MIKE GRACIA

Douglas Wilder, the first African American to be elected governor
of an American state, took office as Governor of Virginia on this
day in 1990. Wilder broke a number of color barriers in Virginia
politics and remains an enduring and controversial figure in the
state’s political scene.

Born in 1931 in Church Hill, a poor and segregated neighborhood
of Richmond, Wilder is the grandson of slaves and is named for Frederick Douglass. He grew up in the Jim Crow era, graduating
from Richmond’s Virginia Union University in 1951. Wilder fought
in the Korean War, earning the Bronze Star, before studying law
at Howard University and returning to Richmond to practice.

Leslie Charleson, known for her role on "General Hospital,"
died Sunday morning after a long illness. She was 79.

The Daytime Emmy-nominated actress portrayed Monica
Quartermaine on the soap opera for nearly 50 years.

Ron Howard and Leslie Charleson in “Happy
Days” TV show.

On January 12, 1926, the two-man comedy series “Sam ‘n’
Henry” debuted on Chicago  radio station WGN. Two years
later, after changing its name to “Amos ‘n’ Andy,” the show
became one of the most popular radio programs in American
history.

Though the creators and the stars of the new radio program,
Freeman Gosden and Charles Carrell, were both white, the
characters they played were two Black men from the Deep
South who moved to Chicago to seek their fortunes.

By that time, white actors performing in dark stage makeup—
or “blackface”—had been a significant tradition in American
theater for over 100 years.

Gosden and Carrell, both vaudeville performers, were doing
a Chicago comedy act in blackface when an employee at the
Chicago Tribune suggested they create a radio show.