(NNPA)—Pioneering poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron died May 27 at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York City. He was 62. Scott-Heron became ill after returning from a European trip, but the exact cause of his death was not released.

Scott-Heron was best known for collaborating with pianist and flutist Brian Jackson during the early 1970s and his melodiously voiced performance readings in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

FILE—Gil Scott-Heron, who helped lay the groundwork for rap by fusing minimalistic percussion, political expression and spoken-word poetry died May, 27, at age 62. (AP Photo, 1984 File)

Week of June 4-10

June 4

1922—Samuel L. Gravely is born. Gravely became the first African-American admiral in the United States Navy and the first African-American to command a U.S. warship. The Richmond, Va., native died in 2004 at the age of 82.

ANGELA DAVIS

1972—College professor and activist Angela Davis is acquitted by a jury of charges that she assisted and conspired with the young men involved in a deadly 1970 shootout at the Marin County courthouse in California. The assault on the courthouse was an attempt to free imprisoned Black activist George Jackson. At least three people were killed during the escape attempt. Davis, a Birmingham, Ala., native who became a member of the Communist Party, spent 16 months in prison but on this day in 1972 she was found not guilty of all charges by an all-White San Jose, Calif., jury.

LOS ANGELES (AP)—Hines Ward added a disco-ball trophy to his Super Bowl shelf May 24 after he samba-ed his way to the “Dancing With the Stars” championship.

The Steelers wide receiver and former Super Bowl MVP won the title, besting actresses Kirstie Alley and Chelsea Kane to become the season 12 champ.

“You are the MVP of ‘Dancing With the Stars’ season 12,” judge Carrie Ann Inaba said after Ward and professional partner Kym Johnson finished their last dance. “You learned how to lead the dancing, not only in the dance, but you led your partner out of injury. You dance with heart and it shows.”

TAKING HOME THE MIRRORBALL—Kim Johnson and Hines Ward pose with their trophy's after scores from the judges were combined with the audience votes to name Hines Ward and Kym Johnson champions of "Dancing with the Stars" and winners of the coveted mirror ball trophy, May 24. (AP Photo/ABC, Adam Taylor)

by V. Mohammed

(NNPA)—Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day. It is believed to have been initially proclaimed in 1868 to commemorate fallen Union and Confederate soldiers. The roots of the Memorial Day holiday, however, reach further back to Black South Carolina, where newly freed slaves expressed gratitude for the Yankee invasion that became the Civil War.

EXPRESSING GRATITUDE—Kai Bentley, 4, of Yorktown, Va., and his father, Air Force Master Sgt. Durell Bentley, were the first to arrive at Hampton National Cemetery to begin placing flags at each of the graves in the cemetery May 27, in Hampton, Va., in preparation of Memorial Day. (AP Photo/The Virginian-Pilot, Bill Tiernan)

According to Black and White historians, those Black South Carolinians, “understood the necessity for celebrating the legacy of fallen soldiers who fought to make them free,” said Civil War historian Carroll Gibbs of the Carter G. Woodson Association for the Study of African Life and History in Washington, D.C.