* Today in Black History - June 2 *
1863 - Harriet Tubman leads a group of Union troops into Confederate
territory.
1875 - James A. Healy is consecrated in a cathedral in Portland, Maine,
becoming the first African American Roman Catholic bishop (Diocese
of Maine).
1899 - African Americans observe a day of fasting called by the National
Afro-American Council to protest lynchings and racial massacres.
1907 - Dorothy West is born in Boston, Massachusettts. She will become a
writer at age of seven when the Boston Globe publishes her short
story, "Promise and Fulfillment." She will become a leading writer
during the Harlem Renaissance and will also become a performer,
working as a cast member of the play, "Porgy." She will found
two literary journals, "Challenge," and "New Challenge." She will
move to Martha's Vineyard in 1945 and will live there for the
remainder of her life, while producing the works "Living Is Easy,"
"The Wedding," and more than sixty short stories. She will join
the ancestors in Boston, Massachusetts in August, 1998.
1911 - Claudio Brindis de Salas joins the ancestors in Buenos Aires,
Argentina at the age of 58. He was an Afro-Cuban violinist and
composer renown worldwide as a virtuoso. He had been referred to
as "The Black Paganini" and "The King of the the Octaves."
1943 - The 99th Pursuit Squadron (Tuskegee Airmen), the first African
American Army Air Corps unit, flies its first combat mission in the
Mediterranean, strafing enemy positions on the Italian island of
Pantelleria.
1951 - Kenneth I. Chenault is born in Mineola (Long Island), New York. He
will become an attorney and join American Express in 1981, where he
will become president of the company's Consumer Card and Financial
Services Group in 1989 and one of the highest-ranking African
Americans in corporate America. In 2001, he will become CEO and
chairman of American Express.
1951 - Sergeant Cornelius H. Charlton, a member of Company C, 24th Infantry
Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, joins the ancestors when he is
mortally wounded during the Korean War while his platoon was
attacking heavily defended hostile positions on commanding ground.
After his platoon leader was wounded and evacuated, Sgt. Charlton
assumed command, rallied the men, and spearheaded the assault
against the hill. Personally eliminating 2 hostile positions and
killing 6 of the enemy with his rifle fire and grenades, he
continued up the slope until the unit suffered heavy casualties and
became pinned down. Regrouping the men he led them forward only to
be again hurled back by a shower of grenades. Despite a severe
chest wound, Sgt. Charlton refused medical attention and led a
third daring charge which carried to the crest of the ridge.
Observing that the remaining emplacement which had retarded the
advance was situated on the reverse slope, he charged it alone, was
again hit by a grenade but raked the position with a devastating
fire which eliminated it and routed the defenders. He will be
posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery
on March 19, 1952.
1953 - Cornel West is born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He will grow up in
Sacramento, California and be influenced by the Black Panther Party
and the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. He will
graduate from Harvard University magna cum laude in 1973, and will
receive his M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University. After
teaching at Yale Divinity School, Union Theological Seminary and
Princeton, he will join the faculty of Harvard University in 1994.
Considered a leading African American intellectual, he will be the
author of thirteen books, including the two-volume "Beyond
Eurocentrism and Multiculturalism" (Common Courage Press, 1993),
"Breaking Bread" (South End Press, 1991), "Race Matters" (Beacon
Press, 1993), "Keeping Faith" (Routledge, 1993), "Jews and Blacks
Let the Healing Begin" (Putnam Books, 1995), co-authored with
Michael Lerner, and "Restoring Hope: Conversations on the Future of
Black America" (Beacon Press, October 1997). Besides his numerous
publications, he will be a well-respected and highly popular
lecturer. His speaking style, formed by his roots in the Baptist
Church, will provide a blend of drama, knowledge, and inspiration.
1967 - The first of three days of race riots occurs in the Roxbury section
of Boston, Massachusetts. Dozens are injured and more are arrested
after welfare mothers barricade themselves in protest against
welfare policies.
1985 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar becomes the all-time leading point scorer in the
National Basketball Association playoffs. He rings up a total of
4,458 points, smashing the previous record held by Jerry West, also
of the Los Angeles Lakers.
1993 - South Africa's Supreme Court upholds Winnie Mandela's conviction for
kidnapping four young blacks, but said she would not have to serve
her five-year prison term.
1999 - South Africans go to the polls in their second post-apartheid
election, giving the African National Congress a decisive victory.
Retiring President Nelson Mandela is succeeded by Thabo Mbeki.
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