1938 The Americas

*****

The Americas

Brazil

*Led by the Afro-Brazilian Leonidas, Brazil captured third place at the World Cup soccer tournament held in France (June 19).

Leônidas da Silva (b. September 6, 1913, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – d. January 24, 2004, Cotia, Brazil), an Afro-Brazilian, was an association soccer player and commentator.  He is regarded as one of the most important players of the first half of the 20th century. Da Silva played for Brazil in two World Cups, and was the top scorer (with 8 goals) in the 1938 World Cup that was played in France from June 4 to June 19.  Da Silva was known as the "Black Diamond" and the "Rubber Man" due to his agility.

Canada

*Donald Oliver, a lawyer, developer and politician who served in the Senate of Canada from 1990 to 2013, was born in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada (November 16).

A lawyer and developer, Donald H. Oliver (b. November 16, 1938, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada) practiced law in Halifax, Nova Scotia, as a partner in the firm Stewart McKelvey Stirling Scales from 1965 to 1990, and subsequently at two other law firms for a total of 36 years, primarily in civil litigation. He taught at Dalhousie University Law School as a part-time professor for 14 years, and also taught law courses at Technical University of Nova Scotia and St. Mary's University.  He was a Queen's Counsel and  a member of Nova Scotia's Black minority, a descendant of slave refugees who came to Canada during the War of 1812.

A long-time activist in the Progressive Conservative Party, Oliver served as the party's director of legal affairs through six federal elections from 1972 to 1988. He also served as a federal vice-president of the party and as a director of its fundraising wing, the PC Canada Fund.

In addition, Oliver served for years as Constitution Chairman and member of the Finance Committee for the Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia, and is a former Vice-President of that Party.

Oliver was appointed to the Senate at the recommendation of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney,  September 7, 1990. He served as a member of the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce, and as the Chairman of the Senate Standing Committees on Transport and Communications and Standing Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. Senator Oliver was also Co-chair of the Special Joint Committee on a Code of Conduct for Parliamentarians. 

Oliver was named Speaker pro tempore of the Senate of Canada, on March 4, 2010. Oliver retired from the Senate November 16, 2013, when he attained age 75.

Cuba

*Cristobal Torriente, a Cuban baseball player who was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, died in New York City, New York (April 11).

Cristóbal Torriente (b. November 16, 1893, Cienfuegos, Cuba – d. April 11, 1938, New York City, New York) was a Cuban outfielder in Negro League Baseball with the Cuban Stars, All Nations, Chicago American Giants, Kansas City Monarchs and Detroit Stars.  He played from 1912 to 1932. Torriente was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.

A native of Cienfuegos, Cuba, Torriente played in his homeland from 1913–1927 and holds the record for the highest career batting average in Cuban winter league history (.352). He earned two batting titles and hit as high as .402. In 1920, his team, Almendares, played a nine-game series against the New York Giants.  The Giants added Babe Ruth for this tour of Cuba. Torriente outhit Ruth in most categories and Almendares beat the Giants, five games to four. Along with Martin Dihigo and Jose Mendez, Torriente is considered one of the greatest baseball players from Cuba. He was one of the first class of inductees of the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.

Torriente played much of the summer of 1915 and 1916 for the "Western" Cuban Stars team until an argument arose with the manager in 1916. Torriente tracked down former teammate and friend Jose Mendez and was hired by J. L. Wilkinson to play for his All Nations just before a big series with C. I. Taylor's Indianapolis ABCs and Rube Foster's Chicago American Giants.  Torriente would play several years for both teams.

Torriente played on the great Chicago American Giants teams of 1918–1925. Torriente led the American Giants to Negro National League pennants from 1920 to 1922 while batting .411, .338, and .342 for these seasons. He won the batting title in 1920 and in 1923 with a .412 average. Torriente was traded to the Kansas City Monarchs in 1926 and led the team with a .381 batting average. He retired from the Negro leagues with a career .331 average.

After baseball, Torriente lived for a short time in Ybor City, Florida and faded into obscurity. He died in New York City at age 44, after a long battle with alcoholism and tuberculosis.

Torriente was primarily a pull hitter, though he could hit with power to all fields. He had a stocky and slightly bowlegged build, but was known for deceptive power and a strong, accurate arm from center field. In the 2001 book The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, Bill James ranked Torriente as the 67th greatest baseball player ever. Torriente was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.

