For the week of August 5-11
August 5
1865—President Andrew Johnson reverses an order giving land abandoned or confiscated from slave-owning Whites to former Black slaves. The order—Special Field Order #15—had been issued in January by conquering Union Major General William T. Sherman as he and his troops marched through the South. Over 40,000 ex-slaves had received over 400,000 acres of land in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. But after Lincoln was assassinated, Johnson reversed the order and returned the land to the Whites. Johnson, a Southerner, did much to reverse the policies of Lincoln and stifle progress for Blacks. Indeed, an argument can be made that President Johnson had a more negative post-Civil War impact on Black progress than any president in American history.
August 6
1870—In one of the most brazenly racist incidents of the post-Civil War period, White conservatives and racists employ assassinations and widespread violence to suppress the Black vote and take control of the Tennessee legislative from a coalition of Blacks and progressive Whites. The violence and the election effectively ended Reconstruction in the state.
1941—Blacks started being inducted into the U.S. military around April of 1941 and one result was a series of violent incidents between Black soldiers and White soldiers and between Black soldiers and White civilians. The first major incident takes place on this day in August of 1941. A group of Black soldiers board a bus in Fayetteville, N.C., headed to Ft. Bragg. The White driver complains they are being “rowdy” and asks for help from Military Police (MPs). The MPs arrive and began hitting the Blacks with nightsticks. One of the Blacks grabs an MP’s gun and begins shooting. Additional fighting and shooting break out. When the dust settled, one Black private and one White MP were dead and two Whites and three Blacks had been wounded.
1965—President Lyndon Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act which was designed to guarantee the right of African-Americans to vote. The Act ended a wide range of discriminatory voting practices in the South including literacy tests. The Act was probably the most significant piece of civil rights legislation ever passed. It was renewed for another 25 years in July of 2006. It was weakened a bit by a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court decision but remains in effect.
August 7
1970—Four people, including the presiding judge, are killed during a courthouse shootout in Marin County, Calif. A group of Blacks led by 17-year-old Jonathan Jackson stage an assault on the courthouse in a bid to free Jackson’s brother—famed Soledad Brother and militant activist George Jackson. Jonathan was among those who died. Professor and communist Angela Davis was charged with providing the guns for the bloody escape attempt but she would later be found not guilty.
August 8
1865—Explorer Matthew Henson is born in Baltimore, Md. Henson would become the first person to reach the North Pole on April 6, 1909. However, it was his boss Robert E. Perry who would receive widespread public recognition and a presidential citation for the honor. But in later years, records would show that Henson actually beat Perry to the top of the world. Henson would comment that when Perry discovered that he had beat him to the North Pole, he became “hopping mad.” Years would pass before Henson would gain some recognition for his accomplishment. Nevertheless, to this day, most history books still continue to give the honor to Perry.
August 9
1936—Sprinting sensation Jesse Owens wins a total of four Gold Medals at the Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Born in Lawrence County, Ala., Owens gained international fame for his victories in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the long jump and the 4×100 meter relay. His victories undermined Adolph Hitler’s claims of White, especially German, superiority over all other peoples. However, Owens disputed claims that the Nazi leader was so infuriated with him that he refused to shake his hand. According to Owens, during his only encounter with Hitler, “the Chancellor waved and I waved back.” The pack-a-day cigarette smoker died at the relatively young age of 66 on March 31, 1980.
1963—Whitney Houston, one of the greatest singers of the past 50 years, was born on this day in Newark, N.J. Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born into a family of accomplished singers. Her mother was Thelma Houston—an excellent gospel and R&B performer and her cousin was song stylist Dionne Warwick. During her heyday in the 1980s, Houston sold approximately 170 million albums including such hits as “You Give Good Love,” “Saving All My Love for You,” “How Will I Know?” and “The Greatest Love of All.” The singer was found dead in the bathtub of her Beverly Hilton Hotel room on Feb. 11, 2012, hours before a pre-Grammy party. She was 48.
1987—Lawyer and entrepreneur Reginald Lewis completes the largest business acquisition ever accomplished by an African-American when he purchases Beatrice Foods in a leveraged buyout for $985 million. Under his leadership, the firm would soon become the first Black-owned company to achieve over $1 billion in annual sales. Lewis made the Forbes magazine list of the 400 richest Americans in 1992 with an estimated net worth of $400 million. Unfortunately, the Baltimore, Md., native would die of brain cancer at the age of 50 on Jan. 19, 1993. His contribution to telling Blacks how to achieve economic success came in his book entitled “Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?”
August 10
1867—Famed Black Shakespearean actor Ira Aldridge dies in Poland. Aldridge was born in New York, where he developed a love for the theater. But prejudice in America forced him to go to England to practice his craft. Despite running into racism there as well, he was able to find work. He came in for harsh criticism when paired with White female actresses. But after performing Shakespeare’s Othello, he was proclaimed “an actor of genius” by several newspapers. (Note: There is some authority that Aldridge actually died on Aug. 7.)
1981—A nationwide African-American boycott of the giant Coca Cola bottling company ends after the firm reaches an agreement with Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Operation PUSH. Coke agreed to pump at least $34 million into Black businesses and increase the number of African-American-owned distributorships. Critics would later charge that the beverage giant reneged on the deal and the amount of money pumped into Black businesses never came to more than $11 million.
August 11
1868—One of the greatest White heroes of Black history dies in Washington, D.C. His name was Thaddeus Stevens. Stevens, a congressman from Pennsylvania, and Sen. Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, led the Radical Republicans movement, which favored punishing the South for starting the Civil War and taking land from the former slave owners and giving it to the former slaves. He headed the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and he used his power at every turn to aid Blacks. Indeed, many of the pro-Black measures and legislation of the period attributed to President Abraham Lincoln were actually initiated by Stevens and Sumner. After Lincoln’s assassination, Stevens led the move to impeach President Andrew Johnson in part because Johnson, a Southerner, opposed many measures which would have benefited Blacks. More than 20,000 people (nearly half of them Black) attended his funeral in Lancaster, Pa.
1921—Accomplished writer Alex Haley is born on this day in Ithaca, N.Y. Haley is best known for co-writing the “Autobiography of Malcolm X” and for “Roots”—a history of a Black family during slavery, which became a major television series during the 1970s. Haley died in February 1992.
1965—The largest, longest and possibly most destructive Black riot of the turbulent 1960s begins in Los Angeles, Calif. The Watts Rebellion lasted six days, caused between $35 million and $50 million in damage while leaving 34 people dead, over 1,000 injured and nearly 4,000 arrested. It took place during a “long hot summer” when similar riots were taking place throughout the country.
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