Today in Black History: April 24th
1917 – Ella Fitzgerald, female Jazz singer, Was Born
Born in Virginia on April 25, 1917, Ella grew up in Yonkers, New York in poverty. She developed a love of music from a young age and at 17 won an amateur contest at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Among her hits at the height of her popularity were “Lady Be Good,” “How High the Moon,” “Flying Home,” “Undecided,” and a collection of “Songbooks” with compositions from Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and others. Over the course of her career, Fitzgerald won thirteen Grammys, sold over 40 million records, performed for 58 years, and elevated jazz singing to new heights. She died in Beverly Hills, California in 1996.
1944– United Negro College Fund Founded
The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) was founded on April 25, 1944 in Washington, D.C. by Frederick Patterson, president of the Tuskegee Institute, and Mary McLeod Bethune, an adviser to the Franklin Roosevelt Administration, to provide a steady, consistent stream of funding to 27 financially struggling small historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) scattered across the south. Now, UNCF funds 39 member institutions, providing over $100 million in financial assistance annually to over 65,000 scholars who attend both black and non-African American colleges and universities across the country. Recently the UNCF has begun the Institute for Capacity Building, a competitive grants-awarding program that assists smaller colleges and universities in reaching a wider network of donor support.
1950– Charles “Chuck” Cooper First African American Drafted to the NBA
Cooper, 6′5″, was born on September 29, 1926, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1950, he signed with the Harlem Globetrotters. On April 25, 1950, he became the first African-American drafted into the NBA when the Boston Celtics chose him as the 14th overall pick. He played four years with the Celtics and then was traded to the Milwaukee Hawks. After retiring from professional basketball, he earned a Master of Social Work from the University of Minnesota in 1960. On February 5, 1984, Charles Henry Cooper died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the age of 58. In 2019, Cooper was posthumously inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
