Death of Kwame Nkrumah (62) African statesman and first president of Ghana, in exile, in Conarky, Guinea.

Wanda Sykes has never publicly revealed a last name or other personal details for Alex, her wife… The couple had twins on April 27, 2009: a son Lucas and a daughter Olivia. Alex gave birth to the children… Wanda Sykes was married to music producer David Hall from 1991 until their divorce in 1998… She hosted the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2009, Barack Obama‘s first year in office.

Sierra Leone proclaimed independent.

Tanganyika

and Zanzibar

merge to

become the

East African

Nation of

Tanzania.

Lomé is the capital and largest city of Togo. Lomé was founded by the Ewe, an indigenous ethnic group, in 1880. Located on the southwestern Atlantic coast of Togo, Lomé has a long history of trade. In 2000, an estimated 900,000 people resided in Lomé.

Europe’s “Scramble for Africa” began in 1880. During this period, European powers established colonies throughout the entire African continent. Germany gained a foothold in Togo in 1884, on the eve of the Partition of Africa, and established Lomé as the colonial capital in 1897. Following construction of the dock and a railway network, Lomé emerged as a port that attracted merchants from other areas along the coast. The railroad connected Lomé to the interior region of Togo. The expansion of infrastructure coincided with the emergence of a wealthy merchant class that mostly consisted of African women in Lomé.

During World War I, France and Great Britain invaded Togo in 1914, conquering the entire country within a month of invasion. In 1919, following the end of World War I, both countries agreed to partition Togo.  Lomé fell under French control and became the capital of French Togo. The French developed the infrastructure including a water supply, electrical grid, and expanded railroad. The imposition of a city tax led to violent demonstrations against the French military in 1933.

The population of Lomé grew rapidly after World War II, reaching 85,000 by 1960. During this period, the French exploited Togo’s rich phosphate resources. The phosphate industry grew in importance as Togo achieved full independence on April 27, 1960. The Phosphate exports continued to propel population growth in the city. By 1981 the population reached 375,000. Profits from the phosphate trade financed the construction of Lomé’s modern port, the University of Lomé, hotels and office buildings.

Sylvanus Olympio, the first president of independent Togo, was a member of Lomé’s elite merchant class. However, Olympio’s economic policies drew opposition within Togo. For example,

Donna Edwards is a Democratic member of U.S. House of Representatives, representing the 4th Congressional District of Maryland since 2008. Early in 2009 she was among a group of U.S. Congress members who were handcuffed and arrested while protesting the expulsion of aid groups from Darfur in front of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C.  

Edwards earned her BA from Wake Forest University where she was one of six African American women in her class. She later earned a JD from Franklin Pierce Law Center in New Hampshire.  Prior to her political career, she worked as a systems engineer with the Spacelab program at Lockheed Corporation’s Goddard Space Flight Center. During the 1980s, Edwards worked as a clerk for then district judge Albert Wynn when he served in the Maryland House of Delegates.

Edwards also was involved in numerous community organizations prior to entering political office.  She co-founded, chaired, and served as the first executive director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, a legal support and advocacy group for battered women.  She was instrumental in helping to pass the 1994 Violence Against Women Act.  Edwards also headed the Center for a New Democracy and was a lobbyist for the nonprofit Public Citizen organization. Edwards participates on numerous nonprofit boards including Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Common Cause, and the League of Conservation Voters. Since 2000, she has served as executive director of the Arca Foundation.

After a controversial Democratic primary loss to Rep. Albert Wynn in 2006 in which there were substantial problems with the voting process, she defeated Wynn in the primary in 2008.  Later that year, she filled the congressional seat after winning a special election when Wynn resigned mid-term.  She serves on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the Science and Technology Committee, and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.  

On April 27, 2009, Edwards was arrested outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington D.C.,

The publication of W.E.B. DuBoiss The Souls of Black Folk crystallized opposition to Booker T. Washingtons program of social and political subordination.

Eighty-four Blacks reported lynched in this year.

The fourth of seven children in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, August Wilson was born Frederick August Kittel, April 27, 1945 to an African American mother and a German immigrant father. By the time he was five, his parents divorced. His mother remarried in the late 1950s and the family moved to the predominately white working class Hazelwood District. The only black student at his Catholic high school, Wilson transferred schools and ultimately dropped out of school at age 15 when he was accused of plagiarism.

Wilson earned his high school diploma from the Carnegie Library. After a short stint in the Army, Wilson began writing poetry while working various low paying jobs. Although already a published poet, it wasn’t until 1965, while listening to a Bessie Smith record, when Wilson was inspired to write about African American history and culture through plays. That same year, he formally changed his name to August Wilson to honor his mother.

August Wilson wrote Jitney!, the first in his cycle of ten plays and it proved to be a success. It went on to be produced by the Allegheny Repertory Theatre in Pittsburgh.

His play, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, was accepted for workshop production at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center in 1982. After 275 shows and several awards, the show finally closed in 1985.

Wilson’s career skyrocketed with his play Fences, written in 1983, which generated his first Pulitzer Prize.  As Fences was still in production on Broadway, Wilson’s next play, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, was released making Wilson the first African American to have two simultaneous plays on Broadway.

In 1986, August Wilson wrote The Piano Lesson, which won a Tony Award for Best Play, the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Wilson became one of only seven American playwrights to be awarded two Pulitzer Prizes.

