1930 Chronology Appendix 8: "Strange Fruit"

APPENDIX 8

"STRANGE FRUIT"

"Strange Fruit" is a song recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939.  Written by Abel Meeropol and published in 1937. It protests the lynching of African Americans, with lyrics that compare the victims to the fruit of trees. Such lynchings had reached a peak in the Southern United States at the turn of the 20th century, and the great majority of victims were black.  "Strange Fruit" has been called "a declaration of war" and "the beginning of the civil rights movement".

Meeropol set his lyrics to music with his wife and singer Laura Duncan and performed it as a protest song in New York City venues in the late 1930s, including Madison Square Garden. The song has been covered by numerous artists, including Nina Simone, UB40, Jeff Buckley, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Robert Wyatt, and Dee Dee Bridgewater.  Diana Ross recorded the song for her debut film, the Billie Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues (1972), and it was included on the chart topping soundtrack album. Holiday's version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978. It was also included in the list of Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.

"Strange Fruit" originated as a poem written by Jewish-American writer, teacher and songwriter Abel Meeropol, under his pseudonym Lewis Allan, as a protest against lynchings.  In the poem, Meeropol expressed his horror at lynchings, inspired by Lawrence Beitler's  photograph of the 1930 lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Marion, Indiana.  Meeropol published the poem under the title "Bitter Fruit" in 1937 in The New York Teacher, a union magazine of the Teachers Union.  Though Meeropol had asked others (notably Earl Robinson) to set his poems to music, he set "Strange Fruit" to music himself. His protest song gained a certain success in and around New York. Meeropol, his wife, and black vocalist Laura Duncan performed it at Madison Square Garden.

One version of events claims that Barney Josephson, the founder of Cafe Society in Greenwich Village, New York's first integrated nightclub, heard the song and introduced it to Billie Holiday.  Other reports say that Robert Gordon, who was directing Billie Holiday's show at Cafe Society, heard the song at Madison Square Garden and introduced it to her.  However the song came to her, Holiday first performed the song at Café Society in 1939. She said that singing it made her fearful of retaliation but, because its imagery reminded her of her father, she continued to sing the piece, making it a regular part of her live performances. Because of the power of the song, Josephson drew up some rules: Holiday would close with it; the waiters would stop all service in advance; the room would be in darkness except for a spotlight on Holiday's face; and there would be no encore. During the musical introduction to the song, Holiday stood with her eyes closed, as if she were evoking a prayer.

Holiday approached her recording label, Columbia, about the song, but the company feared reaction by record retailers in the South, as well as negative reaction from affiliates of its co-owned radio network, CBS.  When Holiday's producer John Hammond also refused to record it, she turned to her friend Milt Gabler, whose Commodore label produced alternative jazz. Holiday sang "Strange Fruit" for him a cappella, and moved him to tears. Columbia gave Holiday a one-session release from her contract so she could record it. Frankie Newton's eight-piece Cafe Society Band was used for the session. Because Gabler worried the song was too short, he asked pianist Sonny White to improvise an introduction. On the recording, Holiday starts singing after 70 seconds. It was recorded on April 20, 1939. Gabler worked out a special arrangement with Vocalion Records to record and distribute the song.

Holiday recorded two major sessions of the song at Commodore, one in 1939 and one in 1944. The song was highly regarded. The 1939 recording eventually sold a million copies, in time becoming Holiday's biggest-selling recording.

Billie Holiday was so well known for her rendition of "Strange Fruit" that "she crafted a relationship to the song that would make them inseparable".  Holiday's 1939 version of the song was included in the National Recording Registry on January 27, 2003.

Some of the other honors bestowed upon Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" are:

• 1999: Time magazine named "Strange Fruit" as "Best Song of the Century" in its issue dated December 31, 1999.
• 2002: The Library of Congress honored the song as one of 50 recordings chosen that year to  be added to the National Recording Registry. 
• 2010: The New Statesman listed it as one of the "Top 20 Political Songs".
• 2011: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution listed the song as Number One on "100 Songs of the South".

1930 Chronology Appendix 7: Abel Meeropol

APPENDIX 7

ABEL MEEROPOL

Abel Meeropol (February 10, 1903 – October 29, 1986) was an American songwriter and poet whose works were published under his pseudonym, Lewis Allan. He wrote "Strange Fruit" (1937), which was recorded by Billie Holiday.  At the time, Meeropol was a member of the American Communist Party, but he would later quit.

Meeropol was born in 1903 to Russian Jewish immigrants in The Bronx, New York City. Meeropol graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1921. Meeropol earned a bachelor of arts degree from City College of New York, and a master of arts degree from Harvard.  He taught English at DeWitt Clinton High School for 17 years. During his tenure, Meeropol taught the notable author and racial justice advocate, James Baldwin.

Meeropol wrote the anti-lynching poem "Strange Fruit" (1937), which was first published as "Bitter Fruit" in a Teachers Union publication. He later set it to music. The song was recorded and performed by Billie Holiday and Nina Simone among other artists. Holiday claimed in the book Lady Sings the Blues that she co-wrote the music to the song with Meeropol and Sonny White. 

Meeropol wrote numerous poems and songs, including the Frank Sinatra and Josh White hit "The House I Live In."  He also wrote the libretto of Robert Kurka's opera The Good Soldier Svejk (1957), which was premiered in 1958 by the New York City Opera. 

The songs "Strange Fruit" and "The House I Live In," along with the Peggy Lee hit "Apples, Peaches and Cherries," provided most of the royalty income for the Meeropol family. 

Meeropol was a communist and sympathetic to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.  Later, he and his wife Anne adopted the Rosenbergs' two sons, Michael and Robert, who were orphaned after their parents' executions for espionage. Michael and Robert took the surname Meeropol.

Meeropol died on October 29, 1986, at the Jewish Nursing Home in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. 

1930 Chronology Appendix 6: James Cameron

APPENDIX 6

JAMES CAMERON

***

James Cameron (b. February 25, 1914, La Crosse, Wisconsin – d. June 11, 2006, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) was an American civil rights activist. In the 1940s, he founded three chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Indiana. He also served as Indiana's State Director of the Office of Civil Liberties from 1942 to 1950.

In the 1950s, he moved with his family to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he continued as an activist and started speaking on African-American history. In 1988, he founded America's Black Holocaust Museum in the city, devoted to African-American history from slavery to the present.

Cameron was a survivor of a lynching attempt, which occurred when he was a 16-year-old suspect in a murder/robbery case in Marion, Indiana; two older teenagers were killed by the mob.

