Whitney, T. (1975) The Descendants of the Presidents. Charlotte, NC: Delmar Printing Co.
Five Black Presidents Text
Joel A. Rogers and Dr. Auset Bakhufu have both
written books documenting that at least five former presidents of the United
States had Black people among their ancestors.
If one considers the fact that European men far outnumbered European
women during the founding of this country, and that the rape and impregnation
of an African female slave was not considered a crime, it is even more
surprising that these two authors could not document Black ancestors among an ever
larger number of former presidents. The
presidents they name include Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln,
Warren Harding, and Calvin Coolidge.
The best case for Black ancestry is against
Warren G. Harding, our 29th president from 1921 until 1923. Harding himself never denied his
ancestry. When Republican leaders called
on Harding to deny the "Negro" history, he said, "How should I
know whether or not one of my ancestors might have jumped the fence."
William Chancellor, a White professor of economics and politics at Wooster
College in Ohio, wrote a book on the Harding family genealogy and identified
Black ancestors among both parents of President Harding. Justice Department agents allegedly bought
and destroyed all copies of this book. Chancellor also said that Harding's only
academic credentials included education at Iberia College, which was founded in
order to educate fugitive slaves.
Andrew Jackson was our 7th president from 1829
to 1837. The Virginia Magazine of
History, Volume 29, says that Jackson was the son of a White woman from Ireland
who had intermarried with a Negro. The
magazine also said that his eldest brother had been sold as a slave in
Carolina. Joel Rogers says that Andrew
Jackson Sr. died long before President Andrew Jackson Jr. was born. He says the
president's mother then went to live on the Crawford farm where there were
Negro slaves and that one of these men was Andrew Jr.'s father. Another account of the "brother sold
into slavery” story can be found in David Coyle's book entitled "Ordeal of
the Presidency" (1960).
Thomas Jefferson was our 3rd
president from 1801 to 1809. The chief
attack on Jefferson was in a book written by Thomas Hazard in 1867 called
"The Johnny Cake Papers."
Hazard interviewed Paris Gardiner, who said he was present during the
1796 presidential campaign, when one speaker states that Thomas Jefferson was
“a mean-spirited son of a half-breed Indian squaw and a Virginia mulatto
father.” In his book entitled "The
Slave Children of Thomas Jefferson," Samuel Sloan wrote that Jefferson
destroyed all of the papers, portraits, and personal effects of his mother,
Jane Randolph Jefferson, when she died on March 31, 1776. He even wrote letters to every person who had
ever received a letter from his mother, asking them to return that letter. Sloan says, "There is something strange
and even psychopathic about the lengths to which Thomas Jefferson went to
destroy all remembrances of his mother, while saving over 18,000 copies of his
own letters and other documents for posterity." One must ask, "What is it he was trying
to hide?"
Abraham Lincoln was our 16th president from
1861 to 1865. J. A. Rogers quotes
Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, as saying that Abraham Lincoln was the
illegitimate son of an African man.
William Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, said that Lincoln had very dark
skin and coarse hair and that his mother was from an Ethiopian tribe. In Herndon's book entitled "The Hidden
Lincoln" he says that Thomas Lincoln could not have been Abraham Lincoln's
father because he was sterile from childhood mumps and was later
castrated. Lincoln's presidential
opponents made cartoon drawings depicting him as a Negro and nicknamed him
“Abraham Africanus the First."
Calvin Coolidge was our 30th president, and he
succeeded Warren Harding. He proudly
admitted that his mother was dark because of mixed Indian ancestry. However, Dr. Bakhufu says that by 1800 the
New England Indian was hardly any longer pure Indian, because they had mixed so
often with Blacks. Calvin Coolidge's
mother's maiden name was "Moor."
In Europe the name "Moor" was given to all Black people just
as the name Negro was used in America.
All of the presidents mentioned were able to
pass for White and never acknowledged their Black ancestry. Millions of other children who were
descendants of former slaves have also been able to pass for White. American society has had so much interracial
mixing that books such as “The Bell Curve”, discussing IQ evaluations based
solely on race, are totally unrealistic.
Today, two popes of the Catholic Church, living at the same time in Rome, were praying to a Black Madonna in the Vatican, together, before the press. Times have changed but the reality remains the same. There is a historic power in praying to THE BLACK MADONNA too. The image below is stock of the room where the historic prayer session happened, forgiveness and truth in action.
The dynamic author Dr. Leroy Vaughn, MD, MBA, Historian, Humanitarian and Honorary Nigerian Chief, in his powerful book BLACK PEOPLE AND THEIR PLACE IN WORLD HISTORY, tells the truth-story in the chapter "After Christ' he has an image of this statue of Saint Peter that stands at the Vatican too.
Isis was a Black African goddess of NileValley civilizations whose worship eventually diffused to most of the ancient world. Isis was worshiped by the Nubians well over 300 years before the first Egyptian dynasty. The Egyptians then gave the Isis religion to Greece, Rome, and western Asia. Gerald Massey says that the religious records of all the world’s religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity are nothing more than copies of the religious records of the Black goddess Isis, her son Horus, and her husband Osiris. For example, Horus was the first child born from a virgin mother's immaculate conception, and he was said to have walked on water just as Jesus later did. The Black goddess Isis is also credited with resurrecting Osiris after he was murdered. The first "Black Madonna and Child" statutes and portraits were of Isis and Horus, and these were taken throughout the world by the Roman Empire. When other religions became more popular, these statues were not destroyed, but simply had their names changed. In India, Isis and Horus became Maya and Buddha in Buddhism or Devaki and Krishna in Hinduism. The Chinese called Isis Kwa-yin, and the Japanese changed the name to Kwannon. In his 1985 book entitled "The Cult of the Black Virgin", Ean Begg was able to identify over 450 images of a Black virgin and child in Europe with over 190 statutes in France alone. J. A. Rogers says that Paris was actually named for Isis because Para-Isis means "Place of Isis." He also says that Note Dame means "Our Lady" and that the cathedral is nothing more than an enlargement of the original Isis temple. Millions of pilgrims visit the Black Madonna shrines annually because they are believed to possess magical powers, although the statues are now called Mary and Jesus. It is believed that only the Black statues are magical and all pilgrimages stopped whenever the statues were painted white. The Black Madonnas have been credited with healing towns of plagues, bringing dead babies to life, making infertile women pregnant, and saving nations during wars. Many crutches have been left at the feet of the Black Madonnas, who presumably gave their owners the power to walk. One of the most devoted pilgrims of the Black Madonna shrine in Poland was Pope John Paul II. He prayed to her image while recovering from his gun shot wound. She is credited with thousands of documented miracles including saving Poland from Russia in 1769. In 1968 alone, the Black Madonna shrine in Poland received over 66,000 thank you letters for healing and other miracles. Pilgrims frequently leave gold watches and rings at the feet of the Black Madonnas in appreciation. Church literature absolutely refuses to acknowledge any association of Black Madonnas with Africa. Church officials claim that the Madonnas are Black because of smoke from candles and from dirt and old age. Church officials would never admit that the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans made pilgrimages until 536 A.D. to the Isis temple at Philae, Egypt to seek the same miracles that current pilgrims seek from the Black Madonna shrines. Isis was recognized as a supreme miracle and magic worker and is also credited with teaching mankind the art of curing disease. Isis was able to restore life to the dead as she did with her husband Osiris and later with the infant Horus, who was brought back to life after he was killed by a scorpion's sting. Isis was the goddess of corn and grain, water and navigation, and even clothing. She was also called a divine granter of salvation for souls of mankind. The ancient Black Egyptians acknowledged Isis as the source of all their prosperity, including the NileRiver. Isis worship was so strong in Europe that Roman citizens ignored Emperors Augustus and Tuberous, who outlawed Isis worship and persecuted her priests. Emperor Caligulia finally bowed to public pressure and re-established the Isis worship. Emperor Justinian caused an unsuccessful armed insurrection in 536 A.D., when he ordered all Isis temples permanently closed. Religion in general (and the cult of the Black Virgin Madonna in specific) is yet another example of the many elements of civilization and civilizing ideas which were brought from Africa into Europe.
