1929—The Stock Market collapses ushering in the Great Depression bringing about Black unemployment rates ranging from 25 to 40 percent. The effects of the Great Depression would last until the start of World War II which created massive war industry jobs and a second mass migration of Blacks from the South to the industrial North.

1994—Famed dancer Pearl Primus dies. She blended African and Caribbean dance and music with Black American traditions of Blues, Jazz and the jitterbug to form a new vibrant dance form. She formed a dance troupe and she personally appeared in such early Broadway hits as “Showboat” and “Emperor Jones.” Primus was known for her amazingly high leaps. In 1991, the first President Bush awarded her the National Medal of Arts.

PEARL PRIMUS

PITTSBURGH (AP)—As many as 2,000 people protesting against corporate influence in politics and social inequality marched in Pittsburgh on Saturday, while smaller protests popped up in Philadelphia and at the state Capitol.

The peaceful crowd, joining with the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York, stretched for two or three blocks and included union members, parents with children in strollers and even at least one doctor.

PITTSBURGH PROTEST—Protester Wesley Gadsden takes part in Occupy Pittsburgh rally Saturday, Oct. 15, in Pittsburgh. The demonstration is one of many being held across the country recently in support of the ongoing Occupy Wall Street demonstration in New York. (AP Photo/Don Wright)

(NNPA)—When Ray Leeds saw a crowd gathering in front of the California Museum of Photography, in Riverside’s downtown pedestrian mall last week, the photography buff and out-of work union pipefitter left nothing to chance.

“I grabbed my camera and just started taking pictures. It was surreal. Out of nowhere they just started singing and pitching tents,” he said. “It was engrossing. You couldn’t just stand there and snap pictures.”

TENT VILLAGE—An Occupy Pittsburgh camper from Italy who wouldn't give her name, right, works on a sign outside her tent on Mellon Green, Oct. 18, in downtown Pittsburgh. Some 60 campers now inhabit the tent village. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

More than 17,000 people converged at the Philadelphia Convention Center in Philadelphia Oct. 9 to celebrate the 16th anniversary of the Million Man March. The atmosphere was highly charged with security checkpoints at several stops throughout the 1 million-square-foot facility and escorts to keep order and protect Minister Louis Farrakhan.

Minister Louis Farrakhan