Cameron was born on February 25, 1914, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, to James Herbert Cameron and Vera Carter. After his father left the family, they moved to Birmingham, Alabama, and then to Marion, Indiana. When James was 14, his mother remarried.

In August 1930, when Cameron was 16 years old, he went out with two older teenage African-American friends, Thomas Shipp (age 18) and Abram Smith (age 19). A white couple, Claude Deeter (age 23) and Mary Ball, was parked in a lovers lane when the trio came upon them and one of the group suggested robbing the couple. Later, Shipp and Smith killed Deeter.  Deeter's girlfriend, Mary Ball, was with him, and said she had been raped.  Cameron said he ran away before Deeter was killed.  The three youths were caught quickly, arrested, and charged the same night with robbery, murder and rape.  (The rape charge was later dropped, as Ball retracted it.)

A lynch mob broke into the jail where Cameron and his two friends were being held. According to Cameron's account, a lynch mob gathered at the Grant County Courthouse Square and took all three youths from the jail. The older two, Shipp and Smith, were killed first.  Shipp was taken out and beaten, and hanged from the bars of his jail window. Smith was dead from the beating he received from the mob.   The mob then hanged both of the boys from a tree in the square.

Then came Cameron's turn.

In his autobiography, Cameron recalled the raw, inhuman sound of the mob, which included members of the local Ku Klux Klan. He once said he still could remember the faces of the 2,000 white people who gathered there, some with their children, some eating. He prayed for his life.

Cameron was beaten and a noose was put around his neck. Then, as the noose grew tighter around his neck, the voice of an unidentified woman called out: "Take this boy back. He had nothing to do with any raping or shooting of anybody." Frank Faunce, a local sports hero and football All-American from Indiana University also intervened and removed the noose from Cameron's neck, saying he deserved a fair trial. Faunce then escorted the young man back to  the jail. Cameron's neck was long scarred from the rope.

Flossie Bailey, a local NAACP official, and the State Attorney General worked to gain indictments against leaders of the mob in the lynchings but were unsuccessful. No one was ever charged in the murders of Shipp and Smith, nor for the assault on Cameron.

Cameron was convicted at a trial in 1931 as an accessory before the fact to the murder of Deeter, and served four years of his sentence in a state prison. After he was paroled, he moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he worked at Stroh Brewery Company and attended Wayne State University.

(In 1991, Cameron was pardoned by the state of Indiana.)

Cameron studied at Wayne State University to become a boiler engineer and worked in that field until he was 65. At the same time, he continued to study lynchings, race, and civil rights in America and trying to teach others.

Because of his personal experience, Cameron dedicated his life to promoting civil rights, racial unity, and equality. While he worked in a variety of jobs in Indiana during the 1940s, he founded three chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).  This was a period when the Ku Klux Klan was still active in the Midwest, although its numbers had decreased since its peak in the 1920s. Cameron established and became the first president of the NAACP Madison County chapter in Anderson, Indiana. 

He also served as the Indiana State Director of Civil Liberties from 1942 to 1950. In this capacity, Cameron reported to Governor of Indiana Henry Schricker on violations of the "equal accommodations" laws designed to end segregation. During his eight-year tenure, Cameron investigated more than 25 incidents of civil rights infractions. He faced violence and death threats because of his work.

The emotional toll of threats led Cameron to search for a safer home for his wife and five children. Planning to move to Canada, they decided on Milwaukee when he found work there. There Cameron continued his work in civil rights by assisting in protests to end segregated housing in the city. He also participated in both marches on Washington in the 1960s, the first with Martin Luther King, Jr., and the second with King's widow Coretta and Jesse Jackson. 

Cameron studied history on his own and lectured on the African-American experience. From 1955 to 1989 he published hundreds of articles and booklets detailing civil rights and occurrences of racial injustices, including "What is Equality in American Life?"; "The Lingering Problem of Reconstruction in American Life: Black Suffrage"; and "The Second Civil Rights Bill". In 1982 he published his memoir, A Time of Terror: A Survivor's Story.

Cameron worked in a brewery for a few years and at Milprint packaging company awhile. He also went to a trade school to become a boiler engineer. He worked at one of the biggest malls in Milwaukee, Mayfair Shopping Center, until age 65. He also owned a rug-cleaning business, which afforded him the chance to travel.

After being inspired by a visit with his wife to the Yad Vashem memorial in Israel, Cameron founded  America's Black Holocaust Museum in 1988. He used material from his collections to document the struggles of African Americans in the United States, from slavery through lynchings, and the 20th-century civil rights movement. When he first started collecting materials about slavery, he kept the materials in his basement. Working with others to build support for the museum, he was aided by philanthropist Daniel Bader. 

The museum started as a grassroots effort and became one of the largest African-American museums in the country.  In 2008, the museum closed because of financial problems. It reopened on Cameron's birthday, February 25, 2012, as a virtual museum.

Cameron and his wife, Virginia Hamilton, had five children. He died on June 11, 2006, at the age of 92, from congestive heart failure.  He is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee. Two sons, David and James, had died before him. He was survived by his wife Virginia and three children: Virgil, Walter, and Dolores Cameron, and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

***

August 1930 Chronology

1930

Pan-African Chronology

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August

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August 2

*Bobbie Beard, an African American child actor best known for portraying "Cotton" in several Our Gang short films from 1932 to 1934, was born in Los Angeles, California.

Bobbie Beard (b. August 2, 1930, Los Angeles, California – d. October 16, 1999, Los Angeles, California) was a native of Los Angeles, California. His older brother was Matthew "Stymie" Beard, one of the series' most popular and best-remembered characters.

As older brother Stymie was the main breadwinner for the Beard family, his success with the Our Gang series opened the door for his siblings. Bobbie Beard appeared as Stymie's younger brother in Hi'-Neighbor!, Forgotten Babies, Fish Hooky, A Lad an' a Lamp and Birthday Blues. His most memorable appearance was in A Lad an' a Lamp, in which Spanky McFarland keeps wishing that Cotton could be a monkey. Despite his notable presence in several films, Beard never spoke a word.

After departing Our Gang, Beard became an auction dealer in the Los Angeles area. In later years, Beard worked at the Hillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles and became good friends with Groucho Marx.  He later served in the Korean War, and spent his final years working for the Los Angeles School Board. 

Beard died on October 16, 1999.

*****

*Eddie Locke, a jazz drummer who became a member of the Coleman Hawkins Quartet in the 1960s, was born in Detroit, Michigan.

