Week of May 7-13

May 7

1800—On this date the founder of the settlement which would grow to become the city of Chicago, Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable, sold his property and left the settlement. The Haitian-born frontier trader and businessman had a history of building significant wealth, losing it and building it again. He would die 18 years later in St. Charles, Mo.

JEAN BAPTISTE POINTE DUSABLE

(NNPA)—Ahead of the national premiere of his latest project, writer and director Tyler Perry said recently he is weary of deflecting criticism that his work lacks substance and is not an authentic and constructive portrayal of Black Americans.

Perry’s latest film, “Madea’s Big Happy Family,” opened across the country April 22. He said during a Beverly Hills news conference April 19 that he is particularly irritated by criticism from Black filmmaker Spike Lee.

MADEA—In this publicity image released by Lionsgate, Tyler Perry portrays Madea in a scene from "Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family." (AP Photo/Lionsgate, Quantrell D. Colbert)

by Corey Williams

DETROIT (AP)—Grammy-nominated artist Kid Rock told nearly 10,000 people at the Detroit NAACP branch’s annual fundraising dinner that his use of the Confederate flag during on-stage performances has nothing to do with how he feels about Blacks.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS—Kid Rock, center, holds the Great Expectations Award trophy while posing for photos with, from left, Robert Ritchie Jr.; Shaun Robinson, host of Access Hollywood; NAACP Detroit Chapter President Wendell Anthony; and Donnell White, Interim executive director of the Detroit branch of the NAACP, during the organization’s annual fundraising dinner in Detroit, May 1. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

“I love America. I love Detroit, and I love Black people,” the musician said Sunday night during the annual Fight for Freedom Fund dinner at Cobo Center.

Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, used the event to diffuse criticism aimed at the Detroit NAACP branch which honored him with its Great Expectations Award.

April 30

711 AD—Tarik the Moor invades Spain with force of 7,000 troops, routs the Visigoths and establishes Moor domination of Spain. While there remains some dispute over Tarik’s race, the weight of the evidence is strong that he was a Black man. He was described in accounts of the time as having “brown skin and wooly hair.” His full name was Tarik al Gibral. The famed Rock of Gibraltar is named in his honor.

SHAKA