*****

*The Cuban House and Senate passed a resolution proclaiming President Roosevelt "eminent citizen of the Americas" and "illustrious adoptive son of Cuba" (July 4).

*****

*Tony Oliva, an All-Star Major League Baseball player for the Minnesota Twins, was born in Pinar del Rio. Cuba (July 20).

Tony Pedro Oliva (b. Antonio Oliva Lopez Hernandes Javique, July 20, 1938, Pinar del Rio, Cuba) is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) right fielder and designated hitter. A star of the first magnitude during baseball's "second deadball era", he spent his entire 15-year baseball career playing for the Minnesota Twins from 1962 through 1976.

Oliva was the 1964 American League Rookie of the Year.  He was an All-Star for eight seasons, an American League (AL) batting champion for three seasons, an AL hit leader five seasons, and a Gold Glove winner one season. On a consensus Hall of Fame track his first eight years, his career was cut short in its prime by a series of severe knee injuries, forcing him to become a designated hitter during his final four years of baseball. He is widely regarded as one of the best players not inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

During his career, Oliva batted .304 with 220 home runs, 947 RBI, 870 runs, 1,917 hits, 329 doubles, 48 triples, and 86 stolen bases in 1,676 games played.  He was selected to the All-Star team his first eight seasons, surpassing Joe DiMaggio's previous record of six selections.

*****

Dominican Republic

*The refugee conference in Evian-les-Bains ended with little accomplished (July 15). No country was willing to accept any Jews except for the Dominican Republic.

Jamaica

*60 people were killed in a train crash in Jamaica. 

*Prince Buster, a pioneer of ska and rocksteady music, was born in Kingston, Jamaica (May 24).

Cecil Bustamente Campbell (b. May 24, 1938, Kingston, Jamaica – d. September 8, 2016, Miami, Florida), known professionally as Prince Buster, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer. He was regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of ska and rocksteady music. The records he released in the 1960s influenced and shaped the course of Jamaican contemporary music and created a legacy of work that later reggae and ska artists would draw upon.

Cecil Bustamente Campbell was born on Orange Street in Kingston, Jamaica, on May 24, 1938.  His middle name was given to him by his family in honor of the Labour activist and first post-Independence Prime Minister William Alexander Clarke Bustamante.  In the early 1940s Campbell was sent to live with his grandmother in rural Jamaica where his family's commitment to the Christian faith gave him his earliest musical experiences in the form of church singing as well as private family prayer and hymn meetings. Returning to live at Orange Street while still a young boy, Campbell attended the Central Branch School and St. Anne's School.

While at school Campbell performed three or four times a week at the Glass Bucket Club, as part of Frankie Lymon's Sing and Dance Troupe.  Rock 'n' roll-themed shows were popular during the 1950s, with the Glass Bucket Club establishing a reputation as the premier music venue and social club for Jamaican teenagers at that time. Upon leaving school, Campbell found himself drawn to the ranks of followers that supported the sound system of Tom the Great Sebastian.  Jamaican sound systems at that time were playing American rhythm 'n' blues and Campbell credits Tom the Great Sebastian with his first introduction to the songs and artists that would later influence his own music: the Clovers' "Middle of the Night", Fats Domino's "Mardi Gras in New Orleans", the Griffin Brothers featuring Margie Day, and Shirley & Lee.

Campbell became more actively involved in the operational side of running a sound system after he was introduced to Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd, a musically inclined businessman who operated one of Kingston's most popular sound systems. Campbell found himself fulfilling a variety of roles for Coxsone: providing security, handling ticket receipts, identifying and sourcing music as well as working in the essential role of selector. The knowledge he gained about the financial and logistical aspects of staging a sound system dance was put to good use when Campbell made the decision to start his own sound system called 'Voice of the People'. Campbell approached his family and a radio shop owner called Mr. Wong for financial backing.  They all agreed. Campbell's 'Voice of the People' sound system was soon operational and within a short time had established itself as a rival to the sound systems of Coxsone and Duke Reid. Campbell applied to the Farm Work Program (a guest worker program for the United States agricultural sector) with the intention of buying music for his sound system but on the day of departure was refused entry into the program. Knowing that he would not be able to personally source records from the United States, Campbell decided to record his own music. He approached Arkland "Drumbago" Parks, a professional drummer at the Baby Grand Club who had arranged and recorded a special (exclusive recording) for the Count Boysie sound system. Drumbago agreed to help and Campbell immediately began rehearsing with the musicians at the Baby Grand Club, including the guitarist Jah Jerry, who played on Campbell's first recording session.

