May 1 in history....
Max Robinson, the first African-American to host a nightly national network newscast and often the first African-American/Black man to hold news anchoring positions on major television stations was born on May 1, 1939.
ABC News promo for "World News Tonight" anchored by Frank Reynolds, Max Robinson and Peter Jennings ran from 1978 until the death of Frank Reynolds in 1983 when Peter Jennings became the sole anchor of the program.
His first television anchoring duty came over 50 years ago in Virgina where he was forced to report the news behind a screen with the station's logo so that the viewers could not see that a black man was reporting the news at a time when it was unheard of especially in the South. One day he defiantly moved the screen and was fired but moved on to bigger cities and became a legend in local television in Washington DC earning his way to become a national figure in television journalism.
Max Robinson died in December 1988 at the age of 49 from complications from AIDS.
And musically, singer SHARON REDD passed away on May 1, 1992 at the age of 46. Reports were that she died of AIDS complications or pneumonia or both.
Sharon Redd was one of Bette Midler's "Harlettes" before becoming a solo performer with popular dance/disco songs like "Can You Handle It" (my favorite)
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