*              Today in Black History - December 18           *

1852 - George H. White is born in Rosindale, North Carolina.  
	He will	become a lawyer, state legislator, and in 1896, 
	the only African American member of the United States 
	House of Representatives, where he will be the first to 
	introduce an anti-lynching bill. He will also found the 
	town of Whitesboro, New Jersey, as a haven for African 
	Americans escaping southern racism. He will join the 
	ancestors on December 28, 1918.

1860 - South Carolina declares itself an "independent 
	commonwealth." 

1865 - Congress proclaims the ratification of the thirteenth 
	Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.  The 
	ratification process had been completed on December 6, 
	1865.

1912 - Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr. is born in Washington, DC. The 
	fourth African American graduate of West Point, he will 
	be one of only two African American combat officers when 
	he receives his first assignment out of college in 1936, 
	the other being his father. In 1941, he will be a part of 
	the first class of graduates from the newly minted program 
	at Tuskegee Army Air Field for African American pilots. He 
	will also be the first African American officer to solo in 
	a U.S. Army Air Corps aircraft. By 1942, he will be promoted 
	to the rank of lieutenant colonel and appointed commander 
	of the 99th Pursuit Squadron. He will go on to fly many 
	successful missions in Europe with the 332nd Fighter group 
	of which he will also take command in one of his many 
	leadership roles within the Tuskegee Airmen squadrons.
	Awarded both the Silver Star and the Distinguished Flying 
	Cross, he will become the first African American general in 
	the Air Force. On December 9, 1998, he will be advanced to 
	four-star general by President Bill Clinton. He will join 
	the ancestors on July 4, 2002.
	

1917 - Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis is born in Cogdell, Georgia.  
	While he will be best known as an actor in such plays as 
	"Jeb" (where he will meet his wife, Ruby Dee) and "Purlie 
	Victorious" and films like "Let's Do It Again," "Do The 
	Right Thing," and "Jungle Fever," he will be a playwright, 
	screenwriter, and director(Cotton Comes to Harlem).  In 
	1969, he will win an Emmy for his role in "Teacher, 
	Teacher" and will be a featured performer in television's 
	"Evening Shade." He will find recognition late in his life 
	by working in several of director Spike Lee's films, 
	including "Do The Right Thing," "Jungle Fever," "She Hate 
	Me" and "Get on the Bus." He will also find work as a 
	commercial voice-over artist and serve as the narrator of 
	the early-1990s CBS sitcom "Evening Shade," starring Burt 
	Reynolds, where he will also play one of the residents of a 
	small southern town. In 1999, he will appear as a theater 
	caretaker in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra film "The Ghosts 
	of Christmas Eve," which wil be released on DVD two years 
	later. For many years, he will host the annual National 
	Memorial Day Concert from Washington, DC. His distinguished 
	bearing will make him a perfect choice for the concert. 
	His last role will be as a several episode guest role on the 
	Showtime drama series "The L Word," as a father struggling 
	with the acceptance of his daughter Bette (Jennifer Beals) 
	parenting a child with her lesbian partner. In his final 
	episodes, his character will be taken ill and die. His wife 
	Ruby Dee will be present during the filming of his own death 
	scene. That episode, which will air shortly after his own
	transition, airs with a dedication to the actor. He will join 
	the ancestors on February 4, 2005.

1958 - Niger gains autonomy within the French Community of Nations.

1961 - Wilt Chamberlain of the NBA Philadelphia Warriors scores 78 
	points vs the Los Angeles Lakers.

1964 - Funeral services are held in Chicago for Sam Cooke. Hundreds
	of fans will cause damage to the A.R. Leak Funeral Home, 
	where Cooke's body is on display. 

1971 - Jesse Jackson announces the formation of Operation Push 
	(People United to Save Humanity), a new African American 
	political and economic development organization. Jackson, 
	who resigned from Operation Breadbasket, the economic arm 
	of the SCLC, says, "the problems of the 1970's are economic 
	so the solution and goal must be economic."

1971 - The NAACP's Spingarn Medal is presented to Rev. Leon H. 
	Sullivan, founder of Opportunities Industrialization 
	Centers of America (OIC) for his leadership.

1989 - Ernest Dickerson wins the New York Film Critics Circle Award 
	for best cinematography for the movie "Do the Right Thing."

1996 - The Oakland, California School board becomes the first in 
	the nation to recognize Black English, a.k.a. Ebonics, as a 
	separate language, NOT a dialect or slang.

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