There are some of us who fail to recognize the significance of Blacks, who were first to achieve milestones. The following persons make up a significant list of Black persons who performed firsts. Pittsburgh’s Billy Eckstine was the first Black ballad singer to become successful as a soloist independent of a band. The first lady of jazz, Ella Fitzgerald, recorded more than 250 albums and was the first Black female to win a Grammy. In 1876, Edward Bannister was the first Black to receive full recognition in America as a painter.
In the city of Chicago, in 1972, John H. Johnson, publisher and editor, was the first Black to own a radio station. The first television series sponsored by a Black business was Soul Train by Johnson Products in 1972. Oprah Winfrey became the first Black woman in America to own her own television corporation. In 1939, Edward Davis opened an automobile dealership in Detroit, and became the first not to own one, but three.
In the year 1903 a Black female, Maggie Lena Walker, became the first female president of a bank, Saint Luke Penny Savings, in Richmond, Va. In 1925 A. Phillip Randolph founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. In 2001 William Burrus was installed as president of the American Postal Workers Union, the first Black elected president of a major union. In 1951 the Moore hotel was founded in Montgomery, Ala., the first Black hotel, by Ben Moore.
In 1958, Ruth Jean Bowen became the first Black female to establish a successful booking and talent agency in New York City. In 1995, the first Million Man March was convened by Minister Louis Farrakhan. In 1997 the first Million Woman March was convened in Philadelphia, and the speakers were Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Winnie Mandela, etc. Alan Locke, in 1907, was the first Black to receive the Rhodes Scholar Award.
Can you recall your first Black teacher, principal, Pittsburgh school board chairperson? Do you remember the first Black police officer that you met, male or female?
Can you remember how many Black police chiefs Pittsburgh had? And who were they? Who were the first Blacks to get elected to Pittsburgh City Council, Allegheny County Council, the first Black elected in Western Pa. to the Pa. House of Representatives, and first Black elected to Allegheny County Common Pleas Court? There has not been that many elected collectively that you are unable to count them.
To those of you who question the importance of being first, allow me to explain it to you.
Those of you who have been first send a positive message to others that your actions must be duplicated.
(Louis “Hop” Kendrick is a contributor to the New Pittsburgh Courier.)
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