Eddie Locke (b. August 2, 1930, Detroit, Michigan - d. September 7, 2009, Ramsey, New Jersey) was a part of the fertile and vibrant Detroit jazz scene during the 1940s and 1950s, which brought forth many great musicians including the Jones brothers (Hank, Thad, and Elvin), Kenny Burrell, Lucky Thompson, Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris,  and so many others.  

Locke began playing the drums when he was six or seven, sometimes using a homemade drum kit until his family could afford a real drum set.  Mostly self-taught, Locke performed in a popular vaudeville act Bop & Locke, along with fellow drummer, Oliver Jackson.  Bop & Locke played the Apollo Theater. 

Locke moved to New York City in 1954, and worked there with Dick Wellstood, Tony Parenti, Red Allen, Willie "The Lion" Smith, and Teddy Wilson amongst others. During this time he came under the tutelage of the great Jo Jones, and eventually became known as a driving and swinging drummer who kept solid time and supported the soloist.  Locke's big break in the big city was a regular job at The Metropole jazz club, one of the important spots in the New York jazz club scene of the '50s.  In 1958, he was hired by Eldridge with whom he performed for many years.  Locke appears on Eldridge's Swingin' on the Town for Verve in 1960, as well as on several other Eldridge recording dates and the two frequently performed together at Jimmy Ryan's club, where they were the house band off and on for about 15 years.  He also had a close relationship with Coleman Hawkins, with whom he performede until Hawkins' death in 1969.  Locke is featured on many Hawkins' albums, including In A Mellow Tone and for  Prestige and Wrapped Tight for Impulse.  Locke also performed and recorded regularly with guitarist Kenny Burrell.

A quintessential sideman, Locke did form a group with Roland Hanna in the 1980s and in later years led his own band when he could.  But for the majority of this career, he was better known as a first call drummer for jazz performances in New York. Locke was also one of the subjects from the famous photograph "A Great Day in Harlem" shot in 1958 by Art Kane.  At just 28 years of age, he was one of the youngest jazz artists appearing in the photo.  
Besides a very active performing schedule, Locke also found time to teach music both privately and at the High School of Performing Arts and the Trevor Day Music School in New York City.  He was beloved by his students and proteges, many of whom went on to great success as professional jazz musicians. 

Eddie died on Monday morning, September 7, 2009, in Ramsey, New Jersey.

*****

August 6

*Abbey Lincoln, an American jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress, who wrote and performed her own compositions, was born in Chicago, Illinois.

Anna Marie Wooldridge (b. August 6, 1930, Chicago, Illinois – d. August 14, 2010, New York City, New York), known by her stage name Abbey Lincoln, was born in Chicago but raised in Calvin Center, Cass County, Michigan, Lincoln was one of many singers influenced by Billie Holiday.  She often visited the Blue Note jazz club in New York City. Her debut album, Abbey Lincoln's Affair – A Story of a Girl in Love, was followed by a series of albums for Riverside Records.  In 1960 she sang on Max Roach's landmark civil rights-themed recording, We Insist! Lincoln’s lyrics were often connected to the civil rights movement in America.

During the 1980s, Lincoln’s creative output was smaller and she released only a few albums during that decade. Her song "For All We Know" is featured in the 1989 film Drugstore Cowboy.  During the 1990s and until her death, however, she fulfilled a 10-album contract with Verve Records. After a tour of Africa in the mid-1970s, she adopted the name Aminata Moseka. 

The Verve Records albums are highly regarded and represent a crowning achievement in Lincoln’s career. Devil’s Got Your Tongue (1992) featured Rodney Kendrick, Grady Tate, J. J. Johnson, Stanley Turrentine, Babatunde Olatunji and The Staple Singers, among others. In 2003, Lincoln received a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Award.  In 1956 Lincoln appeared in The Girl Can't Help It,  for which she wore a dress that had been worn by Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), and interpreted the theme song, working with Benny Carter. She also played a dancing housekeeper in the film.

With Ivan Dixon, she co-starred in Nothing But a Man (1964), an independent film written and directed by Michael Roemer.  In 1968 she also co-starred with Sidney Poitier and Beau Bridges in For Love of Ivy, and received a 1969 Golden Globe nomination for her appearance in the film.

Television appearances began in 1968 with The Name of the Game.  In March 1969 for WGBH-TV Boston,  in one episode of a 10-episode series of individual dramas written, produced and performed by blacks, "On Being Black," was her work in Alice Childess' Wine in the Wilderness. She later appeared in Mission: Impossible (1971), the telemovie Short Walk to Daylight (1972),  Marcus Welby, M. D. (1974), and All in the Family (1978).

In the 1990 Spike Lee movie Mo' Better Blues, Lincoln played the young Bleek's mother, Lillian.  Lincoln was married from 1962 to 1970 to drummer Max Roach, whose daughter from a previous marriage, Maxine, appeared on several of Lincoln’s albums.

Lincoln died on August 14, 2010 in Manhattan, eight days after her 80th birthday.

*****

*Robert Blair, a gospel musician and leader of The Fantastic Violinaires, was born.

Robert Earl Blair (b. August 6, 1930 – d. March 19, 2001) was the leader of The Fantastic Violinaires originating from Detroit, Michigan, from 1965 until his death. He started his music career, in 1965, with the release of Stand by Me by Checker Records. His third album, The Pink Tornado, was released in 1988 by Atlanta International Records, and this was his breakthrough release upon the Billboard magazine Gospel Albums chart. He released fourteen albums over the course of his career.

His music recording career commenced in 1965, with the album, Stand by Be, and it was released by Checker Records.  He released an album in 1988 with Atlanta International Records, The Pink Tornado, and it was his breakthrough release upon the Billboard magazine Gospel Albums chart at No. 34. His music career ended at his death in 2001, and by that time he released fourteen albums with several labels.

Blair died on March 19, 2001 of a heart attack.

*****

August 7

*Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith were lynched in Marion, Indiana.  There were beaten and hanged.  James Cameron survived. This would be the last recorded lynching of African Americans in the Northern United States.

On August 7, 1930, a large white mob used tear gas, crowbars, and hammers to break into the Grant County Jail in Marion, Indiana, to seize and lynch three young black men who had been accused of murder and assault. Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, both 19 years old were severely beaten and hanged, while the third young man, 16-year-old James Cameron, was badly beaten but not killed.  Photographs of the brutal lynching were shared widely, featuring clear images of the crowd posing beneath the hanging corpses, but no one was ever prosecuted or convicted.  The haunting images inspired writer Abel Meeropol to compose the poem that later became the song "Strange Fruit".

