This Week In Black History

Jet, March 20, 2000

March 13, 1773

* Jean Baptist Pointe DuSable, historic Black American pioneer, was the first known settler to build a house and open a trading post in what is now the city of Chicago on this day. Born in Haiti, he was educated in Paris and later worked as a seaman for his father. Fearful that he would be enslaved after he was shipwrecked in New Orleans, he traveled north and settled in Eschikagou (Chicago) where he reared a family and became a successful fur trapper. Eventually he expanded his home and land into a major settlement that included a dairy, bake house, smokehouse, workshop, stable, barn and mill. A plaque on the approach to the Michigan Avenue Bridge marks the site of DuSable's home. He died in 1818.

March 16, 1827

* Freedom's Journal, the first Black newspaper paper, was published by John B. Russwurm (l) and Samuel E. Cornish (r) in New York City on this day. The paper was founded to counteract a anti-Black newspaper that encouraged slavery.

March 17, 1919

* Nat King Cole (Nathaniel Adams Coles), entertainer, was born on this day in Montgomery, AL. In the early `40s Cole was considered one of the leading jazz pianists of his day; he led a popular trio with guitar and bass. But his vocal recording of Straighten Up and Fly Right (1943) won him even greater fame as a singer. In 1946 Nat "King" Cole recorded a Christmas classic, the million-selling The Christmas Song, which remains popular today. He also appeared in many films including Pin Up Girl, Stars on Parade, Breakfast in Hollywood and Saint Louis Blues, where he starred as the composer W.C. Handy. Cole became the first Black to host his own TV show on NBC in 1956. He died of cancer in 1965.