* Today in Black History - June 5 *
1783 - Oliver Cromwell, an African-American soldier who served
in the Revolutionary War, receives an honorable discharge
signed by George Washington. Cromwell, who will claim to
have been with Washington when he crossed the Delaware and
in the battles of Yorktown, Princeton, and Monmouth, is
cited by Washington as having earned "the Badge of Merit
for six years' faithful service."
1872 - The Republican National Convention meets in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. The meeting marks the first significant
participation of African-American delegates: Robert B. Elliot
(chair of the South Carolina delegation); Joseph Rainey,
and John R. Lynch of Mississippi, who each make addresses
to the convention.
1920 - Marion Motley is born in Leesburg, Georgia. He will become a
NFL running back and all-time AAFC rusher for the Cleveland
Browns, ending his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He
will enter the NFL in 1946, making him one of only
four African Americans to desegregate the NFL in the modern era.
He will be enshrined in the NFL Hall of Fame in 1968.
1940 - The American Negro Theatre is organized in Harlem by
Frederick O'Neal, Abram Hill, and members of the McClendon
Players. Among the plays it will produce is "Anna Lucasta",
which will be presented on Broadway in 1944 and feature
Canada Lee, Ossie Davis, and Ruby Dee.
1944 - Tommie Smith is born in Clarksville, Texas. He will become a
track star (sprinter), and Olympic athlete/runner. He will win
the Olympic Gold medal in the 200 meters in the 1968 Olympics.
It will be, on the winners platform, that he and John Carlos
will raise clinched fists as the national anthem is played.
He will be inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of
Fame in 1978.
1952 - Jersey Joe Walcott defeats Ezzard Charles for the heavyweight
boxing title.
1956 - A three-judge federal court rules that racial segregation on
Montgomery city buses is unconstitutional, ending the
Montgomery bus boycott.
1959 - U.S. Supreme Court undermines the legal foundations of
segregation in three landmark cases, Sweatt v. Painter, McLaurin
v. Oklahoma State Regents and Henderson v. United States.
1969 - A race riot occurs in Hartford, Connecticut.
1973 - Doris A. Davis of Compton, California, becomes the first African
American female to govern a metropolitan city.
1973 - Cardiss R. Collins of Chicago, Illinois is elected to Congress.
She will succeed her late husband and spend over twenty years
in the U.S. House of Representatives.
1983 - Yannick Noah becomes the first Frenchman to win French Open
since World War II.
1988 - Clarence M. Pendleton, Jr. dies at the age of 58. He was the first
African American chairman of the United States Civil Rights
Commission (1981-88). Following President Ronald Reagan's desires,
he led the commission toward a "color-blind" approach to matters
of civil rights.
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The source for these facts are "Encyclopedia Britannica,
"InfoBeat," "I, Too, Sing America - The African American
Book of Days," "Before the Mayflower", "Black Firsts" and
independent research by the Information Man.
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