***

J. Thomas Shipp and Abraham S. Smith were young African-American men who were murdered in a spectacle lynching by a mob of thousands on August 7, 1930, in Marion, Indiana. They were taken from jail cells, beaten, and hanged from a tree in the county courthouse square. They had been arrested that night as suspects in a robbery, murder and rape case. A third African-American suspect, 16-year-old James Cameron, had also been arrested but he narrowly escaped being killed by the mob. An unknown woman and a local sports hero intervened, and he was returned to jail. Cameron later stated that Shipp and Smith had committed the murder but that he had run away before that event.

The local chapter of the NAACP had tried to evacuate the suspects from town to avoid the mob violence, but were not successful. The NAACP and the State's Attorney General pressed to indict leaders of the lynch mob, but, as was typical in lynchings, no one was ever charged for the deaths of Shipp and Smith, nor for the attack on Cameron.

Cameron was later convicted and sentenced as an accessory to murder before the fact. He served some time in prison, then pursued work and an education. After dedicating his life to civil rights activism, in 1991, Cameron was pardoned by the state of Indiana.

Shipp, Smith and Cameron had been arrested the night before on August 6, 1930, charged with robbing and murdering a white factory worker, Claude Deeter, and raping his girlfriend, Mary Ball, who was with him at the time.

A large crowd broke into the jail with sledgehammers, pulled out the three suspects, beating them and hanging them. When Abram Smith tried to free himself from the noose as his body was hauled up, he was lowered and men broke his arms to prevent such efforts. Police officers in the crowd cooperated in the lynching. The third suspect, 16-year-old James Cameron,  narrowly escaped death thanks to an unidentified woman who said that the youth had nothing to do with the rape or murder.

A local studio photographer, Lawrence Beitler,  took a photograph of the dead men hanging from a tree surrounded by the large lynch mob.  The crowd was estimated at 5,000 and included women and children. He sold thousands of copies of the photograph over the next ten days.

Mary Ball later testified that she had not been raped. According to Cameron's 1982 memoir, the police had originally accused all three men of murder and rape. After the lynchings, and Mary Ball's testimony, the rape charge was dropped against Cameron. However, Cameron did admit in interviews that Shipp and Smith had shot and killed Claude Deeter.

Flossie Bailey, a local NAACP official in Marion, and Attorney General James M. Ogden worked to gain indictments against leaders of the mob in the lynchings, but the Grant County grand jury refused to return an indictment. Attorney General Ogden then brought charges against four leaders of the mob, as well as bringing impeachment proceedings against the Grant County sheriff who had refused to intervene. All-white Grant County juries returned "not guilty" verdicts for all of the leaders charged.

James Cameron was tried in 1931 as an accessory to murder before the fact, convicted and sentenced to state prison for several years. After being released on parole, he moved to Detroit, where he worked and went to college. In the 1940s, Cameron returned to Indiana, working as a civil rights activist and heading a state agency for equal rights. In the 1950s, he moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  There, in 1988, Cameron founded America's Black Holocaust Museum,  for African-American history and documentation of lynchings of African Americans.

Some other interesting notes about the lynching and the aftermath include the following:

• The night of the lynching, studio photographer Lawrence Beitler took a photograph of the crowd surrounding the bodies of the two men hanging from a tree. He sold thousands of copies over the next 10 days. The photograph became an iconic image of a spectacle lynching.

• In 1937, Abel Meeropol, a Jewish schoolteacher from New York City and later the adoptive father of the sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, saw a copy of Beitler's 1930 photograph. Meeropol later said that the photograph "haunted [him] for days" and inspired his poem "Bitter Fruit". It was published in the New York Teacher in 1937 and later in the magazine New Masses, in both cases under the pseudonym Lewis Allan. Meeropol set his poem to music, renaming it "Strange Fruit".  Meeropol performed it at a labor meeting in Madison Square Garden.  In 1939, the song was performed, recorded and popularized by the iconic  American jazz singer Billie Holiday. The song reached 16th place on the charts in July 1939, and has since been recorded by numerous artists, continuing into the 21st century.

• After years as a civil rights activist, in 1988, James Cameron founded and became director of America's Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,  devoted to African-American history in the United States. He intended it as a place for education and reconciliation.

• In 2007, artist David Powers supervised the creation of a mural, titled American Nocturne, in a park in downtown Elgin, Illinois. The mural depicts the bottom half of the Beitler photograph, showing the crowd at the lynching but not the bodies of Shipp and Smith.  The artwork was intended as a critique of racism in American society.  After it had been displayed without controversy for nearly a decade, in 2016, dissension was generated after someone posted images of the mural and lynching photo together on social media, and its origin was seen. The mural was moved from the park to the Hemmens Cultural Center. After hearing public comment, the Elgin Cultural Arts Commission recommended to the city council that the mural be permanently removed from public display. In May 2018, the artist formally requested the mural be returned to him. Thereafter, the Commission sought to formalize a response, which may include returning the artwork to the artist, loaning it out, or donating it to a local nonprofit or educational institution.

***

(See also Appendix 5: A Chronological Listing of Lynchings.)

(See also Appendix 6: James Cameron.)

(See also Appendix 7: Abel Meeropol.)

(See also Appendix 8: "Strange Fruit".)

(See also Appendix 9: The Song of the Century.)

***


*****

*Edward Willard Bates, a prominent African American who served as a physician and surgeon in the 368th Ambulance Company in the 317th Sanitary (Medical) Train of the 92nd Division during World War I, died in Los Angeles, California.  For his bravery in battle, he was recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC). 

Edward Bates (b. November 4, 1884, Dallas, Texas – d. August 7, 1930, Los Angeles, California)  was born on November 4, 1884 to John W. and Tyria Norwood Bates in Dallas, Texas.

Both of Bates' parents were Texas natives and were well involved in the local Baptist community. This was more defined by Bates when he entered Bishop College which was located in Marshall, Texas. Bishop College is a historically black university which relocated to Dallas in the late 20th century. It remained open until 1988 when a scandal forced the institution to close. Bates did not end his education there as he soon entered Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee.  He was a classmate and later fellow soldier of Dr. Everett R. Bailey. According to a the commencement pamphlet released on the day of his graduation on April 14, 1910, Bates was a class orator for the medical school graduates. Though Bates was listed to be from Dallas, he soon relocated to Louisville, Kentucky, and opened a medical practice in 1912. However, his time in Louisville reminded Bates of the systematic racism that still existed despite his advanced education.

