*             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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