MEDAL OF HONOR MEN
THE UNITED STATES ARMY AND NAVY
Portraits of 15 African American soldiers and sailors
including Sgt. John Lawson, Milton M. Holland,
Robert A. Pinn, Sgt. Brent Woods, Powhatan Beaty,
Corporal Isaiah Mays,
Sgt. John Denny, James H. Harris,
Dennis Bell, Thomas R. Hawkins,
Sgt. William Carney,
Christian Fleetwood, Pvt. James Daniel Gardner,
Sgt. Alexander Kelly, and Sgt. Thomas Shaw
(Photo of Gen. Colin Powell right)
Television images of General Colin Powell in specific, and Black, well trained, energetic soldiers in general, are a great source of pride for most African Americans. These television images represent the fruits of over two hundred years of struggle by African Americans for equality, integration, and respect in the military service. There is probably no irony in American history more pointed than the American Black soldier fighting and dying for basic American democracy and freedom, while being denied most of those same freedoms at home and in the military since the founding of this country.
(Photo left: West Point Academy's first African American graduate - plus a whole lot more revealed in the book - Henry Flipper)
Until recently African Americans begged for the privilege to fight and die for this country in hopes that a more equitable society would await them at the end of the war. However, Black soldiers and sailors were strictly prohibited from participation in virtually every American war until a severe manpower shortage made this country desperate. In 1792, laws were passed by Congress to exclude Blacks from the Army and Marines. The Marine Corp did not accept an African American for its first 150 years of existence, up to and including World War II, when White politicians and generals finally became desperate enough to encourage Black military participation. Black soldiers were frequently poorly trained, unequally paid and equipped, and forced to participate in all Black regiments with White southern officers in charge.
(Photo right: Tuskgee, Alabama, March, 1942. Members of the first class of Negro pilots in the history of the US Army Air Corps who were graduated at the Advanced Flying School as Second Lieutenants by Major General George E. Stratemeyer)
When Blacks were allowed to participate in American wars, they invariably performed exceptionally well. Over 5,000 African Americans, both slave and free, served in the army during the Revolutionary War, and almost all of them received their freedom in appreciation after the war. In fact, most northern states abolished slavery because of their contribution. The outstanding contributions of over 200,000 African American soldiers and sailors during the Civil War led to the 13th Amendment freeing all slaves.
(Photo left: Brigadier General Joseph E. Bastion pins the Distinguished Service Cross on Capt. Charles L. Thomas, 1945)
Between 1869 and 1890 Black soldiers in the West, nicknamed the Buffalo Soldiers, won 14 Congressional Metals of Honor, 9 Certificates of Merit and 29 Orders of Honorable Mention while fighting Native Americans. President Theodore Roosevelt credits these same Buffalo Soldiers for saving his famous "Rough Riders" from extermination in Cuba during the Spanish American War of 1898.
(Photo above: Black Soldiers during World War I)
About 160,000 of the 200,000 African Americans sent to Europe during World War I were forced to work as laborers in unloading ships and building roads. The remaining soldiers were not even allowed to fight along side White American soldiers but rather were assigned by General Pershing to French Divisions. These Black soldiers had to fight in French uniforms with French weapons and French leadership until the end of World War I. Over 3,000 casualties were sustained by these Black soldiers, who subsequently were awarded over 540 medals by the French government including the Legion of Honor - for gallantry in action.
(Photo right: Brigadier General Benjamin Davis conducting close rifle inspection of the United States Colored Troops somewhere in England about 1942) The plight of Blacks in the military did not improve significantly until President Franklin Roosevelt and President Harry Truman made concessions to Black leaders in exchange for Black votes. On October 15, 1940, Roosevelt announced that Blacks would be trained as pilots, that Black reserve officers would be called to active duty, and that Colonel Benjamin Davis would be named the first Black Brigadier General.
In 1948, Truman was even more desperate for Black votes and issued Executive Order 9981, ending military segregation and demanding "equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the Armed Services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin." After two hundred years of struggle, African Americans can now look upon Black military men and officers with a great since of pride and accomplishment.
FIRST BLACK WEST POINT COMMANDER EMILY PEREZ
The first Black woman to serve as Corps Commander Sergeant Major at West Point.
Perez graduated in the top 10 percent of her class, out-ran many men, directed a gospel choir and read the Bible every day.
She also headed a weekly convoy as it rolled down treacherous roads,pocked with bombs and bulletsnear Najaf, Iraq.
As platoon leader, she insisted on leading her troops from the front. Shortly before shipping out to Iraq with the 204 Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, she flew cross-country to be a bone marrow donor for a stranger who was a match.
At 23, she was the 64th woman from the U.S. military killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. September, 2006.
Gil Nobel was a courageous journalist who did for local news in New York what Edward R. Murrow did for network journalism. He redefined the value of local journalism by presenting to the best of his ability the issues and solutions of the day.
He reported stories in context while diving deeply into anything he was interested in, and we followed his attention weekly for decades.
Documentary by Gil Noble on the intentional destruction of Black America by the FBI using infiltration, counter-intelligence programs and drugs. From Marcus Garvey to Paul Robeson to Martin Luther King to Malcolm X to Fred Hampton, to the Black Panthers to heroin and crack, the FBI has worked to destroy black people. Includes interview with Darthard Perry, Ex-informer for the FBI.
by DR. LEROY VAUGHN, MD, MBA, HISTORIAN is now available on amazon.com.
ANCIENT PERIOD
WHO CREATED CIVILIZATION?
President Thomas Jefferson said, "Never yet could I find that a Black had uttered a thought above the level of plain narration...never saw an elementary tract of painting or sculpture." Congressman Thomas Hardwick of Georgia, in 1904, demanded and received the disenfranchisement of Black people from the gains made after the Civil War. He said, "Black people never founded a government nor made a single step toward civilization that did not soon lapse in barbarism, except under the fostering care and guidance of White people." Historian Arnold Toynbee wrote in his 1934 history book: "It will be seen that when we classify mankind by color, the only primary race that has not made a creative contribution to any civilization is the Black race."
Former President Richard Nixon was quoted in the Haldeman Diary as stating "the Black race is the only race, which never founded a civilization." Scientist and Professor R. B. Carrell concludes, “Savages, including the whole Negro race, should on account of their low mentality and unpleasant nature be painlessly exterminated.” Were White scholars and presidents never taught the correct version of history, or has there been a conspiracy for the past 200 years to deny Black civilizations? Before Greece, Rome or Europe were ever established, there were multiple Black civilizations throughout the world, which were already thousands of years old.
All of the elements of civilization first began in Africa, including religion, art, science, government, mining, writing, mathematics, architecture, engineering, and agriculture. Dr. Charles Nelson at the University of Massachusetts states that animal domestication occurred in Kenya 15,000 years ago; and that agricultural sites have been carbon dated in Egypt to 18000 B.C.
The oldest numeration system was found in Zaire by Dr. Jean de Heinzelin with markings on the Ishango Bone dated 8000 B.C. She also said that the people were familiar with prime numbers and multiplication by two since the markings were paired at 3-6, 4-8, and 5-10.
Astronomy and astrology are believed to have existed for almost 50,000 years. The oldest stellar calendar is dated 4241 B.C. It has 365 1/4 days and 12 months with 30 days in each month. The ancient Africans were also the first to divide the day into 24 hours and to begin the day at midnight.
African medical textbooks have been found that are over 5,000 years old. Ancient Africans were very well versed in medical diagnosis and treatment with as many as 1,000 animal, plant and mineral products used in the treatment of illness.
