Week of Oct. 1-7

October 1

1841—Fannie M. Richards is born. She becomes one of the nation’s early civil rights advocates as well as a prominent educator.

JOHN MERCER LANGSTON

1868—John Mercer Langston (1829-1897) organizes the nation’s first Black law school at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Largely forgotten today, Langston was a major Black political figure during his day. He was one of the nation’s first African-American lawyers, elected political officials and he influenced Black education throughout the country. The town of Langston, Okla., is named in his honor.

ATLANTA (AP)—Denzel Washington still applies the same principles in his acting career that he learned when he was a third grader in the Boys & Girls Club of America.

Now, the Oscar-winning actor along with director Ron Howard want to show how the club has impacted his life along with 20 other celebrities and entertainers, who were once members of the club.

PART OF THE SOLUTION—Actor Denzel Washington talks about a public service advertising (PSA) campaign for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Sept. 21, at the National Press Club in Washington. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)

(NNPA)—A Chicago mother recently filed a lawsuit against the Chicago Board of Education alleging a Chicago Public School security guard handcuffed her young son while he was a student at George Washington Carver Primary School on the city’s far south side.  In the lawsuit, filed Aug. 29, LaShanda Smith says the guard handcuffed her son March 17, 2010 which resulted in “sustained injuries of a permanent, personal and pecuniary nature.”

(NNPA)—Move over Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio: producer and actor Tyler Perry is the richest man in entertainment, according to Forbes magazine.

The 42-year-old Perry, creator of the popular “Madea” franchise and the TBS shows “House of Payne” and “Meet the Browns,” recently topped the magazine’s list of Entertainment’s Highest Paid Men. Perry, whose films rarely find an audience outside the US, recently helmed an adaptation of stage play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf,” which starred Whoopi Goldberg, Thandie Newton and Janet Jackson.

TYLER PERRY

Forbes wrote, “Thanks to five movies he has cranked out over the past two years and two TV series, Perry earned $130 million between May 2010 and May 2011, which ranks him as the highest-earning man in entertainment for that time period.”