In 1961, Campbell released his first single "Little Honey"/"Luke Lane Shuffle" featuring Jah Jerry, Drumbago and Rico Rodriquez recording under the name of Buster's Group. In that same year, he produced "Oh Carolina" by the Folkes Brothers, which was released on his Wild Bells label. The drumming on the record was provided by members of the Count Ossie Group, nyabinghi drummers from the Rastafarian community, Camp David, situated on the Wareika Hill above Kingston.  After becoming a hit in Jamaica, "Oh Carolina" was licensed to Melodisc, a United Kingdom (UK) label owned by Emil Shalet. Melodisc released the track on their subsidiary label Blue Beat.  The Blue Beat label would go on to become synonymous with 1960s ska releases for the UK market.

Campbell recorded prolifically throughout the 1960s.  Notable early ska releases include: "Madness" (1963), "Wash Wash" (1963, with Ernest Ranglin on bass), "One Step Beyond" (1964) and "Al Capone" (1964). The documentary This is Ska (1964), hosted by Tony Verity and filmed at the Sombrero Club, includes Campbell performing his Jamaican hit "Wash Wash". In 1964 Campbell met World Heavyweight Champion boxer Muhammad Ali who invited Campbell to attend a Nation of Islam a talk at Mosque 29 in Miami. That year Campbell joined the Nation of Islam and also started to release material, including a version of Louis X's "White Man's Heaven is a Black Man's Hell," on his own imprint label called "Islam". In 1965 he appeared in Millie in Jamaica (a film short about Millie Small's return to Jamaica after the world-wide success of "My Boy Lollipop") which was broadcast on Rediffusion's Friday evening pop show Ready, Steady, Go!. Campbell had a top twenty hit in the UK with the single "Al Capone" (no. 18, February 1967). He toured the UK in the Spring of 1967 appearing at the Marquee Club in May and later toured America to promote the RCA Victor LP release The Ten Commandments (From Man To Woman). "Ten Commandments" reached #81 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his only hit single in the United States. By the late 1960s Campbell was once again at the forefront of a musical change in Jamaica.  The new music would be called rocksteady. Campbell tracks like "Shaking Up Orange Street" (1967) were arranged with the slower, more soulful rocksteady template as used by Alton Ellis ("Rock Steady") and many others. The album Judge Dread Rock Steady was released in 1967, and the title track "Judge Dread" with its satirical theme and vocal style proved to be popular to the point of parody. In 1968, the compilation album FABulous was released, opening with the track "Earthquake" (which revisited the theme of Orange Street) and including earlier hits.

Campbell's career slowed up in the 1970s as the predominant style moved away from ska and rocksteady towards roots reggae, in part because as a Muslim he found it difficult to tailor his style towards a Rastafari audience.  However, he did make an appearance in the 1972 movie The Harder They Come, which featured Campbell in a cameo role as a DJ.

Campbell subsequently moved to Miami to pursue business interests including running a jukebox company.  From 1973 Campbell effectively retired from the music business, with only a handful of compilation albums issued.  Even with the revival of interest in his music following the 2-Tone led ska revival in the UK in 1979 he remained out of the limelight.  Towards the end of the 1980s he resumed performing with the Skatalites as his backing band, and resumed recording in 1992.

In 1994 a UK court ruled in favor of John Folkes and Greensleeves after they brought a lawsuit against Campbell and Melodisc (CampbelI by this time had acquired Melodisc) concerning authorship of "Oh Carolina".  
Campbell had a top 30 hit in the UK with the track "Whine and Grine" (no. 21, April 1998) after the song had been used in an advertisement for Levi's.

In 2001 Campbell was awarded the Order of Distinction by the Jamaican Government for his contribution to music. He performed at the 2002 Legends Of Ska festival in Toronto. Other appearances include:  Sierra Nevada World Music Festival in 2003; the 2006 Boss Sounds Reggae Festival in Newcastle upon Tyne, the 40th Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland with the Delroy Williams Junction Band, and the 2007 UK Rhythm Festival.