All religions are believed to have originated in Africa, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. General Massey states that the religious records of all religions including the Christian Bible are traceable and in many cases are direct copies of the religious records of ancient Egypt and Nubia. St. Augustine, one of the founding fathers of Christian Theology, wrote "What is now called the Christian religion has existed among the ancients and was not absent from the beginning of the human race."
The ancient Black Egyptians created paper about 4000 B.C., which made the recording of history and science more practical for library storage. It is estimated that over 700,000 books were in the libraries of Egypt before Homer, the father of Western literature, was even born.
Could it be that Black history is the best kept secret in the world or have politicians, including past presidents, denied Black history to accelerate Black disenfranchisement?
The first Black woman to serve as Corps Commander Sergeant Major at West Point.
Perez graduated in the top 10 percent of her class, out-ran many men, directed a gospel choir and read the Bible every day.
She also headed a weekly convoy as it rolled down treacherous roads, pocked with bombs and bullets near Najaf, Iraq.
As platoon leader, she insisted on leading her troops from the front. Shortly before shipping out to Iraq with the 204 Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, she flew cross-country to be a bone marrow donor for a stranger who was a match.
At 23, she was the 64th woman from the U.S. military killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. September, 2006.
---
Thank you all veterans for your service. Though many have received praise, many more have had their contributions ignored. Time for this to change.
The book BLACK PEOPLE AND THEIR PLACE IN WORLD HISTORY, by Dr. Leroy Vaughn, MD, MBA, historian is a groundbreaking work that fills in many of the blanks in world history. This section read in the webeo below with some of the images explained in detail, gives a closer look at some of the contributions of Black soldiers to the US Military.
BLACKS IN THE MILITARY
MEDAL OF HONOR MEN
THE UNITED STATES ARMY AND NAVY (Below)
Portraits of 15 African American soldiers and sailors
including Sgt. John Lawson, Milton M. Holland,
Robert A. Pinn, Sgt. Brent Woods, Powhatan Beaty,
Corporal Isaiah Mays,
Sgt. John Denny, James H. Harris,
Dennis Bell, Thomas R. Hawkins,
Sgt. William Carney,
Christian Fleetwood, Pvt. James Daniel Gardner,
Sgt. Alexander Kelly, and Sgt. Thomas Shaw
(Photo of Gen Colin Powell right)
Television images of General Colin Powell in specific, and Black, well trained, energetic soldiers in general, are a great source of pride for most African Americans. These television images represent the fruits of over two hundred years of struggle by African Americans for equality, integration, and respect in the military service. There is probably no irony in American history more pointed than the American Black soldier fighting and dying for basic American democracy and freedom, while being denied most of those same freedoms at home and in the military since the founding of this country.
(Photo left: West Point Academy's first African American graduate - plus a whole lot more revealed in the book - Henry Flipper)
Until recently African Americans begged for the privilege to fight and die for this country in hopes that a more equitable society would await them at the end of the war. However, Black soldiers and sailors were strictly prohibited from participation in virtually every American war until a severe manpower shortage made this country desperate. In 1792, laws were passed by Congress to exclude Blacks from the Army and Marines. The Marine Corp did not accept an African American for its first 150 years of existence, up to and including World War II, when White politicians and generals finally became desperate enough to encourage Black military participation. Black soldiers were frequently poorly trained, unequally paid and equipped, and forced to participate in all Black regiments with White southern officers in charge.
(Photo right: Tuskgee, Alabama, March, 1942. Members of the first class of Negro pilots in the history of the US Army Air Corps who were graduated at the Advanced Flying School as Second Lieutenants by Major General George E. Stratemeyer)
When Blacks were allowed to participate in American wars, they invariably performed exceptionally well. Over 5,000 African Americans, both slave and free, served in the army during the Revolutionary War, and almost all of them received their freedom in appreciation after the war. In fact, most northern states abolished slavery because of their contribution. The outstanding contributions of over 200,000 African American soldiers and sailors during the Civil War led to the 13th Amendment freeing all slaves.
(Photo left: Brigadier General Joseph E. Bastion pins the Distinguished Service Cross on Capt. Charles L. Thomas, 1945)
Between 1869 and 1890 Black soldiers in the West, nicknamed the Buffalo Soldiers, won 14 Congressional Metals of Honor, 9 Certificates of Merit and 29 Orders of Honorable Mention while fighting Native Americans. President Theodore Roosevelt credits these same Buffalo Soldiers for saving his famous "Rough Riders" from extermination in Cuba during the Spanish American War of 1898.
(Photo above: Black Soldiers during World War I)
About 160,000 of the 200,000 African Americans sent to Europe during World War I were forced to work as laborers in unloading ships and building roads. The remaining soldiers were not even allowed to fight along side White American soldiers but rather were assigned by General Pershing to French Divisions. These Black soldiers had to fight in French uniforms with French weapons and French leadership until the end of World War I. Over 3,000 casualties were sustained by these Black soldiers, who subsequently were awarded over 540 medals by the French government including the Legion of Honor - for gallantry in action.
(Photo right: Brigadier General Benjamin Davis conducting close rifle inspection of the United States Colored Troops somewhere in England about 1942)
The plight of Blacks in the military did not improve significantly until President Franklin Roosevelt and President Harry Truman made concessions to Black leaders in exchange for Black votes. On October 15, 1940, Roosevelt announced that Blacks would be trained as pilots, that Black reserve officers would be called to active duty, and that Colonel Benjamin Davis would be named the first Black Brigadier General.
In 1948, Truman was even more desperate for Black votes and issued Executive Order 9981, ending military segregation and demanding "equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the Armed Services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin." After two hundred years of struggle, African Americans can now look upon Black military men and officers with a great since of pride and accomplishment.
by DR. LEROY VAUGHN, MD, MBA, HISTORIAN is now available on amazon.com.
AFTER 1865
BLACK COWBOYS
THE BLACK STATUE OF LIBERTY
LYNCHING
FIVE BLACK PRESIDENTS
BLACK INVENTORS
WESTPOINTACADEMY AND BLACK CADETS
BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS AND BLACK SOLDIERS
BLACK COWBOYS
The deaths of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry saddened us all because many of us grew up watching these fictional cowboys help tame the old west. However, what’s even sadder is that virtually none of us can name a single Black cowboy either real or fictional. The very word “cowboy” was initially only applied to Black men who took care of cows. Similarly, Black men who worked in the house were called “house boys.” Nevertheless, once cowboys became the heroes of western novels and later television, Black people totally disappeared from the Old West.
Joseph G. McCoy created the need for “cowboys” when he established a market and railroad-shipping center at Abilene, Kansas. Before McCoy was able to convince the Union Pacific Railroad to extend its tracks into Abilene, ranchers in Texas had no way to get their cattle to beef hungry Eastern and Midwestern markets. Most of the cattle were merely slaughtered for their hides. It was estimated that over four million cattle grazed in Texas at the end of the Civil War. Once the marketplace for buyers and sellers of cattle was created, cattlemen had only to get their herds from Texas into the Abilene, Kansas cattle trains. The best known trail for delivering these cattle was called the Chisholm Trail. Its main stem ran from the Rio Grand through Austin, Waco, and Fort Worth, Texas before entering Oklahoma and finally Kansas.
A cattle crew of eleven men, the trail boss, eight cowboys, a wrangler and a cook, usually managed an average herd of 2,500 cattle. Approximately two to four Black cowboys were present on most cattle drives because among them were many of the best riders and ropers in the Midwest. Ironically enough, all cowhands - whether White or Black - soon became known as cowboys which White Texans strongly resented. The eight cowboys usually rode in pairs with two in the front and rear and two on each side of the herd. Moreover, the cook was usually a retired Black cowboy and the wrangler was frequently a Black teenager who took care of the horses.