In 1917, the United States joined World War I to help the Allies. The United States military urged physicians to sign up due to the shortage, and when Bates was 33 years old he volunteered for service.

Like the majority of the African-American recruits, Bates was sent for basic training at Fort Des Moines Provisional Army Officer Training School.  He was commissioned with the rank of First Lieutenant.  Fort Des Moines had been opened for training African-American men as there had been a huge influx of African-American volunteers and a petition had been initiated by the students of Howard University calling for the use of African American troops.  However, despite the hope for a new recognition and appreciation, there was still discontent at the facility as many soldiers found that they were being unfairly assessed for merely being black. After being trained, Bates was assigned to the 368th Ambulance Company of the 317th Sanitary (Medical Train) of the 92nd Division.

Once in France, the 92nd Division was essentially assigned to France to assist the French troops, as General Pershing did not want to utilize the African-American soldiers. The French were extremely relieved at the reinforcements as the Germans were hitting them aggressively. Soon after arriving in France, Dr. Bates's surgical abilities were questioned by the Lieutenant Colonel. According to records, Bates had scored around 50% on his military and medical subjects back in the United States, which made the Lieutenant Colonel want to re-evaluate Bates before sending him into the field. Bates retook the exam and proved his ability and was soon sent over to the Gas Defense School. 

The troops in France were facing repeated gas attacks from the Germans. In early October 1918, a couple weeks before the war ended, the entire Division was sent over to the Marbache sector in France and faced an aggressive assault by the Germans. Lieutenant Bates proved his capability during the attack.  One of the company commanders, a Captain Kennedy, had been gassed and wounded.  He was in the Aide Station when the German assault began.  Despite enduring intense shell fire,Lieutenant Bates helped to carry Captain Kennedy from the Aide Station to the Ambulance Station. For this meritorious service, the next day Captain Kennedy recommended Lieutenant Bates for the Distinguished Service Cross.

When the war concluded, Bates moved back to Louisville to continue his medical practice.

Bates died unexpectedly in his home on August 7, 1930. It was reported in the Chicago Defender that Bates died of a heart attack, however, an autopsy revealed that he died from a combination of mitral stenosis and nephritis (kidney disease).

Bates married Sadie B. Bates after he returned from the war and they remained together until his death in 1930. 

July 1930 Chronology

1930

Pan-African Chronology

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July

*****

July 2

*Ahmad Jamal,  (b. Frederick Russell Jones), an American jazz pianist known for his rendition of But Not ForMe, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

Ahmad Jamal (b. Frederick Russell Jones, July 2, 1930, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) began playing piano at the age of three, when his uncle Lawrence challenged him to duplicate what he was doing on the piano. Jamal began formal piano training at the age of seven with Mary Cardwell Dawson, whom he describes as greatly influencing him. His Pittsburgh roots remained an important part of his identity and it was there that he was immersed in the influence of jazz artists such as Earl Hines, Billy Strayhorn, Mary Lou Williams, and Erroll Garner. Jamal also studied with pianist James Miller and began playing piano professionally at the age of fourteen, at which point he was recognized as a "coming great" by the pianist Art Tatum. 

Born to Baptist parents in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jamal did not discover Islam until his early 20s. While touring in Detroit (where there was a sizable Muslim community in the 1940s and 1950s), Jamal became interested in Islam and Islamic culture. He converted to Islam and changed his name to Ahmad Jamal in 1950. In an interview with The New York Times a few years later, Jamal said his decision to change his name stemmed from a desire to "re-establish my original name." In 1986, Jamal sued critic Leonard Feather for using his former name in a publication.

After the recording of the best-selling album But Not For Me, Jamal's music grew in popularity throughout the 1950s. In 1959, he took a tour of North Africa to explore investment options in Africa. Jamal, who was twenty-nine at the time, said he had a curiosity about the homeland of his ancestors, highly influenced by his conversion to the Muslim faith. He also said his religion had brought him peace of mind about his race, which accounted for his "growth in the field of music that has proved very lucrative for me."

Upon his return to the United States after a tour of North Africa, the financial success of Live at the Pershing: But Not For Me allowed Jamal to open a restaurant and club called The Alhambra in Chicago. In 1962, The Three Strings disbanded and Jamal moved to New York City, where, at the age of 32, he took a three-year hiatus from his musical career.

In 1964, Jamal resumed touring and recording, this time with the bassist Jamil Nasser and recorded a new album, Extensions, in 1965. Jamal and Nasser continued to play and record together from 1964 to 1972. He also joined forces with Vernel Fournier (again, but only for about a year) and drummer Frank Gant (1966–76), among others. He continued to play throughout the 1970s and 1980s, mostly in trios with piano, bass and drums, but he occasionally expanded the group to include guitar. One of his most long-standing gigs was as the band for the New Year's Eve celebrations at Blues Alley in Washington, D. C., from 1979 through the 1990s. Until 1970, he played acoustic piano exclusively. The final album on which he played acoustic piano in the regular sequence was The Awakening. In the 1970s, Jamal played electric piano as well. 

In 1985, Jamal agreed to do an interview and recording session with his fellow jazz pianist, Marian McPartland on her NPR show Piano Jazz. Jamal, who said he rarely plays "But Not For Me" due to its popularity since his 1958 recording, played an improvised version of the tune – though only after noting that he has moved on to making ninety percent of his repertoire his own compositions. He said that when he grew in popularity from the Live at the Pershing album, he was severely criticized afterwards for not playing any of his own compositions.

In 1994, Mr. Jamal received the American Jazz Masters fellowship award from the National Endowment for the Arts.  The same year he was named a Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale University, where he performed commissioned works with the Assai String Quartet. 

In 2007 the French Government inducted Mr. Jamal into the prestigious Order of the Arts and Letters by French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, naming him Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.   

Mr. Jamal’s previous recording A Quiet Time (Dreyfus Records), released in January 2010, was the number No. 1 CD on jazz radio for the year 2010.  Also in 2010 the French Jazz Academy has voted "The Complete Ahmad Jamal Trio Argo Sessions 1956-1962" released by Mosaïc "Best reissue of the year with outstanding research work".  
 
In December of 2011, Mr. Jamal was enshrined into DownBeat’s 76th Reader’s Poll Hall of Fame.  

*****

July 3

*Ronnell Bright, a jazz pianist and actor, was born in Chicago, Illinois.

