*             Today in Black History - December 23            *

 

1815 - Henry Highland Garnet is born in New Market, Maryland.  

            He will become a noted clergyman and abolitionist.  He 

            will also be the first African American to deliver a 

            sermon before the House of Representatives.

 

1863 - Robert Blake, powder boy aboard the USS Marblehead, is 

            the first African American to be awarded the Naval Medal 

            of Honor "for conspicuous gallantry, extraordinary 

            heroism, and intrepidity at the risk of his own life." 

            The heroic action occurred during a victorious battle 

            off the coast of South Carolina.

 

1867 - Sarah Breedlove is born in Delta, Louisiana.  She will 

            be better known as Madame C.J. Walker, the first female 

            African American millionaire whose hair-care, toiletry, 

            and cosmetics products revolutionized the standard of 

            beauty for African American women.  Her philanthropy and 

            generosity will make her a popular figure in the early 

            1900's.

 

1919 - Alice H. Parker patents the gas heating furnace.

 

1935 - Esther Mae Jones is born in Galveston, Texas.  She will 

            begin her career as a blues singer at 13 as "Little" 

            Esther Phillips, taking her name from a billboard for a 

            gasoline company. Problems with drugs and alcohol will 

            cause her to interrupt her career a number of times.  

            She will record several memorable songs including "And 

            I Love Him" and "Release Me."

 

1946 - The University of Tennessee refuses to play Duquesne 

            University, because they may use an African American 

            player in their basketball game.

 

1990 - Wendell Scott joins the ancestors in Danville, Virginia.   

            He was a prominent African American in early stock car 

            racing, finishing among the top five drivers in 20 Grand 

            National events and winning 128 races in the sportsman 

            division.  His story will be told in the movie "Greased 

            Lightning," that starred Richard Pryor as Scott.

 

1999 - President Clinton pardons Freddie Meeks, an African 

            American sailor court-martialed for mutiny during World 

            War II when he and other sailors refused to load live 

            ammunition following a deadly explosion at the Port 

            Chicago Naval Magazine near San Francisco that had 

            claimed more than 300 lives.


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