Ab Blocker, one of the most famous of the trail bosses, said he intentionally hired large numbers of Black cowboys because of their outstanding performances during the two to three month long arduous and dangerous trail drives. One Black cowboy actually saved his life. All the real cowboys - Black, Brown, Red, and White - shared the same jobs and dangers. They ate the same food and slept in the same area. Cowboys had to be willing to work almost day and night to the point of exhaustion and under the most strenuous conditions. They continuously risked death through drowning (at river crossings) and attacks from wild animals including wolves and snakes. They also faced illness produced by high winds and freezing thunderstorms.
This constant threat of danger developed an extreme comradery among cowboys on the trail. In fact, when a Black cowboy became the first person imprisoned in the new Abilene jail, his Black and White cowboy crew immediately broke him out and ran the sheriff out of town. At the end of their long cattle drives, a few Black cowboys remained on northern ranges to become horse breakers, ranch hands and even sheriffs or outlaws, but most of them drew their pay and rode back to Texas for yet another cattle drive.
Despite the legendary performances of great lawmen like Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson, Black soldiers, known as the Buffalo Soldiers, were primarily responsible for keeping law and order in the Old West. Their peace keeping missions between cattlemen and farmers (who fought to keep cattle off of their crops) was primarily responsible for making expansion of the cattle empire possible. The Buffalo Soldiers were also the primary force that helped stop Indian attacks on cattlemen moving up the Chisholm Trail. The Congressional Act of July 28, 1866 established two Black infantry regiments and two Calvary regiments. All four saw continuous service in the West during the three decades following the Civil War. The Black Calvary fought in almost every part of the West from Mexico to Montana. Both General Miles and General Merritt praised their Black troops as “courageous, skilled, intelligent, and brave in battle.”
It should not be surprising that Black men were among the best horse riders in the Old West because they were traditionally responsible for the care and maintenance of horses while working as stable boys, trainers, and jockeys. In fact, thirteen of the fourteen jockeys who participated in the first running of the Kentucky Derby were Black. Moreover, from 1875 until 1902 Black jockeys won eleven Kentucky Derby titles. Isaac Murphy, who won the Kentucky Derby in 1884, 1890, and 1891, was recognized as America’s finest rider during the last two decades of the 19th century. Forty years passed before Earl Sande tied his record of three Kentucky Derby titles. Black jockeys continued their outstanding performances until racism barred them from the racetracks and replaced them with White jockeys.
In July 1876, the booming new town of Deadwood, South Dakota, decided to have a roping contest to settle once and for all who was the best roping cowboy. Contestants came from miles around to win the $200 prize. A Black cowboy named Nat Love, who subsequently wrote his autobiography, was several minutes faster than his nearest competition. With the roping contest completed, a dispute soon arose over who was the best marksman. Nat Love also won the subsequent shooting contest by placing all fourteen of his rifle shots in the bull’s eye target at 150 yards. In addition to the prize money, Nat Love was given the title “Deadwood Dick” which he carried with “honor” ever after.
Bill Pickett is credited with having originated the sport of “bulldogging.” Bulldogging is defined as “throwing a steer by seizing the horns and twisting the neck.” According to Bill Pickett’s boss, Zack Miller who owned the 101 Ranch, “Bill Pickett was the greatest sweat and dirt cowhand that ever lived - bar none.” The Miller Brothers’ 101 Ranch later became famous for putting on one of the finest rodeos in the world and played in such places as Chicago, New York, London, and Mexico City. One of their greatest attractions was Bill Pickett who would actually bring down steers with only his teeth.
As the agricultural frontier moved west, the open range was transformed into farms with barbed-wire boundaries, which significantly reduced the public domain for cattle trails. The long cattle drives also gradually declined as the railroads built branch lines into large Texas cities. By 1890, the legendary era of the cowboy was over, except in fictional novels where Black cowboys completely vanished from their role as self-reliant and masterful heroes of the Old West.
In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte stated that history was only “a lie agreed upon.” Nothing could be more illustrative than the history of the Statue of Liberty originally called “Liberty Enlightening the World.” The liberation of African American slaves was the only inspiration for the creation of a Statue of Liberation for Edouard Rene LeFebvre DeLaboulaye. He recruited a young sculptor, Frederick Auguste Bartholdi, to create a Black female slave statue holding a broken chain in her left hand and with broken chains of slavery at her feet.
The official web site of the Statue of Liberty states that the statue was given to the people of the United States by the people of France as an expression of friendship and to commemorate the centennial of American Independence (1776). The Encyclopedia Britannica states Bartholdi designed the Statue of Liberty as a monument to the Franco-American alliance of 1778. These are absolute and total lies! Edouard Rene LeFebvre DeLaboulaye, an internationally renowned lawyer and author of a three-volume history of the United States, first discussed the idea of a symbol to represent the end of U.S. slavery at a dinner party in 1865, at his country home near Versailles, France. In attendance at the dinner party were many abolitionists including Victor Hugo and Frederick Auguste Bartholdi, who had initially been retained to create a sculptured bust of Mr. DeLaboulaye.
Victor Hugo and Edouard DeLaboulaye were leaders of the French abolitionist movement. They hated slavery and were in strong support of John Brown when he attempted to arm slaves in West Virginia for rebellion by raiding the armory at Harpers Ferry in 1859. After John Brown failed and was hanged, Hugo and DeLaboulaye took up a collection among the French people and presented a gold metal to John Brown’s widow.
After Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States in 1861, the French liberals and abolitionists including Hugo, Bartholdi, and DeLaboulaye urged Lincoln to free the slaves even if civil war resulted. Lincoln was told: “You would become the first country in history to have fought a war against itself to free the internal slave and you would go down in history as a truly great country and a beacon of light to all freedom loving people.” The French abolitionists saw the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 as a worthless piece of paper since it only freed slaves in the Confederate controlled states where Lincoln had no jurisdiction and not in Union controlled states where Lincoln was still in authority. When the war ended in 1865, French abolitionists were extremely happy and in addition to again urging Lincoln to free all slaves, DeLaboulaye and Bartholdi requested permission to build and dedicate a monument or colossal statuary to that freeing of all slaves in America. When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, DeLaboulaye again headed the abolitionists’ committee that presented a gold metal to Mrs. Lincoln, just as he had done for the widow of John Brown.
In addition to a staunch abolitionist, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904) was an outstanding French sculptor. Bartholdi trained to be an architect in Alsace and Paris and then studied painting with Ary Scheffer and sculpture with J. F. Sioux. Bartholdi’s life and ideas changed dramatically after 1855 when he toured Egypt and witnessed the magnificent colossal monuments and statues created by the ancient Black Egyptians. Bartholdi’s creation of a giant Black ex-slave female with broken chains at her feet and left hand was readily accepted in France. Although liberals, freemasons, and businessmen with American interests were the most enthusiastic supporters of the project, by 1881 some 100,000 people and 181 towns throughout France had contributed money.
In 1871, Frederic Bartholdi at the urging of DeLaboulaye undertook a voyage to America to sell his idea of a colossal statue clearly symbolizing the end of chattel slavery in the United States. He was armed with a large terracotta statue and numerous drawings to clearly illustrate his proposed Statue of Liberty. The original African face of the Statue of Liberty was published in The New York Post dated June 17, 1986 as part of the centennial celebration. Bartholdi found little American support for his African slave model. In 1878, as the African head of Miss. Liberty first went on display at the Universal Exposition in Paris, France, rampant reaction raged throughout the American South.
Bartholdi finally had to abandon his original ideas and changed the Statue of Liberty to the features we are now familiar with. The African face was re-sculptured into the face of his mother Madame Bartholdi. A tablet of law tucked into her folded arm that bears the date July 4, 1776, replaced the broken chains in the slave’s left hand. Ironically, the chains were left at the feet but the meaning changed from broken American slavery to broken English tyranny.
