*                       Today in Black History - May 15                 *

1795 - John Morront, the first African American missionary to work with
        Indians, is ordained as a Methodist minister in London, England.

1802 - Jean Ignace joins the ancestors in Baimbridge, Guadeloupe. He dies
        in the revolt against the Napoleonic troops sent to the Caribbean
        island to reimpose slavery.

1891 - The British Central African Protectorate (now Malawi) is established.

1918 - In a World War I incident that will later be known as "The Battle
        of Henry Johnson," the African American attacks advancing Germans,
        frees sentry Needham Roberts, and forces the retreat of the enemy
        troops.  Johnson and Roberts will be awarded the Croix de Guerre,
        France's highest military award. They are the first Americans ever
        to win the award.

1923 - "The Chip Woman's Fortune" by Willis Richardson opens at the Frazee
        Theatre on Broadway.  The play, staged by the Ethiopian Art Theatre
        of Chicago, is the first dramatic work by an African American
        playwright to be presented on Broadway.

1934 - Alvin Francis Poussaint is born in the village of East Harlem in
        New York City. After being educated at Columbia College, Cornell
        University Medical School, and the University of California's
        Neuropsychiatric Institute, he will become a psychiatrist and
        educator specializing in African American psychological and
        social issues. He will begin his career teaching at Tufts Medical
        School and Harvard Medical School. He will then join Operation
        Push. He will be a consultant for the television series, "The Cosby
        Show" and "A Different World, hired to ensure that the story lines
        present positive images of African Americans. He will later become
        Associate Dean and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School
        (1993).

1938 - Diane Nash is born in Chicago, Illinois. She will become an
        civil rights activist and one of the founders of the Student
        Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1960. She will be part of the
        first group of civil rights activists who will refuse to pay bail
        for protesting under the "Jail, No Bail" strategy employed in the
        South.  She will later marry fellow civil rights activist James
        Bevel and take his last name as her middle name. She and her
        husband will receive the Rosa Parks award from the Southern
        Christian Leadership Conference in 1965.

1942 - The 93rd Infantry is activated at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. It is
        the first African American division formed during World War II
        and is assigned to combat duty in the South Pacific.

1946 - Camilla Williams appears in the title role of Madama Butterfly
        with the New York City Opera.  She is the first African American
        female concert singer to sign a contract with a major American
        opera company.

1953 - Former Heavyweight Champion, Jersey Joe Walcott, is knocked out by
        Rocky Marciano at Chicago Stadium at two minutes, 25 seconds of
        the first round.

1970 - Two African American students (Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James
        Earl Green) at Jackson State University in Mississippi are killed
        when police open fire during student protests.

1983 - James VanDerZee joins the ancestors in Washington, DC at the age of
        96.  He had been a prominent photographer who recorded and
        contributed to the Harlem Renaissance. Over his long career, which
        extended into his 90s, he captured the images of many famous
        African Americans.

1992 - Mary M. Monteith (later Simpkins) joins the ancestors in Columbia,
        South Carolina. She was a civil right activist who had been a state
        secretary of the NAACP and instrumental in the fight to desegregate
        South Carolina public schools.

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