Today In Black History: Gloria Naylor
Award-winning novelist and educator
Issue #606 Today In Black History, Friday, May 17, 2024
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Today’s Black History WOW!
Gloria Naylor was a celebrated African American author known for her powerful storytelling and exploration of the Black experience in America. Born on January 25, 1950,g in New York City, Naylor grew up in a working-class family and graduated from Brooklyn College with a degree in English.
During her studies at Brooklyn College, Naylor became immersed in the works of African-American female authors such as Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, and especially Toni Morrison. Drawing inspiration from these authors, Naylor began writing stories centered on the lives of African-American women.
Naylor's debut novel, The Women of Brewster Place, was published in 1982 and won the 1983 National Book Award in the category of First Novel. The novel, which won the National Book Award for First Novel, tells the interconnected stories of seven Black women living in a housing project in a fictional urban setting. Naylor's vivid portrayal of the characters and their struggles resonated with readers and critics alike. It was adapted as a 1989 television miniseries of the same name by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions.
Naylor went on to publish several more novels and works of nonfiction, including "Linden Hills," "Mama Day," and "Bailey's Cafe," all of which further cemented her reputation as a talented and insightful writer. Throughout her career, Naylor was praised for her lyrical prose, complex characterizations, and unflinching portrayal of Black life in America.
During her career as a professor, Naylor taught writing and literature at several universities.
Her last novel, 1996, was published by Third World Press in 2005. In the fictionalized memoir, she wrote about being surveilled and harassed by the NSA.
Naylor used her platform as a writer to shed light on issues such as racism, sexism, and poverty and was actively involved in various community programs and initiatives aimed at empowering marginalized populations.
Naylor died of a heart attack on September 28, 2016, while visiting St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands. She was 66.
Today In Black History
In 1875, the 1st Kentucky Derby race was won by 19-year-old African American jockey Oliver Lewis, riding the horse Aristides, whose trainer was also African American. Fourteen of the fifteen jockeys in this race were African Americans.
In 1881, Frederick Douglass was appointed as the Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia.
In 1909, white firemen of the Georgia Railroad initiated a strike to protest the hiring of Black railroad workers.
In 1915, the National Baptist Convention was chartered.
In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Earl B. Warren unanimously declared in Brown v Topeka, Kansas Board of Education that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. This decision reversed the 1896 “Separate But Equal” decision of Plessy v Ferguson.
In 1969, W.C. Handy, known as the “Father of the Blues,” was commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp.
In 1969, the previously all-white American Baptist Convention elected Rev. Thomas Kilgore, a Morehouse graduate who also helped found the SCLC, as its first Black president.
In 1980, 16 people were killed and more than 300 people were injured during a race riot in Miami, Florida, after four white policemen were found not guilty of beating a Black man to death.
In 1988, Dr. Patricia E. Bath, a renowned ophthalmologist, received a patent for an apparatus that efficiently removes cataracts using laser technology.
In 1989, anti-apartheid activist and attorney Nelson Mandela received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Africa.
In 1997, Laurent-Désiré Kabilia became the new president of Zaire and renamed the African country “The Democratic Republic of the Congo,” ending the First Congo War.
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