* 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.
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 bishop in America.
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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