This is Rodney Hinton Jr. Rodney Hinton Jr’s son Rodney Hinton III was fatally shot and killed by Cincinnati police officer Larry Henderson on the morning of May 1, 2025. Rodney III had just turned 18 having been born April 19, 2007. He would’ve graduated in a few weeks. Reportedly this was after a suspected stolen car chase…Rodney Hinton III was accused of having a handgun. He and four others ran when cops attempted to apprehend what they identified as four suspects. ”Clips and still images from officer body cameras show the people who were in the car scattered when police pulled in and trapped the suspected stolen vehicle with their cruisers.” No shots were fired from the handgun Rodney Hinton III was accused of having. But, four to five shots were fired from officer Larry Henderson, killing Rodney Hinton III. CPD spokesperson Lt. Jonathan Cunningham said no officers were hurt in the shooting. All three of the other teenagers they didn’t kill have been arrested. Court documents show both 19-year-old Deanthony Bullocks and 18-year-old Jurell Austin are charged with receiving stolen property and obstructing official business. In a release on Saturday, CPD said they detained 18-year-old Cynsere Grigsby for the same charges as Bullocks and Austin. A day after, on Martin Luther King Drive and Burnet Woods Drive near the University of Cincinnati's campus, where graduation commencements were being held Cincinnati police said a Hamilton County Sheriff's Deputy was outside of his vehicle, directing traffic at the intersection when he was struck by a vehicle entering the intersection. The deputy was taken to UC Medical Center, where he died. Rodney Hinton Jr., is charged with aggravated murder, but neither police nor an attorney representing his family have disclosed any motivation behind his alleged targeting of the deputy. Questions also remain in the police shooting death of 18-year-old Ryan Hinton. The Cincinnati Police Department says he appeared to point a gun at an officer while fleeing Thursday, but the officer’s body camera footage does not clearly capture the moment. This story is still developing.
Black History 365 | # 224 Constance "Connie" Enola Morgan
This is Connie Morgan. She became the third woman in history to play in the Negro Leagues, behind Toni Stone and Mamie “Peanut” Johnson, who also played for the Clowns. Morgan quickly proved she could play at an elite level. In her two seasons with Indianapolis, Morgan was good enough to split time at second base with Ray Neiland, and she could turn the double play with the best of them. Morgan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 17, 1935. Her mother, Vivian Beverly, stayed at home with her five children while her father, Howard Morgan, worked as a window cleaner. She first attended Landreth Elementary School and graduated from John Bartram High School in Philadelphia in 1952 before enrolling in the William Penn Business School. Morgan stood at five feet four and weighed just one hundred and thirty-five pounds. She was called lightning fast when she had an opportunity to run the bases. She hit around .300, batting third in the lineup, and played in a total of forty-nine games. In addition to playing baseball, Morgan also played basketball for a well-known city wide team, The Rockettes at the Christian Street YMCA in South Philadelphia. She was mentioned several times in her hometown newspaper, The Philadelphia Tribune,as well as other African American and white newspapers where she often received special attention during her single year in the Negro Leagues. After just one season with the Indianapolis Clowns, Morgan retired from professional baseball and returned to her classes at William Penn Business School, graduating in late 1955. Soon afterward, she was hired as a typist at Moss and Demany Furriers in the city. She later worked for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the largest federation of unions in the United States until she retired in 1974. Morgan was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1995. She passed on October 14, 1993, in her hometown, Philadelphia, just three days before her fifty-eighth birthday. Much respect to her legacy.
Black History 365 | # 223 Mamie "Peanut" Johnson
Black History 365 | # 222 Toni Stone
This is Toni Stone. Marcenia Lyle “Toni” Stone was the first woman to play professional baseball regularly in a major men's professional baseball league. And while in the Negro American League, she replaced none other than Hank Aaron. She was a phenomenal athlete from her youth, and though she played football, basketball, golf, hockey and tennis, among other sports while growing up, baseball was the one that did it. At 16 years old, she joined the semi-pro Twin Cities Colored Giants club, which had been an all-male team. Stone began her professional career with the San Francisco Sea Lions of the West Coast Negro Baseball League in 1946. By 1949, she had moved east and began playing for the New Orleans Black Pelicans and the New Orleans Creoles of the Negro Southern League. Stone also reportedly got a hit off one the greatest pitchers in history, Satchel Paige. Sheesh! Stone retired from professional baseball following the 1954 season, one she spent with the Kansas City Monarchs after having her contract sold by Indianapolis following the ’53 campaign. In 1990, she was included in the “Women in Baseball” and “Negro League Baseball” exhibits at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Three years later, she was inducted into the Women’s Sports Hall of Fame and the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame. In 1990, in her hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota declared March 6 “Toni Stone Day” in the city. Stone died on November 2, 1996 at the age of 75, but her legacy lives on today. An off-broadway play was produced about her life by award-winning playwright Lydia R. Diamond, entitled “Toni Stone” in 2019.
Black History 365 | # 221 Dr. Chester M. Pierce
If you don’t know about and love Sesame Street chances are you weren’t a PBS Kid. Either that or you were a Grouch. Sesame Street is an example of educational television proving success in improving cognitive skills, teaching respect and social skills, and promoting school readiness skills. Children who watch the show as two-year-olds gain an advantage in math, vocabulary, and other school readiness skills by the time they are five. In comes Dr. Chester Pierce. A psychologist and professor who was a national advisor for CTW and who would become the founding president of the Black Psychiatrists of America in 1969, also saw an opportunity to provide widespread, radical therapeutic treatment for Black children. Dr. Pierce earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1952. Following his medical education, he pursued an internship and residency training in psychiatry at Cincinnati General Hospital. Dr. Pierce held prominent positions, including Commander in the US Navy and senior consultant to various esteemed organizations such as the Surgeon General of the US Air Force, the Children's Television Network (Sesame Street, Electric Company), the US Arctic Research Commission, the Peace Corps, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He also is the person responsible behind the term “microaggression,” coining the term in 1970, leaving a lasting impact on the field of psychiatry and social justice. In the aftermath of strategic assassinations of black leaders The Black Psychiatrists of America, fueled by grief and a commitment to justice, strove to reshape the narrative on racism within their profession and society at large. They envisioned using mass media, particularly television, as a tool for radical therapeutic intervention. With a deep understanding of the damaging messages in mainstream media–especially detrimental to young black children–he saw an opportunity for change. This is where Sesame Street became the innovative educational tool but also as a means to counteract the racist narratives at the time. Launched in 1969, the show intentionally featured a racially diverse cast, portraying an idealized inner-city neighborhood where characters of all ethnicities lived, worked, and played innovative educational tool but also as a means to counteract the racist narratives at the time. Launched in 1969, the show intentionally featured a racially diverse cast, portraying an idealized inner-city neighborhood where characters of all ethnicities lived, worked, and played together. This was the shows “hidden curriculum,” and it aimed to bolster the self-respect of black and minority children while portraying a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural world. The show faced resistance, notably in Mississippi, where legislators initially deemed the interracial cast unfit for their audience. Despite challenges, Sesame Street has emerged as the most successful children’s show of all time, reaching hearts and minds across the nation. Dr. Chester Pierce’s radical mental health agenda has remained at the core of the show’s creation. Thank you Dr. Pierce for your contributions.