Wilson’s next two plays, Two Trains Running and Seven Guitars received several awards. He then moved to Seattle in 1990 where he wrote his final plays.

North Carolina Congressman George Kenneth Butterfield Jr. was born in Wilson, North Carolina on April 27, 1947 to a father who was a dentist and civic leader as well as the first black elected official in eastern North Carolina in the 20th century; and a mother who was a classroom teacher for 48 years.

Butterfield attended Charles H. Darden High School and graduated in 1967 before going to North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina. He graduated with a sociology and political science degree in 1971. In 1974, he received his J.D. from North Carolina Central University School of Law. After serving in the United States Army for two years, Butterfield became a successful lawyer known for helping the poor people who had extraordinary legal problems. In 1988, Butterfield was appointed Superior Court Judge in Wilson County.  In 2001 he was appointed to the North Carolina Supreme Court.

In July 2004 Butterfield was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of United States Representative Frank Balance. Since winning that special election for the First Congressional District seat, Butterfield has been twice re-elected to serve full two-year terms in the House. He serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee and on three sub-committees: Energy and Air Quality Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection; and Environment and Hazardous Materials. Butterfield was also assigned as one of eight Chief Deputy Whips responsible for helping to formulate Democratic policy and insuring the passage of legislation by maintaining good communication with members. He is the first Democratic member of Congress from North Carolina to serve as a Chief Deputy Whip.

Butterfield is a life-long member of Jackson Chapel First Missionary Baptist Church in Wilson where he served as Chairman of the Finance Ministry. He is the proud father of adult daughters, Valeisha and Lenai. Presently, Butterfield still serves as Congressman for the First

Hubert Harrison, writer, freedom fighter, born in St. Croix, Virgin Islands.

Maggie L. Walker named president of Richmonds St. Luke Bank and Trust Company and became the first Black woman to head a bank.

Togo becomes independent.

Though born in New York City, New York’s Harlem community, Harry Keels Thomas, Jr. was raised in a middle-class neighborhood in Queens where most parents were civil servants.   His mother was a social worker and his father, a World War II veteran, operated small businesses.  Thomas finished Brooklyn Technical High School and graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in Worchester, Massachusetts in 1978 with a degree in political science.  Upon earning a master’s degree in urban planning at Columbia University, he was employed for three years as an urban planner in the South Bronx.

Encouraged by his supervisor to investigate a career in the US Foreign Service, he passed the government exam and entered the Service in 1984, the same year he married jazz singer Ericka Ovette.  His first overseas assignment was as political officer at the US Embassy in Lima, Peru.  Later diplomatic postings were at Kaduna, Nigeria; Harare, Zimbabwe; and New Delhi, India.  By 2001 Thomas was in the White House serving under US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice as National Security Council director for South Asia.  In this capacity, he personally briefed President George W. Bush several times concerning boiling tensions between India and Pakistan.  In 2003, he arrived in Dhaka, Bangladesh for a two-year stint as US Ambassador.  Back in Washington in 2007, he was appointed as both Director General of the US Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources at the State Department.

In late 2009, Thomas was nominated by President Barack Obama to replace Kristie A. Kinney as U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines.  Following Senate confirmation, he presented his credentials to Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on April 27, 2010 at Malacañang Palace in Manila.  

The primary focus of his ambassadorship, maintenance of a mutual defense treaty, dealing with matters pertaining to immigration, and promoting economic relations beneficial to both nations, dominated his daily routine.  In July and September 2013, near the end of

Born on April 27, 1952 in Detroit, Michigan, George Gervin is a retired professional basketball player who is known to be one of the greatest shooting guards in NBA history.

As a child, Gervin always had a knack for basketball and first started playing with a neighbourhood friend, Ralph Simpson, who then went on to play with the Michigan State. While attending Martin Luther King High School, Gervin tried out for the school’s basketball team but did not make the cut. Befriending the school’s janitor, Gervin took up the duty of cleaning the gym floor in return for after-school practices in order to improve his shots.

His love and dedication for the game brought huge improvements in Gervin’s basketball career but his academic career suffered greatly. In order to pull himself up to the level of his classmates, Gervin had to attend summer school and miss half of his games during junior year. His final year at Martin Luther King, however, brought stability into his life and Gervin led his school team into the state quarterfinals with an average of 31 points and 20 rebounds.

Upon graduating from high school, George Gervin accepted a scholarship from Long Beach State but the contrasting culture compelled him to return home without even completing a semester. Gervin then enrolled in Eastern Michigan University, where he averaged 29.5 points as a sophomore.

Gervin’s baskbetball career, once again, got off track when he hit a player from Roanoke College out of frustration during a game. This action brought disastrous consequences to Gervin’s otherwise clean record. He was, first, suspended for the following season and then kicked off the Eastern Michigan team altogether. Along with the dismissal, Gervin was not allowed to audition for the Olympic and Pan-American teams either.

As a last resort, the struggling player returned to Eastern Basketball Association and was then able to earn himself a spot in one of the minor-leagues. During one of his games with the Pontiac Chapparals, Gervin received a breakthrough when a scout

U.S. Supreme Court upheld clauses in Alabama constitution which disfranchised Blacks.

Coretta Scott is born in Marion, Ala. She will marry Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1953 and be an integral part of his civil rights activities. After his assassination in 1968, she will continue her civil rights activities, founding the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Change in Atlanta, Ga.