First Black President

[Grant Barrett]

On samedi 17 février 2001 13:38, Grant Barrett <gbarrett at MONICKELS.COM> wrote:
>I keep reading that Toni Morrison is the one that said Bill Clinton was the
nation's
>first black president, but I could've swore it was Chris Rock. Can anyone shed some
>light on this?

To respond to my own question:  Lexis-Nexis and Dow Jones search for "first black
president" or "first African-American president" turns up this as the earliest for
Chris Rock:

The Gazette (Montreal)
July 18, 1998, Saturday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: ART & ENTERTAINMENT; DOUG CAMILLI; Pg. D5
HEADLINE: Madonna cool to Cat on a Hot Tin Roof role

The "first black president" comment appears to spring from a controversial Today
Show appearance which was shown live on the west coast, but cut from the tape-delayed
west coast broadcast. An article in the 07/04/1997 San Antonio Express-News mentions a
comedy routine about the first black president but does not specifically mention
Clinton as such.

For Toni Morrison the earliest I find is:

WALL STREET JOURNAL October 8, 1998, Thursday which refers to a September 30 column
in the same paper in which Morrision makes the comment.

These results are by no means conclusive but they are suggestive.

--
Grant Barrett
New York loves you back.
http://www.worldnewyork.org/