The UK ska revival at the end of the 1970s that started with the 2-Tone label from Coventry introduced Campbell's music to a new generation of listeners. In 1979 the band Madness released their first single on 2-Tone, a tribute to Campbell called "The Prince".  The B-side was a cover of the Campbell song "Madness" from which they took their name. Their second single, released on the Stiff label ("The Prince") would be the only single released by Madness on the 2-Tone label, and was a cover of Campbell's "One Step Beyond", which reached the UK Top 10.  On their self-titled debut album, the Specials  covered "Too Hot" and borrowed elements from Campbell's "Judge Dread" (in the song "Stupid Marriage") and "Al Capone" (in the song "Gangsters"). The Specials also included a cover of "Enjoy Yourself" on their second album More Specials.  The Beat covered "Rough Rider" and "Whine & Grine" on their album I Just Can't Stop It.  Campbell's song "Hard Man Fe Dead" was covered by the U.S. ska band the Toasters on their 1996 album Hard Band For Dead.

Campbell died on the morning of September 8, 2016, in a hospital in Miami, Florida.

*****

Puerto Rico

*****
*Arthur Schomburg, a historian whose collection of works formed the foundation for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, died in Brooklyn, New York (June 8).

Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, also Arthur Schomburg (b. January 24, 1874, Santurce, Puerto Rico – d. June 8, 1938, Brooklyn, New York), was a Puerto Rican historian, writer, and activist in the United States who researched and raised awareness of the great contributions that Afro-Latin Americans and African Americans have made to society. He was an important intellectual figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Over the years, he collected literature, art, slave narratives, and other materials of African history, which was purchased to become the basis of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, named in his honor, at the New York Public Library (NYPL) branch in Harlem.

Schomburg was born in the town of Santurce, Puerto Rico (now part of San Juan), to María Josefa, a freeborn black midwife from St. Croix, and Carlos Federico Schomburg, a German merchant living in Puerto Rico.

While Schomburg was in grade school, one of his teachers claimed that blacks had no history, heroes or accomplishments. Inspired to prove the teacher wrong, Schomburg determined that he would find and document the accomplishments of Africans on their own continent and in the diaspora. Schomburg was educated at San Juan's Instituto Popular, where he learned commercial printing. At St. Thomas College in the Danish-ruled Virgin Islands, he studied Negro Literature.

Schomburg immigrated to New York  on April 17, 1891, and settled in the Harlem section of Manhattan. He continued his studies to untangle the African thread of history in the fabric of the Americas. After experiencing racial discrimination in the United States, he began calling himself "Afroborinqueño" which means "Afro-Puerto Rican". He became a member of the "Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico" and became an active advocate of Puerto Rico's and Cuba's independence from Spain.

On June 30, 1895, Schomburg married Elizabeth Hatcher of Staunton, Virginia. She had come to New York as part of a wave of migration from the South that would increase in the 20th century and be known as the Great Migration. They had three sons: Maximo Gomez; Arthur Alfonso, Jr.; and Kingsley Guarionex Schomburg.

After Elizabeth died in 1900, Schomburg married Elizabeth Morrow Taylor of Williamsburg, a village in Rockingham County, North Carolina. They were married on March 17, 1902, and had two sons: Reginald Stanton and Nathaniel José Schomburg.

In 1896, Schomburg began teaching Spanish in New York. From 1901 to 1906 Schomburg was employed as messenger and clerk in the law firm of Pryor, Mellis and Harris, New York City. In 1906, he began working for the Bankers Trust Company. Later, he became a supervisor of the Caribbean and Latin American Mail Section, and held that until he left in 1929.

While supporting himself and his family, Schomburg began his intellectual work of writing about Caribbean and African-American history. His first known article, "Is Hayti Decadent?", was published in 1904 in The Unique Advertiser. In 1909, he wrote Placido, a Cuban Martyr, a short pamphlet about the poet and independence fighter Gabriel de la Concepcion Valdes.

In 1911, Schomburg co-founded with John Edward Bruce the Negro Society for Historical Research, to create an institute to support scholarly efforts. For the first time it brought together African, West Indian and Afro-American scholars. Schomburg was later to become the President of the American Negro Academy, founded in Washington, D.C. in 1874, which championed black history and literature.

It should be noted that this was a period of the founding of societies to encourage scholarship in African American history. In 1915, Dr. Carter G. Woodson co-founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History) and began publishing the Journal of Negro History.