Ronnell Bright (b. July 3, 1930, Chicago, Illinois), a jazz pianist, also dabbled in the area of acting,  Bright made a guest appearance as a piano player in the Season 1 episode of The Jeffersons titled "Lionel, The Playboy". as well as similar cameo appearances on two other hit 1970's TV series, CBS-TV's The Carol Burnett Show, and NBC-TV's Sanford and Son.

Bright played piano from a very young age, and won a piano competition when he was nine years old. In 1944, he played with the Chicago Youth Piano Symphony Orchestra. He studied at Juilliard, graduating early in the 1950s. Moving back to Chicago, he played with Johnny Tate and accompanied Carmen McRae before relocating to New York City in 1955. There he played with Rolf Kuhn and put together his own trio in 1957. In 1957-58, he was with Dizzy Gillespie, and acted as an accompanist for Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, and Gloria Lynne over the next few years. His compositions were recorded by Vaughan as well as by Cal Tjader, Horace Silver, and Blue Mitchell. In 1964, Bright became Nancy Wilson's arranger and pianist after moving to Los Angeles. Later in the decade he found work as a studio musician, playing in Supersax from 1972 to 1974.

*****

July 4

*Ancella Bickley, a historian known for her role in preserving African Amercan history in West Virginia, was born in Huntington, West Virginia.

Ancella Radford Bickley (b. July 4, 1930, Huntington, West Virginia) earned a bachelor's degree in English from West Virginia State College, now West Virginia State University, in 1950,  a master's degree in English from Marshall University  (where she was the first full-time African American student) in 1954, and an Ed. D. in English from West Virginia University in 1974.

With Lynda Ann Ewen, she co-edited Memphis Tennessee Garrison: The Remarkable Story of a Black Appalachian Woman, published by Ohio University Press. Bickley authored stories and articles in West Virginia's cultural magazine, Goldenseal.  She also conducted and published interviews at Marshall University for the Oral History of Appalachia Program.

In 1993, Bill Drennen, commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, recorded a thirty-minute interview with Bickley for the Cultural Conversations series.

Bickley was a Rockefeller Foundation Scholar funded through the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Gender in Appalachia (CSEGA) at Marshall University, in 1999.

The West Virginia State Archives house a collection of documents gifted to them by Bickley, half of the materials relating to the annual West Virginia Conferences on Black History begun in 1988. Another portion of materials donated pertain to the Alliance for the Collection, Preservation, and Dissemination of West Virginia's Black History.

July 7

*Victor Pascall, a Trinidadian cricketer who represented the West Indies in the days before they achieved Test status, died in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Victor S. Pascall (b. 1886, Diego Martin, Trinidad – d. July 7, 1930, Port of Spain, Trinidad) was primarily used as a left-arm spinner, but he was also regarded as a reasonable batsman. Pascall was related to the Constantine family.  He was the maternal uncle of Elias and Learie Constantine and may have been a coaching influence on the latter. At the time he played, critics considered him the best left-arm spinner in the West Indies.

Pascall was born in Diego Martin, Trinidad, at some time in 1886. His parents were Yoruba from West Africa who were brought to South America as slaves. According to family legend, Pascall's father, Ali, escaped as a child and sailed to Trinidad. Ali lived to be around 100 years old and maintained some African traditions in the family.

Pascall first played for Trinidad in 1906, making his first-class debut and taking a wicket in the final of the Inter-Colonial Tournament.  From 1909, he played regularly on the team and appeared in the Inter-Colonial tournament until 1927. In total, he played 24 times for Trinidad to score 513 runs at a batting average of 15.08 and took 102 wickets at a bowling average of 17.39. He twice played innings of over 50 runs and took more than five wickets in six innings. He first represented a combined West Indies team in 1913 when he took four wickets for 83 runs for West Indies against a Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) team which was touring the region. Then in 1923, he was chosen as part of the West Indies team which toured England. Pascall played 19 matches on the tour and took 52 wickets at an average of 24.30. His best figures were five for 67 against Cambridge University and six for 77 against MCC at Lord's Cricket Ground. His final appearances for West Indies came in 1926. In 22 games for teams styled "West Indies" or "West Indians", Pascall hit 268 runs at an average of 10.31 and took 59 wickets at 25.20. In all first-class cricket, he hit 859 runs at an average of 13.63, with a top score of 92 against Barbados in 1922, and took 171 wickets at 20.09, with best figures of six for 26 against British Guiana, also in 1922.

In Trinidad, Pascall represented the Shannon team and was used as the third bowler. The Shannon club was made up of members of the black lower-middle classes, and contained several international players. The team played in a highly competitive manner and were passionately supported by their spectators. Shannon players took part in games in a serious manner and were not given to smiling on the field, but Pascall, while a formidable opponent, was more friendly. The people of Trinidad regarded Pascall with great affection, as he was a most charming person and a great popular favorite with all classes on the island.


*****

July 10

*Ganiyu Bello, a prominent Yoruba community leader and business tycoon, was born in Oyo State, Nigeria.

Ganiyu Akanbi Bello (b. July 10, 1930, Oyo State, Nigeria – d. June 5, 2014, Kano, Nigeria), a Yoruba community ambassador in Kano, was the chairman and chief executive of Criss Cross Ltd.  He was popularly known as G A Bello.

Bello was born in Oyo State, Nigeria, on July 10, 1930, to Abdullahi Yusuf and Sinota Bello, the second of three children. Both parents died while he was a child and he was sent to live with his uncle who refused to send him to school. He left his uncle and started cutting wood in order to fund his school fees.

Bello married Sakirat Ayoka Ogabi Bello in approximately 1959. Their first child named Tawakalitu Bello Sanusi, was followed by Moriliatu Bisola Bello Sanusi, Basira Biodun Bello Oyefeso, and a son Nurudeen Bello. Between 1966 and 1967, during the Nigerian Civil War, known as the Biafran War, Bello sent his wife and children to Lagos while he remained in Kano. His family returned shortly after to join him, and they had their fifth child, Shamsideen Bello. His sixth child, Fausat Bello, was born around 1970 but died of measles as an infant.

In 1950, Bello joined the Nigerian Police under British colonial rule. During the time, he was a police officer, his closest friend was Ado Bayero,  the Chief of the Nigerian Police Force who was later appointed Emir of Kano in 1963. He resigned around 1958 and founded a company which dealt in Building and Civil Engineering.

