*		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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