*               Today in Black History - April 6                *

1798 - James P. Beckwourth is born in Fredericksburg, Virginia.  He 
	will become a noted scout in the western United States and 
	will discover a pass in the Sierra Nevada mountains between 
	the Feather and Truckee rivers that will bear his name. He 
	will join the ancestors on October 29, 1866.

1830 - James Augustine Healy is born to an Irish planter and a slave 
	on a plantation near Macon, Georgia.  He will become the 
	first African American Roman Catholic priest and the first
	African American Roman Catholic bishop in America. He 
	will join the ancestors on August 5, 1900.

1865 - Writing in the "Philadelphia Press" under the pen name 
	"Rollin," Thomas Morris Chester describes the Union Army's 
	triumphant entry into the city of Richmond, Virginia, during 
	the closing days of the Civil War.  Rollin is the only 
	African American newspaperman writing for a mainstream 
	daily. There will be no others for almost 70 years.

1869 - Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett, the principal of the Institute for
	Colored Youth in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is named Minister
	to Haiti and becomes the first major African American diplomat
	and the first African American to receive a major appointment
	from the United States government.

1909 - Matthew Henson, accompanying Commander Robert Peary's 
	expedition, is the first, in the party of six, to discover the
	North Pole. The claim, disputed by scientific skeptics, was 
	upheld in 1989 by the Navigation Foundation. Although in 
	later years Henson will be called Peary's servant or merely 
	"one Negro" on the expedition, Henson is a valuable colleague 
	and co-discoverer of the pole.  Peary says, "I couldn't get 
	along without him."

1917 - America enters World War I. President Wilson, who has just
	inaugurated a policy of segregation in government agencies,
	tells Congress that "the world must be made safe for 
	democracy."

1931 - The first trial of the Scottsboro Boys begins in Scottsboro,
	Alabama.  This trial of nine African American youths accused 
	of raping two white women on a freight train become a cause
	celebre.

1931 - Ivan Dixon is born in New York City.  He will become an actor
	and director and will be best known for his comedic role on 
	the TV series "Hogan's Heroes."  One of his first acting 
	credits will be for the celebrated television anthology show 
	"The Dupont Show of the Month" in the 1960 production of 
	"Arrowsmith." He will go on to act in the film version of the 
	theatrical drama "A Raisin in the Sun" with Ruby Dee and 
	Sidney Poitier in 1961, in which he plays Asagai, the African
	boyfriend of Beneatha. He will also portray Jim in the 1959 
	film version of "Porgy and Bess." His other pre-"Hogan's 
	Heroes" film work includes: "Something of Value" (1957), "The
	Murder Men" (1961), and "The Battle at Bloody Beach" (1961).
	After leaving Hogan's heroes he will appear in more films 
	including "A Patch of Blue" and "Car Wash."  Ivan will begin 
	directing films in the early 1970s, such as the 1972 gang 
	warfare flick "Trouble Man" and the 1973 action movie "The 
	Spook Who Sat by the Door" (which he will also produce). For 
	television, he will direct "Love Is Not Enough" (1978), the 
	series "Palmerstown, U.S.A." (1980), the detective series 
	"Hawaiian Heat" (1984), and the telemovie "Percy & Thunder" 
	(1993).

1937 - William December is born in the village of Harlem in New York
	City.  He will become one of the most romantic leading men of
	film and television, better known as 'Billy Dee Williams.'  
	Among his best known roles will be football great Gale Sayers 
	in the TV movie "Brian's Song" as well as leading parts in 
	the movies "Lady Sings the Blues," "Mahogany" and two "Star 
	Wars" films.

1971 - "Contemporary Black Artists in America" opens at the Whitney
	Museum of American Art in New York City.  The exhibit includes
	the work of 58 master painters and sculptors such as Jacob
	Lawrence, Charles White, Alma Thomas, Betye Saar, David
	Driskell, Richard Hunt, and others.

1994 - The presidents of Rwanda and Burundi are killed in a mysterious 
	plane crash near Rwanda's capital. Widespread violence erupts
	in Rwanda over claims the plane had been shot down.

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