This Month
in St. Louis History
Birthdays
for Cool Papa Bell, Miles Davis
May is the birthday
for two famous St. Louis African-American entertainment figures.
Baseball player James "Cool Papa" Bell was born
May 17, 1901, and jazz musician Miles Davis was born May 25,
1926.
Also, Father Jacques
Marquette, one of the founders of St. Louis, died on May 19,
1675. He and Louis Jolliet were the first Europeans to discover
and map the Mississippi River.
And, a holiday
that is taking on more significance is celebrated in May.
That's the Cinco de Mayo festival, honoring the independence
of Mexico from European rule.
St. Louis's growing
Mexican-American population enliven the city with their Cinco
de Mayo activities.
Editor's
note: Information for This Month in St. Louis History
is provided by the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park.
Cool
Papa Bell
James
"Cool Papa" Bell was born in Starkville, Miss.,
in 1901. But, most of his athletic achievements were tied
to the St. Louis area.
Like many blacks
from the American South, he moved north in 1920. His father
told him he'd be better off in St. Louis because "you
could just live better and make more money."
He started his
baseball career as a knuckleball pitcher for the Compton Hill
Cubs. His day job was with a meat packing plant here. Later,
he pitched for the East St. Louis (Ill.) Cubs for $20 a week.
While playing
for the St. Louis Stars, Bell made the changes that led him
to stardom. He began playing centerfield exclusively and also
started switchhitting. Both of those changes allowed him to
make best use of his amazing speed.
Bell's the guy
who famed pitcher Satchel Paige said was so fast he could
switch off the light in his room and be in bed before the
room got dark.
He played baseball
across the country and even in Cuba. His Cuban career began
after he spent his honeymoon in that country.
In 1951, the St.
Louis Browns of Major League Baseball offered him a contract.
But, he turned them down. He said, at age 50, he was too old
to play his best.
He was inducted
into the MLB's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1974.
For more information,
visit www.ericenders.com/coolpapa.htm.
Miles
Davis
Miles
Davis was born in Alton, Ill. He and his middle-class family
moved to East St. Louis, where he was playing trumpet by age
10.
At 18, he went
to New York City and enrolled in the Julliard School of Music.
But, he dropped out after he got a taste of jazz music.
He was one of
the jazz heavyweights before and after World War II. He was
in groups with such stars as Coleman Hawkins, Rubberlegs Williams
and Charlie Parker.
In 1948, he started
a 9-piece band which pioneered what became known as the West
Coast "cool jazz." In 1955, he teamed with John
Coltrane in a quintet. Then, three years later, he was with
Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans and Philly Joe Jones.
Despite periodic
bouts with drug and alcohol addiction, Davis was still touring
in the 1980s. He died in September, 1991, after a career that
established him as a great in jazz music.
For more information,
see www.jazztrumpetsolos.com/miles.htm.
Cinco
de Mayo
The Cinco de
Mayo celebrates the victory of the Mexican army over a superior
French force in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. St. Louis
has a significant population of immigrants from Mexico and
their celebrations enliven the city.
Two websites that
give more information about Cinco de Mayo are:
www.mexonline.com/cinco.htm
or www.vivacincodemayo.org/history.htm.
Father
Jacques Marquette
For more about
Father Marquette's contribution to the French settlement of
the St. Louis region, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Marquette.
