthem Die Stem, as well as rumors that Klopper was about to proclaim a republic.
An enormous bonfire was lit at the foot of the Voortrekker Monument and the torches flung into the flames. The wagons were drawn up the hill by teams of people and three women laid the foundation stone of the monument. The following day a minister of the church, Paul Nel, was asked to lay another foundation stone, that of a marble replica of a wagon erected on the battlefield of Blood River.
In a rousing speech, Daniel Malan, the leader fo the Purified National Party, told the masses that just as "the muzzleload [had] clashed with assegai" at Blood River to preserve the interests of whites, now too it was the duty of Afrikaners to strive "to make South Africa a white man's land".
There was perhaps no more ardent, visible expression of Afrikaner solidarity and patriotism than in the symbolic ox-wagon trek of 1938, the main event of the centenary celebrations commemorating the Great Trek.
Retracing the steps his Voortrekker forefathers had taken was a longstanding dream of Henning Klopper, the Port Superintendent at Mossel Bay and founding member of the Afrikaner Broederbond. When Klopper heard of the government's plan to build a memorial to the Voortrekkers outside Pretoria, and to inaugurate it on December 16, 1938 -- 100 years after the Battle of Blood River -- he could think of no better occasion to make his dream come true.
Klopper's idea -- a symbolic trek from Cape Town to Pretoria -- was enthusiastically taken up by the Broederbond which in turn undertook to co-ordinate this event. It was to be sponsored by the Federation of Afrikaners Cultural Organizations (FAK), organized by the Afrikaner Language and Cultural Society (ATKV) of the South African Railways and Harbours, and chaired by Klopper.
On August 8, 1938, two stinkwood ox-wagons, the Piet Retief and the Andries Pretorius, were positioned in front of Jan van Riebeeck's statue on the Foreshore in Cape Town surrounded by a jostling, cheering crowd of some 100,000 people. Klopper was astounded by this overwhelming response. He spoke to the crowd, reminded them of the Covenant and then prayed that the trek would unite Afrikaners everywhere.
The slow trek pulled out of Cape Town and headed north on a carefully charted course, the work once again of Klopper. At every town where they stayed overnight, the trekker pilgrims were assured of a friendly reception organized by the town's dominee and someone from the Broederbond. They were further inspired by the news that six more wagons from different points were winding their way to the capital.
With undiminished fervor, the pilgrims visited places where Afrikaners had fought and often died. Streets were renamed after Voortrekker heroes -- Seventh Street in Boksburg became Sarel Cilliers Street and so on. Thousands of men grew bushy Voortrekker beards and donned corduroy breeches, waistcoat and knotted scarf. Women were seen in traditional Voortrekker dresses.
In Bloemfontein, a team of torchbearers from the Cape caught up with the trek. The burning torch was immediately seen as a symbol of nationhood, and the Broederbond was inspired to collect money for the poor urban Afrikaner in what became a Reddingsdaad -- an Act of Rescue.
The ox-wagons eventually entered Pretoria amid more speeches, sermons, the singing of the new Afrikaner anthem Die Stem, as well as rumors that Klopper was about to proclaim a republic.
An enormous bonfire was lit at the foot of the Voortrekker Monument and the torches flung into the flames. The wagons were drawn up the hill by teams of people and three women laid the foundation stone of the monument. The following day a minister of the church, Paul Nel, was asked to lay another foundation stone, that of a marble replica of a wagon erected on the battlefield of Blood River.
In a rousing speech, Daniel Malan, the leader fo the Purified National Party, told the masses that just as "the muzzleload [had] clashed with assegai" at Blood River to preserve the interests of whites, now too it was the duty of Afrikaners to strive "to make South Africa a white man's land".
*The Council for Non-European Trade Unions was formed.
After almost a decade of inactivity, concrete signs of a new spirit of defiance among African workers had begun to emerge in 1936 when black labor leaders, exasperated by the constant rebuffs from representatives of white unions, decided to sever ties with the Trades and Labour Council (TLC) and to form their own organization. On August 7, 1938, the strongly pro-Africanist Council for Non-European Trade Unions (CNETU) was formed amid accusations of racism (followed by a walkout) by Max Gordon, a white Trotskyite socialist who was secretary of four African trade unions. However, Gana Makabeni, the organization's first chairman (and himself a former communist), was unrepentant: "White men govern the country, supervise all establishments, own the factories and commercial enterprises. Must we have European leaders even in our own establishments?"
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General Historical Events
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January 4
February 4
*John Baird gave the first demonstration of color television at the Dominion Theatre in London.
February 23
*Oil was discovered in Kuwait.
March 6
*Japanese troops advancing along the Hangchow Railway through Shansi province reached the Yellow River.
March 14
*Hitler annexed Austria to "protect" ten million Germans living outside the Reich's frontiers.
April 10
*An Austrian plebiscite showed the nearly 100 percent of Austrians desired union with Germany.
September 29
*Britain and France appeased Hitler at Munich by allowing him to take the Sudetenland (in effect part of Czechoslovakia.
*Arab extremists seized Bethlehem and part of Jerusalem.
October 10
*British troops retook Bethlehem.
October 18
*British troops retook Jerusalem.
October 21
*The Japanese seized Guangzhou.
October 25
*The Japanese took Hankow.
November 7
*Herschel Grynzpan, a 17 year old Polish Jew, assassinated Edouard von Rath, a German official at the Paris embassy.
November 9
*The Nazis used the November 7 assassination of Edouard von Rath as an excuse for a pogrom, the worst in German history. In the Kristalnacht riots, Jewish shop windows were smashed, synagogues were looted and up to 30,000 Jews were carried off to concentration camps.
November 10
*Kemal Ataturk, President of Turkey, died at the age of 57. The 54 year old Ismet Inonu was elected to succeed Ataturk.
December 18
*The German chemist Otto Hahn succeeded in splitting the uranium atom, releasing energy.
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*Orson Welles caused widespread panic with his realistic radio broadcast of H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds.
*Isak Dinesen wrote and published Out of Africa.
*Thornton Wilder was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his play Our Town.
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