On May 18, 1986 during the centennial celebration, The New York Times joined The New York Post in describing the original Statue of Liberty and the intention of DeLaboulaye and Bartholdi in presenting this statue to America. It’s unconscionable that the Encyclopedia Britannica and the official Statue of Liberty literature can still lie and say that this is a monument celebrating American Independence of 1776 and/or the Franco-American alliance of 1778. Dr. Jack Felder sums it up clearly: “Once in place, Miss. Liberty received a new meaning. She was hailed as the ‘Mother of White Exiles,’ greeting European immigrants seeking freedom in America. Nothing in the original conceptions of Bartholdi or DeLaboulaye envisioned this role for their stature.”
BLACK STATUE OF LIBERTY BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bohlen, C. “Does She Say the Same Things in her Native Tongue?” New York Times, May 18, 1986
Felder, J. (1992) From the Statue of Liberty to the Statue of Bigotry. New York: Jack Felder.
Felder, J. “Black Origins and Lady Liberty.” Daily Challenge. July 16, 1990
Felder, J. “This Miss.Liberty Was Modeled on Racism.” Black American, July 3, 1986. Robinson, C. & Battle, R. (1987) The Journey of the Songhai People. Philadelphia: Farmer Press
Sinclair, T. Was Original Statue a Tribute to Blacks? New York Voice, July 5, 1986
The New York Post, “Statue of Liberty” June 17, 1986.
LYNCHING
Lynching is defined as mob execution, usually by hanging, without the benefit of trial and often accompanied with torture and body mutilation. The usual scenario included a mob of up to 5,000 White men attacking a single, defenseless Black man and executing him for a crime he was never convicted of or even charged with in most cases. Lynching is considered one of the most horrific chapters in African American history and is only exceeded by slavery in cruelty and savagery toward another human being.
Ironically, the term “lynch” is derived from the name of Charles Lynch, a Virginia planter and patriot during the American Revolution, who directed violence toward White British loyalists. After the Civil War and emancipation, lynching became almost synonymous with hanging and torturing African American males. Between 1882 and 1930 more than 3,300 Black male victims were hanged, burned alive, castrated, and mutilated by mostly southern White mobs who have never faced any charges for these criminal acts. Coroners and law officials typically attributed the murders to “parties unknown.” Most historians and sociologists agree that mob executions were really about social control and to maintain the status quo of White superiority and had little to due with crime control.
Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) could easily be called the mother of the anti-lynching movement. She was the first of eight children born to slave parents in HollySprings, Mississippi. After emancipation, she attended several schools run by northern Methodist missionaries including RustCollege. In 1879, after the yellow fever epidemic claimed the lives of both her parents, she moved to Memphis, Tennessee with the younger children and accepted a teaching position. Because of her great concern for racial injustice, Wells was invited to write for a local church paper. As her fame increased, she was asked to contribute to several Baptist newspapers. She eventually became editor and partner of the “Free Speech and Headlight” Baptist newspaper.
In 1892, the brutal lynching of three close friends in Memphis started Ida B. Wells on a militant, uncompromising, single-minded crusade against lynching from which she would never retreat. Her three friends committed the crime of opening a grocery store, which successfully competed with a White grocer directly across the street. For the crime of becoming too “uppity”, a large White mob took the three proprietors from their grocery store, tortured and killed them. Ms. Wells wrote angry editorials in her newspaper encouraging Blacks to leave Memphis if possible and to boycott White businesses, which left several White companies including the newly opened streetcar line on the verge of bankruptcy.
Ida B. Wells decided to launch her anti-lynching movement on several fronts. She first wanted to explode the myth that lynching was primarily to protect White women from rape by Black men. She published detailed statistics on lynching, which demonstrated that less than one-fifth of the victims of lynch mobs were even accused of rape by their killers. She said that racist southern White mobs “cry rape” to brand their victims as “moral monsters” and to place them “beyond the pale of human sympathy.” She wrote that while Southern White men raped Black women and children with impunity, they considered any liaison between a Black man and a White woman as involuntary by definition. She pointed out that children produced by White-Black relationships were called “mulatto” from the Spanish word for mule because racist Whites believed that mixed-race children, like the offspring of donkeys and horses, were an inferior breed that could not reproduce. When Ms. Wells suggested in print that White women were often willing participants with Black men, a large White mob destroyed the presses of her newspaper and would have killed her had she not been visiting friends in New York. Thomas Fortune invited her to stay in New York and write for the “New York Age.” She was also allowed to exchange the circulation list of the “Free Speech” for a one fourth interest in the “Age” and immediately began to write a series on lynching.
The second approach of Ida B. Wells in her anti-lynching movement was to appeal to the Christian conscience of powerful non-southern Whites. She published two pamphlets (“Southern Horror” in 1892 and “A Red Book” in 1895) in hopes that extensive statistical analyses of lynching would clearly point out that the southern rape fantasy was merely “an excuse to get rid of Negroes who were acquiring wealth and property.” She pointed out that the same lynch mob that killed a Nashville Black man accused of visiting a White woman left unharmed a White man convicted of raping an eight year old girl. Since Ms. Well’s viewed lynching as primarily an economic issue, she hoped that economic pressure from the “ruling-class Whites” could produce southern social change. She began a lecture tour in the Northeast in 1892 and in 1894 she lectured in England where she helped organize the British Anti-Lynching Society. Ms. Wells was able to effect a curtailment of British investment in the South by suggesting that this could influence American sentiment. In 1895, Ida B. Wells toured the northern and western states organizing American anti-lynching societies.
Ida B. Wells told African Americans that her analysis of mob violence suggested that it abated whenever Blacks exercised “manly self-defense.” In “Southern Horrors” she suggested, “a Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every Black home.” She also told Blacks that they must retaliate with their economic power. She urged Blacks to boycott White businesses or to migrate to Oklahoma since Black labor was the industrial strength of the South. She said: “The more the Afro-American yields and cringes and begs, the more he has to do so, the more he is insulted, outraged, and lynched.”
Since Southern courts would not punish lynching participants, Ms. Wells lobbied for legislation that would make lynching a federal crime. In 1901, Ida B. Wells met with President William McKinley and pressed for his support with anti-lynching legislation. However, she could not get McKinley or Theodore Roosevelt to support an anti-lynching bill that was introduced in Congress in 1902. As one of the founding members of the NAACP in 1909, she made her anti-lynching campaign including anti-lynching legislation among the NAACP’s highest priorities. The NAACP investigated specific incidents and published national statistics on lynching in an attempt to sway public support to put a stop to lynching. In 1918, the NAACP was able to get Republican Congressman Leonidas Dyer to introduce a bill that subjected lynch mobs to a charge of capital murder for their actions. The Dyer Bill passed in the House of Representatives but failed in the Senate because southern Democrats never allowed the bill out of committee. Congressman Dyer re-introduced the bill each year for the next ten years, but it never again passed either house.
As a result of the life-long crusade of Ida B. Wells against lynching, she became the inspiration for organizations throughout the country that opposed lynching. For example, The American Civil Liberties Union, The Commission on Interracial Cooperation, and
The Communist Party of the United States all played a role in the anti-lynching campaign. Ironically, White middle class Southern women for whom lynching was suppose to protect, formed the Jessie Daniel Ames Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching in 1930. In honor of her legacy, a low-income housing project in Chicago was named after Ida B. Wells in 1941; and in 1990, the U.S. Postal Service issued an Ida B. Wells commemorative stamp. The “militant,” “uncompromising,” “outspoken,” and “fearless” Ida B. Wells can surely look back upon her life as a genuine success in helping to end one of the most horrific chapters in African American history.
