* Today in Black History - June 15 *
1864 - Congress passes a bill equalizing pay, arms, equipment
and medical services of African American troops.
1877 - Henry Ossian Flipper, born a slave in Thomasville,
Georgia in 1856, is the first African American cadet
to graduate from the United States Military Academy at
West Point, New York. He was never spoken to by a white
cadet during his four years at West Point. After
graduating, he will be appointed a second lieutenant in
the U.S. Army. Following his commission, he will be
transferred to one of the all-Black regiments serving
in the U.S. Army, which were historically led by white
officers. Assigned to A Troop under the command of
Captain Nicholas M. Nolan, he will become the first
nonwhite officer to lead buffalo soldiers of the 10th
Cavalry. He will serve with competency and distinction
during the Apache Wars and the Victorio Campaign, but
will be haunted by rumors alleging improprieties. At
one point, he will be court martialed and dismissed
from the U.S. Army. After losing his commission in the
Army, he will work throughout Mexico and Latin America
and as an assistant to the Secretary of the Interior.
He will retire to Atlanta in 1931 and join the ancestors
on May 3, 1940 from natural causes. In 1994, his
descendants will apply to the U.S. military for a review
of his court martial and dismissal. A review will find
the conviction and punishment were "unduly harsh and
unjust" and recommend his dismissal to be changed to a
good conduct discharge. Shortly afterwards, an
application for pardon was filed with the Secretary of
the Army, which will be forwarded to the Department of
Justice. President Bill Clinton will pardon Lieutenant
Henry O. Flipper on February 19, 1999.
1921 - Bessie Coleman, a 28-year-old native of Amarillo, Texas,
who learned French in order to communicate with instructors,
receives a pilot's certificate from the Federation
Aeronautique Internationale in France. She is the first
African American woman to become a licensed pilot.
1921 - Erroll Garner is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He
will become an accomplished pianist who will play by ear.
Much of his early work will be lost because it will not
be written down. His best known composition will be
"Misty." He will be an ASCAP Award-winning jazz pianist.
Some of his other hits will be "Dreamy," "That's My Kick,"
"Moment's Delight," and "Solitaire." He will be honored
on a stamp by the U.S. Postal Service. He will join the
ancestors on January 2, 1977.
1934 - Ruby Nash Garnett is born in Akron, Ohio. She will become
a singer who will lead the rhythm and blues group Ruby &
The Romantics. She will not start singing until she was a
senior in high school. She will join a group of male singers
touring as "The Supremes" in 1961. After they get a
recording contract with Kapp Records, they will change their
name to "Ruby & the Romantics". In 1963, they will score a
No. 1 hit with "Our Day Will Come", and have a Top 20 Hit
with, "My Summer Love" (#16) and still another hit with "Hey
There Lonely Boy" (#27), along with several more charting
songs over the next several years, but they will never
emulate that initial success. The group will disband in 1971,
after 10 years, still with all five original members, Ruby,
Leroy Fann, Ed Roberts, George Lee, and Ron Mosely. She will
return to Akron and work for AT&T. Ruby & The Romantics will
be given a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation
in 1997, and will be inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of
Fame in 2007. As of 2016, she will be the only surviving
original member.
1938 - Billy Leo Williams, baseball player (Rookie of the Year
1961), and Chicago Cubs outfielder, is born in Whistler,
Alabama. After accumulating a lifetime .290 batting average
with 426 homers and 1475 runs batted in, he will be elected
to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987. His number 26 will be
retired at Wrigley Field. His will be the second number
retired by the Cubs, the first being Ernie Banks' number 14.
Following his departure from the Cubs, the number has been
reassigned to other players from time to time, although he
will reclaim it during several intervals of coaching with
the Cubs after his playing days had ended. In 1999, he will
be named as a finalist to the Major League Baseball All-
Century Team. During the 2010 season, the Cubs will honor
him with a statue outside of Wrigley Field. The statue will
be unveiled in a pre-game ceremony before their game on
September 7 against the Houston Astros. In 2011, he will be
appointed as a member of the Hall of Fame's Veterans
Committee "Golden Era" group.
1951 - Joe Louis knocks out Lee Savold in a closed-circuit TV
fight seen by fight fans in movie theatres in six cities.
1969 - O'Shea Jackson is born in Los Angeles, California. Known
later as "Ice Cube," he will be the first member of the
seminal Californian rap group N.W.A. to leave, and he will
quickly establish himself as one of hip-hop's best and
most controversial artists. From the outset of his career,
he will court controversy, since his rhymes were profane
and political. As a solo artist, his politics and social
commentary will sharpen substantially, and his first two
records, "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted" and "Death Certificate,"
will be equally praised and reviled for their lyrical
stance, which happens to be considerably more articulate
than many of his gangsta peers. As his career progresses,
Ice Cube's influence begins to decline, particularly as he
tries to incorporate elements of contemporary groups like
Cypress Hill into his sound, but his stature never
diminished, and he will remain one of the biggest rap stars
throughout the '90s. He will also become an actor and will
have his acting debut in John Singleton's "Boyz N the Hood."
1971 - The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of
closing Jackson, Mississippi, swimming pools rather than
integrating them. The ruling is considered by many to
indicate the Court's resistance to increased integration.
1971 - Vernon E. Jordan Jr., former executive director of the
United Negro College Fund, is appointed executive director
of the National Urban League.
1987 - Michael Spinks defeats Gerry Cooney in round five of their
heavyweight boxing match in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
1990 - Denzel Dominique Whitaker is born in Torrance, California. He
will become an actor. His notable film appearances will
include "The Great Debaters" and "Training Day," as well as
TV shows "ER," "Brothers & Sisters" and "The War At Home."
He will be a cast member during the tenth and final season
of the Nickelodeon sketch-comedy series "All That." He will
be in the Disney Channel Original Movie, "Dadnapped." He will
also appear on "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody," as a player
on Zack and Cody's wheelchair basketball team, and in Werner
Herzog's "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans." He will
also appear in the 2010 Wes Craven horror film, "My Soul To
Take" as a blind 16 year old named Jerome that was born early
along with 6 other children because of the killing of a
murderer that had multiple souls, and the souls escaped and
were hiding in the children. He will appear in the 2011 film
"Abduction," in season 3 of "The Boondocks" as character Sgt.
Gutte, and on "Black Dynamite: The Animated Series as Donald
The Accountant." He will make a notable appearance, being
Young Zuri in the Blockbuster film; "Black Panther." He will
also work as an assistant voice director for the 2010 film,
"Freaknik: The Musical. "
1990 - St. Clair Drake joins the ancestors after succumbing to a
heart attack in Palo Alto, California. The noted sociologist
and anthropologist was the author of numerous books,
including the important 'Black Metropolis' which he
co-authored with Horace Cayton. In 1969, he established and
served as Director of the African and Afro-American Studies
Program at Stanford University, a program often imitated by
other colleges and universities.
1996 - Ella Jane Fitzgerald joins the ancestors. Dubbed the "First
Lady of Song," she was the most popular female jazz
singer in the United States for more than half a century.
During her lifetime, she sold over 40 million albums and won
13 Grammy awards. Born in Newport News, Virginia, she will
began singing after impressing the audience at the Apollo
Theater's Amateur Night in 1934. She could imitate every
instrument in an orchestra and worked with all the jazz
greats, from Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Nat King Cole
to Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie, and Benny Goodman. She
performed at top venues all over the world, and her
audiences were as diverse as her vocal range. She received
the National Medal of Arts, France's Commander of Arts and
Letters Award, Kennedy Center Honors, and numerous honorary
doctorates for her continuing contributions to the arts.
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