This week in Black History

Jet, Feb 3, 2003

January 27, 1961--

Leontyne Price, acclaimed opera diva, made her formal debut at the Metropolitan Opera on this day. Brilliantly performing the role of Leonora in Verdi's II trovatore, the audience rewarded her with a thrilling 42-minute ovation! Born Mary Violet Leontyne Price in Laurel, MS, on February 10, 1927, her family life centered around the church where both her parents, James and Kate Price, were active. Introduced to music at an early age, she began piano lessons at age 4. In 1949, Price earned a bachelor's degree from Central State College in Wilberforce, OH, and attended New York City's famed Juilliard School of Music from 1949 to 1952. One of the greatest opera singers of our time, Leontyne Price earned 20 Grammy Awards. Now retired, she resides in New York City.

January 30, 1979--

Franklin A. Thomas, an attorney, was named president of the Ford Foundation, the country's largest private philanthropic institution, on this day. During his 15-year tenure, he was credited with steering millions toward projects involving minorities and women. He also increased the foundation's endowment nearly threefold, to roughly $6 billion. Its 2001 investment portfolio was valued at $10.7 billion. A Brooklyn native, Thomas was born in 1934 and earned his bachelor's (1956) and law degree (1963) at Columbia University. He also served as an Air Force navigator (1956-60). Upon earning his law degree Thomas successfully tackled a series of jobs--assistant U.S. attorney in New York, deputy police commissioner, and president of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corp (1967-77), a non-profit agency to raise and coordinate public and private redevelopment funds for improving one of the nation's largest distressed urban communities in New York City. He returned to private practice and accepted the Ford post two years later. Thomas currently serves as head of the TFF Study Group, a not-for-profit development assistance-group focusing on Southern Africa.