Strange Fruit
By Billie Holiday
Joel A. Rogers and Dr. Auset Bakhufu have both written books documenting that at least five former presidents of the United States had Black people among their ancestors. If one considers the fact that European men far outnumbered European women during the founding of this country, and that the rape and impregnation of an African female slave was not considered a crime, it is even more surprising that these two authors could not document Black ancestors among an ever larger number of former presidents. The presidents they name include Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Warren Harding, and Calvin Coolidge.
The best case for Black ancestry is against Warren G. Harding, our 29th president from 1921 until 1923. Harding himself never denied his ancestry. When Republican leaders called on Harding to deny the "Negro" history, he said, "How should I know whether or not one of my ancestors might have jumped the fence." William Chancellor, a White professor of economics and politics at WoosterCollege in Ohio, wrote a book on the Harding family genealogy and identified Black ancestors among both parents of President Harding. Justice Department agents allegedly bought and destroyed all copies of this book. Chancellor also said that Harding's only academic credentials included education at IberiaCollege, which was founded in order to educate fugitive slaves.
Andrew Jackson was our 7th president from 1829 to 1837. The Virginia Magazine of History, Volume 29, says that Jackson was the son of a White woman from Ireland who had intermarried with a Negro. The magazine also said that his eldest brother had been sold as a slave in Carolina. Joel Rogers says that Andrew Jackson Sr. died long before President Andrew Jackson Jr. was born. He says the president's mother then went to live on the Crawford farm where there were Negro slaves and that one of these men was Andrew Jr.'s father. Another account of the "brother sold into slavery” story can be found in David Coyle's book entitled "Ordeal of the Presidency" (1960).
Thomas Jefferson was our 3rd president from 1801 to 1809. The chief attack on Jefferson was in a book written by Thomas Hazard in 1867 called "The Johnny Cake Papers." Hazard interviewed Paris Gardiner, who said he was present during the 1796 presidential campaign, when one speaker states that Thomas Jefferson was “a mean-spirited son of a half-breed Indian squaw and a Virginia mulatto father.” In his book entitled "The Slave Children of Thomas Jefferson," Samuel Sloan wrote that Jefferson destroyed all of the papers, portraits, and personal effects of his mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson, when she died on March 31, 1776. He even wrote letters to every person who had ever received a letter from his mother, asking them to return that letter. Sloan says, "There is something strange and even psychopathic about the lengths to which Thomas Jefferson went to destroy all remembrances of his mother, while saving over 18,000 copies of his own letters and other documents for posterity." One must ask, "What is it he was trying to hide?"
Abraham Lincoln was our 16th president from 1861 to 1865. J. A. Rogers quotes Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, as saying that Abraham Lincoln was the illegitimate son of an African man. William Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, said that Lincoln had very dark skin and coarse hair and that his mother was from an Ethiopian tribe. In Herndon's book entitled "The Hidden Lincoln" he says that Thomas Lincoln could not have been Abraham Lincoln's father because he was sterile from childhood mumps and was later castrated. Lincoln's presidential opponents made cartoon drawings depicting him as a Negro and nicknamed him “Abraham Africanus the First."
Calvin Coolidge was our 30th president, and he succeeded Warren Harding. He proudly admitted that his mother was dark because of mixed Indian ancestry. However, Dr. Bakhufu says that by 1800 the New England Indian was hardly any longer pure Indian, because they had mixed so often with Blacks. Calvin Coolidge's mother's maiden name was "Moor." In Europe the name "Moor" was given to all Black people just as the name Negro was used in America.
All of the presidents mentioned were able to pass for White and never acknowledged their Black ancestry. Millions of other children who were descendants of former slaves have also been able to pass for White. American society has had so much interracial mixing that books such as “The Bell Curve”, discussing IQ evaluations based solely on race, are totally unrealistic.
When the famous anthropologist Dr. Richard Leakey discovered bones in Africa in 1956, which were millions of years old, his accomplishment was belittled by people who regularly asked the question, "but what has Africa contributed to world progress?" He could not understand why people were so poorly informed, since he knew that the collective contributions of Black people to civilization, science, and invention are so extensive that it is not possible to live a full day in the United States, or any other part of the world without sharing in the benefits of those contributions. Still the genius of the Black imagination that has influenced every aspect of life in the United States and elsewhere is virtually unknown to most people.
Very few homes in America have as many as two books, which discuss the achievements of the Black race, either past or present. During the slave trade, many of the slaves from the former Songhay Empire were highly educated and were credited with teaching Caribbean and American farmers successful agricultural techniques. They also invented various tools and equipment to lessen the burden of their daily work. Most slave inventors were nameless, such as the slave owned by the Confederate President Jefferson Davis who designed the ship propeller used by the entire Confederate Navy.
Following the Civil War, the growth of industry in this country was tremendous and much of this was made possible with inventions by ethnic minorities. By 1913 over 1,000 inventions were patented by Black Americans. Among the most notable inventors were Jan Matzeliger, who developed the first machine to mass-produce shoes, and Elijah McCoy, who invented automatic lubrication devices for steam engines. Granville Woods had 35 patents to improve electric railway systems including the first system to allow moving trains to communicate. He even sued Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison for stealing his patents and won both cases. Garrett Morgan developed the first automatic traffic signal and gas mask, and Norbert Rillieux who created the technique for converting sugar cane juice into white sugar crystals. Moreover, Rillieux was so brilliant that in 1854 he left Louisiana and went to France where he spent ten years working with the Champollions deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics from the Rosetta Stone. Lewis Latimer created an inexpensive cotton-thread filament, which made electric light bulbs practical because Edison's original light bulb only burned for a few minutes. More recent inventors include McKinley Jones, who invented the movable refrigeration unit for food transport in trucks and trains and Lloyd Quarterman who with six other Black scientists, worked on the creation of the atomic bomb along (code named the Manhattan Project.) Quarterman also helped develop the first nuclear reactor, which was used in the atomically powered submarine called the Nautilus.
Lets conclude with two current contributors. It should not be surprising that we don't know about the wonderful contributions of Blacks in the past because we are not even made aware of the startling scientific achievements during our own lifetime. For example, Otis Bodkin invented an electrical device used in all guided missiles and all IBM computers, and Colonel Frederick Gregory, who was not only the first Black astronaut pilot but the person who also redesigned the cockpits for the last three space shuttles. Gregory was also on the team that pioneered the microwave instrumentation landing system. In 2000, Bendix Aircraft Company began a worldwide promotion of this microwave instrumentation landing system that can land planes without a pilot.
Dr. Mark Dean—Inventor of the Personal Computer
Biography Published On IBM’s Website
Dr. Mark E. Dean is an IBM Fellow and vice president of the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California. He oversees more than 400 scientists and engineers doing exploratory and applied research in various hardware, software and services areas, including nanotechnology, materials science, storage systems, data management, web technologies, workplace practices and user interfaces. An engineer by training, Dr. Dean has more than 25 years experience in the IT industry -- all with IBM -- where he has been central to the design of a wide range of IBM computers.
Dr. Dean has held various positions in several different cities and IBM divisions. Prior to assuming leadership of the Almaden lab in 2004, Dr. Dean was vice president for hardware and systems architecture in IBM's Systems and Technology Group (STG) in Tucson, Arizona. While there, he significantly enhanced STG's hardware and systems strategy and architectures to support continued market share growth and industry leadership in IBM's server and storage systems business. Before STG, Dr. Dean was a vice president in IBM's Storage Technology Group, focused on the company's storage systems strategy and technology roadmap.
Prior to his time in Tucson, Dr. Dean was the vice president for Systems Research at IBM's WatsonResearchCenter in Yorktown Heights, New York, where he was responsible for the research and application of systems technologies spanning circuits to operating environments. Key technologies from his research team include petaflop supercomputer systems structures (BlueGene), digital visualization, design automation tools, Linux optimizations for servers and embedded systems, algorithms for computational science, memory compression, S/390 & PowerPC processors, embedded systems research, formal verification methods and high-speed low-power circuits.
