* Today in Black History - July 28 *
1802 - Alexandre Dumas is born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie in
Villers-Cotterêts, Aisne, near Paris, France, the grandson
of the Marquis Antoine-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie.
While his grandfather serves the government of France as
General Commissaire in the Artillery in the colony of Santo
Domingo, (today's Dominican Republic but at the time a part
of Haiti), he marries Marie-Céssette Dumas, a Black slave.
In 1762, she gives birth to a son, Thomas-Alexandre, and she
joins the ancestors soon thereafter. When the Marquis and
his young son return to Normandy, it is at a time when
slavery still exists, and the boy will suffer as a result of
being half Black. In 1786, Thomas-Alexandre joins the French
army, but to protect the aristocratic family's reputation,
he enlists using his mother's maiden name. Following the
Revolution in France, the Marquis loses his estates but his
mulatto son, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, distinguishes himself
as a capable and daring soldier in Napoleon Bonaparte's army,
rising through the ranks to become a General by the age of
31. Thomas Alexandre Dumas will marry Marie Labouret Dumas,
a French woman and Alexandre Dumas is born from this union.
He will become an acclaimed author of the French classics
"The Three Musketeers", "The Count of Monte Cristo", "The
Man in the Iron Mask", "The Corsican Brothers," "Twenty
Years After," "The Vicomte de Bragelonne," "The Regent's
Daughter," "Queen Margot," "Marie Antoinette," "The Black
Tulip," "The Nutcracker," and "La Dame de Montsoreau."
Despite his success and aristocratic connections, his being
of mixed-blood will impact on him all of his life. In 1843,
he will write a short story that addresses some of the issues
of race and the effects of colonialism. Nevertheless, inbred
racist attitudes will impact his rightful position in France's
history long after he joins the ancestors on December 5, 1870.
Buried in the place where he was born, he will remain in the
cemetery at Villers-Cotterêts until November 30, 2002. Under
orders of the French President, Jacques Chirac, his body will
be exhumed and in a televised ceremony, his new coffin, draped
in a blue-velvet cloth and flanked by four men costumed as the
Musketeers: Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan, will be
transported in a solemn procession to the Panthéon of Paris,
the great mausoleum where French luminaries are interred. In
his speech, President Chirac will say: "With you, we were
D'Artagnan, Monte Cristo or Balsamo, riding along the roads of
France, touring battlefields, visiting palaces and castles --
with you, we dream." In an interview following the ceremony,
President Chirac will acknowledge the racism that had existed,
saying that a wrong is now righted with Alexandre Dumas
enshrined alongside fellow authors Victor Hugo and Voltaire.
1866 - Congress passes a law that African American regiments should be
part of the regular army, which results in the organization of
the 9th and 10th Cavalry.
1868 - The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing
due process of law, is declared in effect. which grants
citizenship for African Americans and provides for federal
intervention when state governments are accused of violating
an individual's constitutional rights.
1903 - Maggie Lena Walker founds and becomes the first president of the
Saint Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond, Virginia. She will
be elected at age seventeen to office in the Independent Order
of St. Luke, a Black burial society. On this date, she will
found the Saint Luke Penny Savings Bank and becomes the first
female bank president in America. St. Luke Penny Savings Bank
is still in operation today as the Consolidated Bank and Trust
Company, the nation's oldest continuously existing African
American bank.
1914 - Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode is born in Los Angeles,
California. An athlete turned actor, Strode will become a top-
notch decathlete and a football star at UCLA, breaking the
color barrier at the same time as Kenney Washington. He will
meet his wife, an Hawaiian princess and stand-in for the swim
sequences for Hedy Lamarr. Woody will play for the Cleveland
Rams prior to their move to Los Angeles. He will become part
of Hollywood lore after meeting director John Ford and
becoming a part of the Ford "family", appearing in almost a
dozen Ford westerns. Strode will also play the powerful
gladiator who does battle with Kirk Douglas in "Spartacus." He
will also be a professional wrestler, wrestling the likes of
Gorgeous George. Woody will live in a modest home overlooking
Glendora and the San Gabriel Valley, east of Los Angeles about
25 miles. He will join the ancestors on December 31, 1994.
1915 - United States forces invade Haiti and the country becomes a
defacto protectorate. U.S. troops will remain there until
1924.
1917 - Led by W.E.B. Dubois and James Weldon Johnson, over 10,000
African Americans march down Fifth Avenue in New York City to
the sound of muffled drums in silent protest of lynchings and
other racial indignities that are rampant in the United
States.
1949 - Vida Blue is born in Mansfield, Louisiana. He will become a
Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher. In his
17-year career, he will play for the Oakland Athletics, San
Francisco Giants, and Kansas City Royals. He will have a
24-8 record in 1971, striking out 301 batters, and will win
both the Cy Young and American League MVP awards. He will be
the starting pitcher for the American League in the 1971 All-
Star Game, and for the National League in the 1978 All-Star
Game. He will win 20 games in 1973 as he leads the A's to the
World Championship. He will win 22 games in 1975. In 1978, he
will win 18 games as he leads the Giants to 83 wins as they
battle all year for the National League West Division which is
won that year by the Los Angeles Dodgers. His great year is
rewarded as he won the Sporting News National League Pitcher
Of The Year. He will also make a name and career after baseball
for himself in the San Francisco Bay Area by donating his time
to many charitable causes, mostly promoting baseball in the
inner city.
1977 - Roy Wilkins turns over NAACP leadership to Benjamin L Hooks.
1985 - Lou Brock is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame at
Cooperstown, New York.
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