This week in black history

Edward "Duke" Ellington, pianist, composer and bandleader, was born on this day. Ellington was nicknamed "Duke" by a boyhood friend who admired his hair. A native of Washington, D.C., the now legendary Ellington--who spent over 50 years in show business--had no initial interest in music. But while vacationing with his mother in Asbury Park, NJ, he heard of a hot pianist named Harvey Brooks. He sought out Brooks, who helped him improve as a pianist. Duke, later tutored by Oliver "Doc" Perry and Louis Brown, refined his overall piano-playing skills. Now inflamed with a passion for music, Duke formed his first group in 1917 and later went on to compose some of his greatest works, including Rockin' in Rhythm, New Orleans, Take The "A" Train, Happy-Go-Lucky Local, The Mooche and Crescendo in Blue. Duke and his bands performed worldwide and collaborated with such greats as Miles Davis, Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett and Louis Armstrong.

May 1, 1950--

Poet Gwendolyn Brooks became the first Black winner of the Pulitzer Prize on this day when her volume of poetry Annie Allen (1949) won for best book of poetry. Brooks graduated from Wilson Junior College in Chicago in 1936. She was the state's Poet Laureate for 16 years and poetry consultant to the Library of Congress. Some of her best-known works include A Street in Bronzeville (1945) and Maud Martha (1953). Her many honors included the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award (1946), a National Endowment for the Arts Senior Fellowship for Literature (1989) and a Lifetime Achievement Award. Brooks received the National Book Foundation's medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in 1994. She also published two autobiographical works, Report from Part One (1972) and Report from Part Two (1995). Brooks, who was born in Topeka, KS, died of cancer in her Chicago home on December 3, 2000.