In 1997, Dean was named to be both director of the Austin Research Laboratory and director of Advanced Technology Development for the IBM Enterprise Server Group. Achievements there included testing of the first gigahertz CMOS microprocessor, design of a high-speed DRAM and development of the "cellular" server architecture, which is optimized for managing, storing, searching, distributing and mining complex data (such as video, audio and high-resolution images).
Before this, Dr. Dean held several engineering positions at IBM in the area of computer system hardware architecture and design in Boca Raton, Florida, and Austin. He has developed all types of computer systems, from embedded systems to supercomputers. He was also chief engineer for the development of the IBM PC/AT, ISA systems bus, PS/2 Model 70 & 80, the Color Graphics Adapter in the original IBM PC and numerous other subsystems. One invention -- the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) "bus," which permitted add-on devices like the keyboard, disk drives and printers to be connected to the motherboard -- would earn election to the National Inventors Hall of Fame for Dean and colleague Dennis Moeller.
Dr. Dean received a BSEE degree from the University of Tennessee in 1979, an MSEE degree from FloridaAtlanticUniversity in 1982, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from StanfordUniversity in 1992. He has papers published in the IEEE Computer Society Press, MIT Press, and IBM Research Journal.
Dr. Dean's most recent awards include: member of the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Science and National Academy of Engineering, IEEE Fellow, the CCG Black Engineer of the Year, the NSBE Distinguished
Engineer award, the University of Tennessee COE Dougherty Award, induction into the National Inventor's Hall of Fame, and recipient of the Ronald H. Brown American Innovators Award. Dr. Dean was appointed to IBM Fellow in 1995, IBM's highest technical honor. He is a member of the IBM Academy of Technology. He has received several academic and IBM awards, including thirteen Invention Achievement Awards and six Corporate Awards. Dr. Dean has more than 40 patents or patents pending.
The U.S. Military Academy at West Point (West Point), New York was initially established as a corps of engineers by President Thomas Jefferson under an 1802 Act of Congress. General Sylvanus Thayer was appointed superintendent in 1814 and became known as the “Father of West Point” because of his academic expansion. Since members of Congress had to nominate West Point cadets, no African Americans were nominated until the Reconstruction period when Black voters elected Black Congressmen. The 13th, 14th, and 15th constitutional amendments made Black Congressmen possible. Emancipation was accomplished by the 13th amendment (1865); citizenship through the 14th amendment (1868); and the 15th amendment granted suffrage to Black males (1870).
African American Congressmen nominated 27 Blacks to West Point between 1870 and 1887. Only 12 members of the group passed the academic and physical examinations for admission. Academically, they were examined in mathematics (including fractions and decimals) in addition to the rules of correct grammar. Candidates also had to demonstrate knowledge of “U.S. and world geography, by discussing various historical periods, wars, and U.S. administrations.” The physical examination required the absence of infectious and chronic disease. During the four-year program, the cadets studied French, Spanish, chemistry, engineering, philosophy, law, mathematics (including calculus), mineralogy, and geology. Despite the many nominations, only three African Americans graduated from West Point during its first 130 years of existence.
The first African American nominated to West Point was James Webster Smith who attended from 1870 until January 1874. James Smith was described as “a hot headed activist, bent on righting the wrongs of racial inequality.” Smith was forced to repeat his first year at West Point because of an alleged lie in response to a charge of inattention in the ranks. After his fourth year, Smith wrote his patron, David Clark of Connecticut, complaining about the academy’s mistreatment of Black cadets. His letters sparked a congressional board of inquiry, which eventually recommended the court martial of several White cadets. However, since one of the White cadets was the nephew of William Belknap, Secretary of War, the punishment was reduced to a mere reprimand. Smith’s personal and public need to eradicate social injustice at West Point resulted in extreme classmate hatred and the eventual dismissal of Smith from the academy for fighting after a court martial and three-week imprisonment.
Johnson Chesnut Whittaker was chosen to fill the vacancy created by James Smith’s dismissal. Contrary to Smith, Whittaker was described as a quiet, shy, cowardly student who sought solace in the Bible. After completing four years and just prior to his final examinations, Whittaker was found on the floor of his room, “bleeding and insensible, bound hand and foot to his bedstead. His head was partly shaved, and his feet and hands slashed.” Whittaker claimed that three masked men were responsible, and this created such uproar in the press that Congress initiated another investigation. A court of inquiry accused Whittaker of self-mutilation to avoid his final examinations.
He received a court martial and was sentenced to a dishonorable discharge from the military and one year hard labor in prison. President Chester Arthur reversed the entire proceedings but did
not allow him to finish the Academy.
Henry Ossian Flipper, a former slave, was a roommate of both James Smith and Johnson Whittaker and was determined to finish at all costs. Henry received his appointment to West Point upon the recommendation of Congressman James Freeman, who needed the Black vote for re-election. Despite threats, bribes as high as $5,000, and refusal of any cadets to speak to him for four years, Flipper became the first Black West Point graduate on June 14, 1877. Prominent Blacks throughout the nation were proud of Flipper’s accomplishment and Charles Douglass, son of Frederick Douglass, sponsored a New York City reception in his honor.
On January 2, 1878 Flipper received his commission as second lieutenant and was assigned to the all Black 10th U.S. Calvary (called the Buffalo Soldiers) at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Henry Flipper performed exceptionally well during his first four years and was well liked by everyone. He served admirably in a number of combat assignments on the frontier and also worked brilliantly as an engineer. He designed and perfected a drainage system that eliminated diseased stagnant rainwater (and subsequent malaria) that was plaguing the fort. Still known as “Flipper’s Ditch”, it became a national landmark in 1977. Unfortunately, he was transferred to Fort Davis, Texas in 1881 commanded by the racist Colonel William Shafter. Shafter disliked Blacks in general and the Buffalo Soldiers in particular. Shortly after Lieutenant Flipper’s arrival, he was accused of stealing commissary funds. Flipper stated at his court martial that he hid the funds in his personal trunk because there was no secure place to keep the commissary funds and that Colonel Shafter was fully aware of this. Despite the fact that Colonel Shafter had Lucy Smith, Flipper’s White housekeeper, laundress, and cook, searched and that $2,800 in commissary checks were found in her blouse, this fact was never mentioned at the trial. Moreover, the local town merchants, who highly admired Flipper, took up a collection and replaced all the missing funds. The court martial panel could not convict Flipper of embezzlement but were able to convict him of “conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman.” Although the Army’s Judge Advocate General concluded that the conviction was racially motivated, President Chester Arthur refused to reverse his conviction, and Flipper was dishonorably discharged.
Henry Flipper used his outstanding education at West Point to carve out a distinguished career as a civil and mining engineer, especially in and around Mexico, since he had learned fluent Spanish. He initially worked for an American mining company surveying land in Mexico. When Texas and Arizona joined the United States, Flipper translated Spanish land deeds and titles for the Land Grant Court and investigated their authenticity in Mexico City records. Flipper later joined the Justice Department and Senate Foreign Relations Committee as an expert on Mexican political developments. Subsequently, Secretary of Interior, Albert Fall, a close friend of Henry Flipper, chose him as chief civil engineer in determining the course for the Alaskan railroad lines.
