*               Today in Black History - May 20         *

1746 - Francois-Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture is born into slavery in 
        Haiti.  He will lead the revolution in his country against French 
        and English forces to free the slaves.  Although he will nominally 
        rule in the name of France, he will in actuality become political 
        and military dictator of the country.  His success in freeing the
        slaves in Haiti caused his name to become the biggest influence in
        the slave cabins of the Americas.  His name will be whispered in
        Brazil, in the Caribbean, and the United States.

1868 - The Republican National Convention, meeting in Chicago, nominates 
        U.S. Grant for the presidency.  The convention marks the national 
        debut of African American politicians.  P.B.S. Pinchback of
Louisiana 
        and James J. Harris were delegates to the convention.  Harris will
be 
        named to the committee which informed Grant of his nomination.  
        African Americans also serve for the first time as presidential
        electors.  Robert Meacham will be a presidential elector in Florida.

        The South Carolina electoral ticket will include three African 
        American Republican leaders, B.F. Randolph, Stephen A. Swails, and 
        Alonzo J. Ransier.   

1951 - The New York branch of the NAACP honors Josephine Baker for her work 
        to combat racism.  Baker, the American chanteuse who was acclaimed 
        in Europe, had led a personal crusade to force integration of clubs 
        where she appeared in Miami and Las Vegas.  She also campaigned 
        against segregated railroad facilities in Chicago and buses in 
        Oakland.

1961 - A mob attacks freedom riders in Montgomery, Alabama.  Attorney
        General Robert F. Kennedy dispatches four hundred U.S. marshals to 
        Montgomery to keep order in the freedom rider controversy.

1964 - Buster Mathis defeats Joe Frazier to qualify for the U.S. Olympic 
        team.

1971 - A Pentagon report states that African Americans constituted 11 per 
        cent of U.S. soldiers in Southeast Asia.  The report also states
that 
        12.5 per cent of all soldiers killed in Vietnam since 1961 were 
        African American.

1985 - Larry Holmes retains the heavyweight boxing title of the 
        International Boxing Federation in Reno, Nevada -- by defeating Carl

        Wilson in 15 rounds.  The fight marks the first heavyweight title 
        fight in Reno since Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries fought there in 
        1910.

2003 - Howard Sims, tap dancer, joins the ancestors at age 86.  He was 
        known as "Sandman" and taught Gregory Hines, Ben Vereen and others.

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