Today in Black History: November 28th
1929 – Berry Gordy is Born
Berry Gordy, Jr. was born on November 28, 1929, in Detroit, Michigan, the seventh of eight children. He founded Motown Records in 1959 with $800 borrowed from family, operating out of his apartment before moving to Hitsville USA in Detroit. He attracted artists like Smokey Robinson and The Supremes, producing 14 number one pop singles from 1964 to 1967. Although Motown’s dominance declined in the 1970s, Gordy sold the company to MCA in 1988 for $61 million, significantly impacting the music industry and elevating African American artists.
1960 – Richard Wright Passes
Richard Wright, born on September 4, 1908, in Roxie, Mississippi, to former slaves, published his first short story in 1924 and moved to Chicago in 1927, where he became a critic of the black urban experience.
Wright moved to New York City in 1937, winning federal writing funding, and published his acclaimed novel Native Son in 1940, which sold over 250,000 copies in three weeks. The novel highlighted the struggles of black residents in Chicago and is considered a landmark in “ghetto realism.” Throughout his career, Wright evolved politically and philosophically, promoting black culture in works like Black Boy (1945). After moving to Paris in 1946, he found a sense of freedom as a writer. Wright died in Paris on November 28, 1960, leaving a lasting legacy as a key figure in 20th-century literature.
2012 – Gloria Davy Passes
Gloria Davy, a rich-voiced lirico-spinto soprano, had a four-decade concert career. She replaced Leontyne Price as Bess in the 1954 international tour of Porgy and Bess and broke color barriers in 1958 as the lead in Aida at the Metropolitan Opera. Born on March 29, 1931, in Brooklyn to Caribbean immigrant parents, Davy graduated from Juilliard in 1953 and won the Marian Anderson Award twice.
After debuting in Nice in 1957, Davy’s groundbreaking performance in Aida at the Met marked a significant achievement. She married Herman Penningsfield in 1959 and continued her career in Europe. Davy died in Geneva on November 28, 2012, at age 81.