Schomburg became involved in the Harlem Renaissance movement, which spread to other African-American communities in the United States. The concentration of blacks in Harlem from across the United States and Caribbean led to a flowering of arts and intellectual and political movements. 
Schomburg was the co-editor of the 1912 edition of Daniel Alexander Payne Murray's Encyclopedia of the Colored Race.  In 1916, Schomburg published what was the first notable bibliography of African-American poetry, A Bibliographical Checklist of American Negro Poetry.

In March 1925, Schomburg published his essay "The Negro Digs Up His Past" in an issue of Survey Graphic devoted to the intellectual life of Harlem. It had widespread distribution and influence. The historian John Henrik Clarke told of being so inspired by the essay that at the age of 17 he left home in Columbus, Georgia, to seek out Mr. Schomburg to further his studies in African history. Alain Locke included the essay in his edited collection The New Negro.

The NYPL and the librarian of the 135th Street Branch, Ernestine Rose, the NYPL purchased his extensive collection of literature, art and other materials in 1926. They appointed Schomburg curator of the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and Art, named in his honor, at the 135th Street Branch (Harlem) of the Library. It was later renamed the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Between 1931 and 1932 Schomburg served as Curator of the Negro Collection at the library of Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, helping direct their acquisition of materials. During 1932 he traveled to Cuba. While there he met various Cuban artists and writers, and acquired more material for his studies.

Schomburg was granted an honorary membership of the Men's Business Club in Yonkers, New York. He also held the position of treasurer for the Loyal Sons of Africa in New York and was elevated being the past master of Prince Hall Lodge Number 38, Free and Accepted Masons (F.A.M.) and Rising Sun Chapter Number 4, R.A.M.

Following dental surgery, Schomburg became ill and died in Madison Park Hospital, Brooklyn, New York, on June 8, 1938. 

By the 1920s, Schomburg had amassed a collection which consisted of artworks, manuscripts, rare books, slave narratives and other artifacts of Black history.  In 1926 the New York Public Library purchased his collection for $10,000 with the help of a grant from the Carnegie Corporation. The collection formed the cornerstone of the Library's Division of Negro History at its 135th Street Branch in Harlem. The library appointed Schomburg curator of the collection, which was named in his honor: the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and Art, and later renamed the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Schomburg used his proceeds from the sale to fund travel to Spain, France, Germany and England, to seek out more pieces of black history to add to the collection. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante named Schomburg to his list of 100 Greatest African Americans. 

To honor Schomburg, Hampshire College awards a $30,000 merit-based scholarship in his name for students who "demonstrate promise in the areas of strong academic performance and leadership at Hampshire College and in the community."

Arturo Alfonso Schomburg's work served as an inspiration to Puerto Ricans, Latinos and African Americans alike. The power of knowing about the great contributions that Afro-Latinos and African Americans have made to society helped with the work or the Civil Rights movement and continues to inform each succeeding generation.

*The Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico was founded (July 22).

*****

Uruguay

*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.

Asia

*Life magazine published a four page spread of Jack Chen's political 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).

Europe

Czech Republic
(Czechoslovakia)

*Czechoslovakia recognized the Italian conquest of Ethiopia (April 19).

France

*Led by the Afro-Brazilian Leonidas, Brazil captured third place at the World Cup soccer tournament held in France (June 19).

Leônidas da Silva (b. September 6, 1913, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – d. January 24, 2004, Cotia, Brazil), an Afro-Brazilian, was an association soccer player and commentator.  He is regarded as one of the most important players of the first half of the 20th century. Da Silva played for Brazil in two World Cups, and was the top scorer (with 8 goals) in the 1938 World Cup that was played in France from June 4 to June 19.  Da Silva was known as the "Black Diamond" and the "Rubber Man" due to his agility.

*The refugee conference in Evian-les-Bains ended with little accomplished (July 15). No country was willing to accept any Jews except for the Dominican Republic.

*Bricktop broadcast a radio program in Paris from 1938–39, for the French government.

Great Britain

*Britain and Italy concluded the Easter Accords, a pact to reduce tensions in the Mediterranean region (April 16). The British recognized the Italian conquest of Ethiopia while Italy promised to withdraw its troops from Spain at the end of the Civil War and refrain from spreading propaganda in the Middle East.

*Britain formally recognized Italy's control of Ethiopia (November 16). In return Mussolini agreed to withdraw 10,000 troops from Spain.

Romania

*The Octavian Goga government in Romania recognized the Italian conquest of Ethiopia (January 6).

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.