His company was the first to build a multi-story building in Kano on Odutola Street which was a residential estate. He later bought his first private residence along Abedee Street Sabon Gari, Kano. He opened the first filling station in Kano in 1968 and behind it he opened a club known as the Criss Cross Club which sold drinks, chicken, and pepper soup. His company built its first hotel, the Criss Cross Hotel, in 1971. His second hotel, known as Gab Hotel, and built in 1980.

His two eldest daughters, Tawakalitu and Moriliatu, married on the same day in 1988. Tawa married Dr. Lukman Sanusi while Morili married Retired Colonel Olawale Sanusi. In 1989, his youngest daughter, Basira, married Sakiru Olanipekun Oyefeso, the founder and managing director of Standard Trust Assurance Company. His eldest son, Nuru, married Salawat Titilope.

From 1990 to 2000, G. A. Bello was the Vice-Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association (IPMAN) in the Kano Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC).

Even though Bello only had a secondary school education, he was a great believer in it and each of his children attended university.

Bello was an advocate of unity in Kano. He encouraged the government to foster unity between the different tribes in Kano State. He advised the government to encourage Nigerians to stop tribalism and live in harmony. This encouraged the Yorubas to continue to live in Kano. In January 2006, Bello served as the acting Oba of the Yoruba Community in Kano State for sixty days.

Bello contributed to many Islamic causes in Kano including the construction of two Juma't Mosques built in Sabon Gari, a non-native's settlement area. The first mosque was built around 1982 at Nomans Land, Kano and it was commissioned by the Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero. In early 2000, he built a second mosque, the Ahammadiya Mosque along Emir Road, for the Ahmadiya Muslims.

Bello donated millions of naira (the currency of Nigeria) to charity related issues, including the Rotary International.  He donated equally generously to communities, Mosques and Churches. This earned him a long list of honorary awards.

Bello held many Chieftaincy titles such as: Aarre Egbe Omo Balogun Maiyegun of Ibadanland, Babasaiye of Owu, Abeokuta of Ogun State, and Aarre Basorun Timi Agbale of Ede in Osun State.  He was also given an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Business Administration by Kenton University. 

Bello was murdered a month before his 84th birthday on June 5, 2014 by unknown assailants in Kano. He was buried in his residence at Race Course Road. 

Abubakar Abdurrahman Sadiq was caught by Nigerian police in August 2014 and confessed to the murder. Sadiq had broken into Bello's house to steal money and stabbed him when Bello tried to stop him. Sadiq had previously worked in one of Bello's hotels, but was let go for stealing.

*****

July 14

*Albert Beckles, a professional bodybuilder and a three time New York City Night of Champions winner, was born in Barbados.

Albert "Al" Beckles (b. July 14, 1930, Barbados) was born in Barbados but emigrated to London.  In the mid-1960s, he won several British regional titles before winning the 1969 and 1970 National Amateur Body-Builders' Association (NABBA) Mr. Britain titles. In 1971, Beckles joined the International Federation of BodyBuilding and Fitness (IFBB), earning the overall at the IFBB "Mr. Universe."

Beckles was one of the most active participants in bodybuilding history, having been in over 100 contests. In 1982, he won the Night of Champions competition in New York.

Beckles’ 13 forays into the IFBB Mr. Olympia competition yielded six placings among the top five, including coming in second to Lee Haney in 1985.

In 1991, at the age of 61 years, Beckles won the Niagara Falls Pro Invitational.

July 24

*Charles Decatur Brooks, a Seventh-day Adventist evangelist best known for his Breath of Life television ministry.

Charles Decatur Brooks, also known as C. D. Brooks, (b. July 24, 1930, Greensboro, North Carolina - d. June 5, 2016, Laurel, Maryland) was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, on July 24, 1930, the tenth child of Marvin and Mattie Brooks. Although Methodists at the time, shortly after C.D.’s birth the Brooks family began observing the seventh-day Sabbath in honor of a pledge Mattie Brooks made to God while in a hospital bed suffering from a near-fatal illness. Learning more truth years later from reading Ellen G. White's The Great Controversy, C.D., along with his mother and six sisters, was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church on a Sabbath in 1940. In 1947 after attending an evangelistic tent meeting, C.D. remained under the tent long after the last person had departed. “Charles, I want you to make truth clear,” C.D. distinctly heard a voice say, and then had a vision of himself standing behind the pulpit at the front of the tent, proclaiming the truth with power and clarity. Brooks immediately jettisoned his career plans for dentistry for the ministry, setting his sights on Oakwood.

At Oakwood, Brooks met the love of his life, Walterene Wagner, daughter of John H. Wagner, Sr., a stalwart of 20th century black Adventism. Along with other roles, Wagner was the first president of Allegheny Conference, one of the five inaugural leaders of regional conferences in 1945.

In 1951, Brooks graduated from Oakwood College (now Oakwood University) in Huntsville, Alabama, with a degree in theology.
 
Brooks and Walterene were united in marriage on September 14, 1952, at the Ebenezer Seventh-day Adventist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Brooks would go on to serve the Columbia Union as a pastor, evangelist and administrator until 1971, working mostly in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and Ohio.

In 1971. Brooks was asked by General Conference (GC) president Robert Pierson to serve as a field secretary for the Seventh-day Adventist world church, a role he held until 1995, making him the longest tenured field secretary in church history. While serving at the GC, Brooks took on the dual role as speaker/director for the Breath of Life Ministry, a new television ministry of the GC that was produced at the Adventist Media Center in Thousand Oaks, California. Brooks partnered with Walter Arties, Louis B. Reynolds, and the Breath of Life Quartet to produce television programming that reached out to audiences all around the world. As speaker-director of Breath of Life, Brooks took his place among legendary Adventist media revolutionaries such as H.M.S. Richards, George Vandeman, and William Fagal. In 1989 the ministry was broadcast on Black Entertainment Television (BET), and reached a potential audience of more than 90 million people a week.

Brooks was speaker-director of Breath of Life Ministries for 23 years, from 1974 to 1997. In his time at the helm, the ministry brought approximately 15,000 people to Christ, established 15 Breath of Life congregations, and was viewed by untold millions. In 1994 Brooks was inducted into the Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers and Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.

In 1996 health challenges forced Brooks to retire from the General Conference and in 1997 he stepped down as speaker-director for Breath of Life. Brooks had a long and productive retirement and in 2007, in honor of Edward Earl Cleveland, Charles Bradford, and Brooks, the Bradford-Cleveland-Brooks Leadership Center (BCBLC) was established. The center is housed on the campus of Oakwood University in a 10,000-square-foot, $2.5 million state-of-the-art edifice.

