Black history fact of the week: Opera's Leona Mitchell
Grammy Award winning African American opera singer Leona Mitchell was born Oct. 13, 1949 in Enid, Okla., to Rev. Hulon and Pearl Olive Leatherman Mitchell.
She came from a very large family—she the 10th child of 15, and began her career in music singing in her father’s church choir.
After receiving her degree in music from Oklahoma City University, Mitchell became one of the top opera performers in the world, singing in Geneva, Paris, Madrid, and Sydney. Her debut with the San Francisco opera in 1972 catapulted her career to unimaginable heights.
She performed for four U.S. presidents: Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. The classical singer has also been a part of world renown orchestras including the London Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Mitchell is married to Elmer Bush III.
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On September 5, 1859, Harriet Adams Wilson became the first African American woman to publish a novel in English. Her only published work, “Our Nig; Or Sketches From the Life of A Free Black,” is an autobiographical sketch based on her life as a Black indentured servant in New England.
On Aug. 26,1918, a legend was born in White Sulphur Springs, W.A. to Joshua, a farmer who worked extra jobs as a janitor, and Joylette, who was a teacher. Early in her life math genius, physicist, and space pioneer Katherine Johnson showed her love of numbers. She said in an interview that she counted everything including the stairs in the house, the plates she washed, and the steps from home to church.
Vickie Knight has seen how the other half lives, and knows that one day, she too, will get back on her feet thanks to the opportunities afforded her through education.
Knight, a Compton native, who found herself homeless through a seers of unfortunate circumstances, recently spent a few days in the luxury of the Ritz Carlton in Philadelphia. She was in the City of Brotherly Love to accept an award for being named the 2010 National Graduate of the Year by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC).
In a time when injustice reigned with no remorse, and in the wake of the assassination of activist Malcolm X, an uprising of young Black leaders and freedom fighters formed a group that would change the climate and pace of the Civil Rights Movement forever. Huey P. Newton along with his long-time friends Bobby Seale and David Hilliard founded the Black Panther Party in Oakland, Calif. on Oct. 15, 1966.
What made the work of internationally known visual artist Varnette Patricia Honeywood so special was that she created images that connected African Americans with their roots.
So, if you saw the image of women in the kitchen hovering around the stove and pressing their hair, or two women whispering to one another sitting on a church pew, you immediately said “I remember that.”