Flipper unsuccessfully devoted his entire life to clearing his name. Four bills were introduced in Congress between 1903 and 1908 to clear Flipper, but racist southern politicians allowed the bills to die in committee. Despite all of his accomplishments, he died at age 84 (1940) bitterly disappointed. The redemption of Flipper’s name was rekindled by a schoolteacher from Valdosta, Georgia named Ray MacColl who learned about Flipper while taking a Black history course and embarked on a tireless campaign to right what he regarded as a major injustice. Through MacColl’s efforts, the Army’s Board for the Correction of Military Records reviewed the circumstances of Flipper’s discharge and changed his discharge from dishonorable to honorable in 1976. Moreover in 1977, exactly 100 years after his graduation, the Henry O. Flipper Memorial Award was established at West Point and is given annually to the cadet who best demonstrates leadership, self discipline, and perseverance. On February 11, 1978, his remains were reburied with full military honors in his hometown of Thomasville, Georgia (from an unmarked grave in Atlanta).
On February 19, 1999, President Clinton granted Henry Flipper the first posthumous pardon in American history, calling the pardon “an event that is 117 years overdue.” Retired General Colin Powell, who attended the pardon ceremony, kept a picture of Flipper on the wall of his office at the Pentagon when he was Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff. Powell wrote in his autobiography: “We knew that the path through the underbrush of prejudice and discrimination had been cleared by the sacrifices of nameless Blacks who had gone before us, the Henry Flippers…and to them we owed everything.”
Henry Flipper is now a revered figure at West Point where a memorial bust is dedicated to him in the cadet library. Eighty Black cadets graduated in West PointAcademy’s class of 2000, and they should never forget that African Americans “stand tall because we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.” Pioneers are those with “arrows in their backs,” and we must never stop honoring our pioneers.
FIRST BLACK WEST POINT COMMANDER
Lt. Emily Perez
The first Black woman to serve as Corps Commander Sergeant Major at West Point.
Perez graduated in the top 10 percent of her class, out-ran many men, directed a gospel choir and read the Bible every day. She also headed a weekly convoy as it rolled down treacherous roads, pocked with bombs and bullets near Najaf, Iraq.
As platoon leader, she insisted on leading her troops from the front. Shortly before shipping out to Iraq with the 204th Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, she flew cross-country to be a bone marrow donor for a stranger who was a match.
At 23, she was the 64th woman from the U.S. military killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. September, 2006
Despite stellar performances through five previous wars, Black servicemen in the early 1900’s were hated by the South and despised and unappreciated by the North. Southerners hated Blacks in uniform because radical Republicans in Congress had used Black soldiers to police the South during Reconstruction and as added humiliation after their Civil War defeat. After Reconstruction, Black soldiers were sent to the Western frontier to fight “hostile Indians,” but found the environment of White racism tremendously more hostile than the Native Americans. Nothing more typified American racial hatred for the Black soldier than the “Brownsville Affair.”
During the summer of 1906 the First Battalion of the 25th Infantry Regiment was transferred from FortNiobrara in Nebraska to FortBrown, a post near Brownsville, Texas at the mouth of the Rio GrandeRiver, to protect against Mexican revolutionaries. These 167 men had outstanding credentials for service, loyalty, discipline, and bravery during battles fought in Cuba and the Philippines. Six of these Black soldiers held the Medal of Honor and thirteen had been awarded citations for bravery in the Spanish-American War. More than half of the soldiers had been in uniform for more than five years; twenty five had served in active duty for more than ten years; and one had accrued more that twenty seven years. The citizens of Brownsville were appalled and wrote William Howard Taft, the Secretary of War, requesting that he keep the White 26th Infantry at FortBrown instead. The War Department refused to repeal the order and responded to the Brownsville citizens: “The fact is that a certain amount of race prejudice between Whites and Blacks seems to have become almost universal throughout the country, and no matter where Colored troops are sent there are always some who make objections to their coming.”
The Brownsville citizens immediately posted new signs announcing “NO NIGGERS OR DOGS ALLOWED” on saloons, restaurants, and all public and recreational facilities. However, since Brownsville is located near the Mexican border, most of the town’s inhabitants were low paid Mexican workers, and these Hispanics welcomed the soldiers at their establishments. Consequently, Whites became very concerned that the assertive Black infantrymen might inspire Mexicans to challenge the status quo of White dominance and to resist local Jim Crow practices. As much as the White citizens of Brownsville hated Black soldiers, they saw an interracial alliance as an even greater threat to their town and felt compelled to eliminate the Black military presence by whatever means necessary.
Shortly after midnight on August 14, 1906 a group of men across the road from FortBrown and dressed in army uniforms began firing shots randomly into buildings and at streetlights for about ten minutes. The random bullets killed a bartender, and seriously wounded a police lieutenant. Military rifle cartridges and clips from Springfield rifles recently issued to the 25th Regiment were found at the scene. Several Brownsville citizens immediately claimed that they saw Blacks shooting. Major Penrose said it could not have been Black soldiers because all the battalion’s soldiers were accounted for by company commanders at the 10:00 PM curfew check and again immediately after the shooting. The rifles were also checked and none had been recently fired. The Major stated that anyone could wear an army uniform because old uniforms were routinely discarded outside the fort and that ammunition and rifles were known to have been sold to the citizens of Brownsville by the White 26th Regiment that occupied the fort before the Black soldiers. Brownsville Mayor, Fred Come, organized an investigating committee of local citizens who found witnesses who professed to have heard voices that sounded Black. Five witnesses said they saw Black soldiers but could not identify anyone, and they were not under oath. The committee prefaced their questions by stating: “We know that this outrage was committed by Negro soldiers. We want any information that will lead to a discovery of who did it.” The committee did not call a single soldier to the inquiry.
After one day of testimony the committee sent a telegram to President Theodore Roosevelt stating: “Our women and children are terrified and our men practically under constant alarm and watchfulness. No community can stand this strain…we ask you to have the troops at once removed from FortBrown and replaced by White soldiers.” President Roosevelt ordered two investigations, one by Major August Blocksom and a second by General Ernest Garlington, a racist native of South Carolina. They took as evidence the testimony of White citizens and spent military cartridges and concurred that Black soldiers had committed the crime. They completely ignored the testimony of a civilian employee of the fort who swore that after the shooting he had seen four Brownsville citizens dressed in uniforms and carrying rifles. The officers concluded that the Black soldiers’ denial of the shooting was proof of “collusion” and a “conspiracy-of-silence” and since no soldier would confess, they recommended dismissing the entire battalion. General Garlington added: “The secretive nature of the race, where crimes charged to members of their color are made, is well known.”
President Theodore Roosevelt delayed his decision until after his re-election so as not to loose much needed Black support. Subsequently, on November 28, 1906, he ordered the discharge of all 167 soldiers of the First Battalion without honor, and he denied the soldiers all back pay and pension benefits. The soldiers never received a formal trial or the benefit of legal counsel, and this remains the only example of mass punishment without the benefit of trial in U.S. military history. White people across the country celebrated Roosevelt’s decision. The “New Orleans Picayune” reported: “Whatever may be the value of the Negro troops in time of war, the fact remains they are a curse to the country in time of peace.” In December 1906 during the first congressional session after the Brownsville incident, Congressman John Garner of Texas, whose district included Brownsville, introduced a bill that “called for elimination of all Blacks currently in the military and barring Black enlistment.” Although his bill was defeated, he re-introduced similar bills in each of the next three sessions. Franklin Roosevelt rewarded Garner’s racial hatred by selecting him as his Vice President in 1932 and 1936.
Senator Joseph Foraker of Ohio tried to rally support without success for the Black soldiers and even proposed a bill providing the men an opportunity to reenlist. Foraker’s defense of the Brownsville soldiers and criticism of the White House “so infuriated Theodore Roosevelt that the President proceeded to “hound the Senator from public life.” However, 66 years later (March 1971) Black California Congressman Augustus Hawkins introduced legislation to amend the records of the 25th Regiment to “honorable discharge.” On December 6, 1972, President Nixon signed a bill authorizing a one-time pension payment of $25,000 to 86 year old Dorsie Willis, the only survivor among those discharged, and thus partially corrected one of the greatest injustices in military history.