On December 1, 2010, the Ellen G. White Estate elected Brooks a lifetime member of the Ellen G. White Estate Board. The North American Division invited Brooks to be its chaplain in residence in 2013, a position he held until his death.

*****

July 25

*Ado Bayero, the Emir of Kano from 1963 to 2014, was born in Kano, Northern Nigeria.

Ado Abdullahi Bayero (b. July 25, 1930, Kano, Northern Nigeria – d. June 6, 2014, Kano, Nigeria) was seen as one of Nigeria's most prominent and revered Muslim leaders.  He was the son of Abdullahi Bayero son of Muhammad Abbas. Ado Bayero was the 13th Fulani emir since the Fulani War of Usman dan Fodio, when the Fulani took over the Hausa city-states. He was one of the strongest and most powerful emirs in the history of the Hausa land. He was renowned for his abundant wealth, maintained by means of stock market investments and large-scale agricultural entrepreneurship both at home and abroad.

Ado Bayero was the son of Abdullahi Bayero, a former emir, who reigned for 27 years. 

Bayero was born to the family of Hajiya Hasiya and Abdullahi Bayero and into the Fulani Sullubawa clan that has presided over the emirate of Kano since 1819. He was the eleventh child of his father and the second of his mother. At the age of seven, he was sent to live with Maikano Zagi.

Bayero started his education in Kano studying Islam, after which he attended Kano Middle School. He graduated from the School of Arabic Studies in 1947. He then worked as a bank clerk for the Bank of British West Africa until 1949, when he joined the Kano Native Authority. He attended Zaria Clerical College in 1952. In 1954, he won a seat to the Northern regional House of Assembly.

He was head of the Kano Native Authority police division from 1957 until 1962, during which he tried to minimize the practice of briefly detaining individuals and political opponents on the orders of powerful individuals in Kano. He then became the Nigerian ambassador to Senegal. During this time he enrolled in a French language class. In 1963, he succeeded Muhammadu Inuwa as Emir of Kano.

Muhammadu Sanusi who was Ado Bayero's half brother ruled after their father from 1953 to 1963. Following his dethronement in 1963, Muhammadu Inuwa ruled only for three months. After Muhammadu's death, Ado Bayero ascended the throne in October 1963. Bayero was the longest-serving emir in Kano's history. Bayero's Palace played host to official visits by many government officials and foreigners.  

Bayero became emir during the first republic, at a time when Nigeria was going through rapid social and political changes and regional, sub-regional and ethnic discord was increasing. In his first few years, two pro-Kano political movements gained support among some Kano elites. The Kano People's Party emerged during the reign of Muhammadu Inuwa  and supported the deposed Emir Sanusi, but it soon evaporated. The Kano State Movement emerged towards the end of 1965 and favored more economic autonomy for the province.

The death in 1966 of many political agitators from northern Nigeria, and the subsequent establishment of a unitary state, consolidated a united front in the northern region but also resulted in a spate of violence there, including in Kano. Bayero's admirers credit him with bringing calm and stability during this and later crises in Kano.

As emir, Bayero became a patron of Islamic scholarship and embraced Western education as a means to succeed in a modern Nigeria. The constitutional powers of the emir were whittled down by the military regimes between 1966 and 1979. The Native Authority Police and Prisons Department was abolished, the emir's judicial council was supplanted by another body, and local government reforms in 1968, 1972, and 1976 reduced the powers of the emir. During the second republic, he witnessed hostilities from the People's Redemption Party led government of Abubakar Rimi.

In 1981, Governor Abubakar Rimi restricted traditional homage paid by village heads to Ado Bayero and excised some domains from his emirate. In 1984, a travel ban was placed on the emir and his friend Okunade Sijuwade.

In 2002, Bayero led a Kano elders forum in opposing the onshore and offshore abrogation bill.

Ado Bayero was seen as a vocal critic of the Islamist group Boko Haram who strongly opposed their campaign against western education.

On January 19, 2013, Bayero survived an assassination attempt blamed on the Islamist group which left two of his sons injured and his driver and bodyguard dead, among others. 

Ado Bayero died on June 6, 2014. He was succeeded by his brother's grandson Muhammadu Sanusi II. 

*****

July 29

*****

*Jim Stewart, the co-founder of Stax Records, was born in Middleton, Tennessee.

James Frank Stewart (known as "Jim Stewart", b. July 29, 1930, Middleton, Tennessee – d. December 5, 2022, Memphis, Tennessee) was an American record producer and executive who in 1957 co-founded, with his sister Estelle, Stax Records, one of the leading recording companies during soul and R&B music's heyday.  The label also scored many hits on the Billboard Hot 100 pop music chart, and internationally, during this time.

Stewart was born on July 29, 1930. Raised on a farm in Middleton, Tennessee, he moved to Memphis in 1948 after graduating from high school, then worked at Sears and the First National Bank before being drafted into the United States Army. After serving for two years, Stewart returned to his job as a bank clerk in Memphis in 1953.

Stewart was a part-time fiddle player and joined a local country music group, the Canyon Cowboys. He worked days as a banker at Union Planters Bank.  In 1957, Stewart launched his own record label, then called Satellite Records, which issued country music and rockabilly records. His sister, Estelle Axton, mortgaged her home to invest in her brother's venture by buying an Ampex 300 tape recorder.

In 1959, the label moved into the former Capitol Theatre in Memphis (The label's name 'STAX' is a combination of STewart and AXton). The auditorium was converted to studio space, and the stage was made into the control room. To save money, Stewart did not level the floor. This created unique acoustics, which are noticeable in the recordings made there, with many featuring a heavy, bassy sound.

Although Stewart initially recorded country music and some rockabilly, several local R&B musicians, including Rufus and CarlaThomas found their way to Stax and also began recording there. With the success of Carla Thomas' "Gee Whiz", Stewart made a distribution deal in 1960 giving Atlantic first choice on releasing Satellite (later Stax) recordings.

After selling millions of records during its history, Stax went bankrupt in 1976. Stewart kept a low profile and intensely protected his privacy. When he was inducted into the Rock and Roll of Fame in 2002, he sent his granddaughter Jennifer to the induction ceremony to accept the award on his behalf.

In 2018, Stewart made a rare public appearance at the Stax Museum to donate his fiddle to the museum.

James "Jim" Stewart died on December 5, 2022 in Memphis, Tennessee, at the age of 92.

Some of the R & B artists who worked with Stewart include: William Bell, Booker T & the MGs, Eddie Floyd, Isaac Hayes, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, and Sam & Dave.