The Official Black History Thread

[Trill Clinton]

If you have any information on Black history whether it was well known or no, post it here

[Trill Clinton]

Alexandre Dumas was a French writer who penned one of my favorite books, The Count of Monte Cristo and more famously The Three Musketeers.



He was biracial of Haitian descent.


Despite Alexandre Dumas' success and aristocratic background, his being of mixed race would affect him all his life. In 1843 he wrote a short novel, Georges, that addressed some of the issues of race and the effects of colonialism. He once remarked to a man who insulted him about his mixed-race background:
"My father was a mulatto, my grandfather was a Negro, and my great-grandfather a monkey. You see, Sir, my family starts where yours ends."



Alexandre Dumas, photo by Nadar

[Trill Clinton]

Rosewood Case, one of the worst race riots in American history, in which hundreds of angry whites killed an undetermined number of blacks and burnt down their Florida community.
In 1922 Rosewood, Florida, was a small, predominantly black town. During the winter of 1922, two events in the vicinity of Rosewood aggravated local race relations: the murder of a white schoolteacher in nearby Perry, which led to the murder of three blacks, and a Ku Klux Klan rally in Gainesville on New Year's Eve.

On New Year's Day of 1923, Fannie Taylor, a young white woman living in Sumner, claimed that a black man sexually assaulted her in her home. A small group of whites began searching for a recently escaped black convict named Jesse Hunter, whom they believed to be responsible. They incarcerated one suspected accomplice, Aaron Carrier, and lynched another, Sam Carter. The men then targeted Aaron's cousin Sylvester Carrier, a fur trapper and private music instructor, who was rumored to be harboring Jesse Hunter.A group of 20 to 30 white men went to Sylvester Carrier's house to confront him. They shot his dog, and when his mother, Sarah, stepped outside to talk with the men, they shot her.
Sylvester killed two men and wounded four in the shoot-out that ensued. After the men left, the women and children, who prior to this had gathered in Carrier's house for protection, fled to the swamp where the majority of Rosewood's residents had already sought refuge.

The white men returned to Carrier's house the following evening. After a brief shoot-out, they entered the house, found the bodies of Sarah Carrier and a black man whom they believed to be Sylvester Carrier, and set the residence on fire.
The men then proceeded to rampage through Rosewood, torching other buildings and slaughtering animals. They were joined by a mob of about 200 whites who converged on Rosewood after finding out that a black man had killed two whites.That night two local white train conductors, John and William Bryce, who knew all of Rosewood's residents, picked up the black women and children and took them to Gainesville. John Wright, a white general store owner who hid a number of black women and children in his home during the riot, planned and helped carry out this evacuation effort. The African Americans who escaped by foot headed for Gainesville or for other cities in the northern United States.

By the end of the weekend all of Rosewood was leveled except for the Wright house and the general store. Although the state of Florida claimed that only eight people died in the Rosewood riot�two whites and six blacks�testimonies by survivors suggest that more African Americans perished. No one was charged with the Rosewood murders. After the riot, the town was deserted and even blacks living in surrounding communities moved out of the area.


There was a movie by the same name directed by John Singleton(Boyz N The Hood) that starred Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle and John Voight. Pretty good movie, check it out if you see it on your tv guide.

[Trill Clinton]

Patrice LaMumba - Congolese Leader

was a Congolese independence leader and the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped win its independence from Belgium in June 1960. Only ten weeks later, Lumumba's government was deposed in a coup during the Congo Crisis.[1] He was subsequently imprisoned and murdered in cir stances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.

The CIA was hatching plots against Cuban leader Fidel Castro and was accused of fomenting coups and planning assassinations worldwide. And Lumumba clearly scared the daylights out of the Eisenhower administration. "In high quarters here, it is the clear-cut conclusion that if [Lumumba] continues to hold high office, the inevitable result will [have] disastrous consequences . . . for the interests of the free world generally," CIA Director Allen Dulles wrote. "Consequently, we conclude that his removal must be an urgent and prime objective."
Even out of office, Lumumba remained under the microscope of Western spy services. His ties to Moscow frightened Washington. His fierce anti-colonialism unnerved Brussels. Belgium finally got its chance at Lumumba after Congolese authorities arrested him in December 1960. Belgian officials engineered his transfer to the breakaway province of Katanga, which was under Belgian control. De Witte reveals a telegram from Belgium's African-affairs minister, Harold d'Aspremont Lynden, essentially ordering that Lumumba be sent to Katanga. Anyone who knew the place knew that was a death sentence.
Firing squad. When Lumumba arrived in Katanga, on January 17, accompanied by several Belgians, he was bleeding from a severe beating. Later that evening, Lumumba was killed by a firing squad commanded by a Belgian officer. A week earlier, he had written to his wife, "I prefer to die with my head unbowed, my faith unshakable, and with profound trust in the destiny of my country." Lumumba was 35.
The next step was to destroy the evidence. Four days later, Belgian Police Commissioner Gerard Soete and his brother cut up the body with a hacksaw and dissolved it in sulfuric acid. In an interview on Belgian television last year, Soete displayed a bullet and two teeth he claimed to have saved from Lumumba's body.

<FONT size=-1 face=ARIAL, helvetica="">What remains unclear is the extent, if any, of Washington's involvement in the final plot. A Belgian official who helped engineer Lumumba's transfer to Katanga told de Witte that he kept CIA station chief Lawrence Devlin fully informed of the plan. "The Americans were informed of the transfer because they actively discussed this thing for weeks," says de Witte. But Devlin, now retired, denies any previous knowledge of the transfer.

[Trill Clinton]

The case of George Stinney.

I was in my late teens when I was horrified and made aware of this story in Time magazine, I believe. I think it spawned my militant phase to be honest.

Anyway, a 14 year old black boy was convicted as an adult for the murder of 2 white girls in the 1940's. The boy never denied the claim but he never got a fair trial and was the youngest ever to be executed. He weighed less than 90 lbs., could not even fit the shackles the was put in. Anyway, it's a very sad story and I always said if I ever came into alot of money, I'd put effort into getting his story told onscreen although I believe there was an attempt in the early 90's.

But here is some info on him:




Stinney, who was black, was arrested for murdering two white girls, Betty June Binnicker, age 11, and Mary Emma Thames, age 8, in Alcolu, located in Clarendon County, South Carolina, on March 23, 1944.[2] The girls had disappeared while out riding their bicycle looking for flowers.[3] As they passed the Stinney property, they asked young George Stinney and his sister, Katherine, if they knew where to find "maypops", a type of flower.[3] When the girls did not return, search parties were organized, with hundreds of volunteers, and their bodies were found the next morning in a ditch filled with muddy water.[3] Both had suffered severe head wounds.[3]

Stinney was arrested a few hours later and was interrogated by several white officers in a locked room with no witnesses aside from the officers; within an hour, a deputy announced that Stinney had confessed to the crime.[3] According to the confession, Stinney (90 lbs, 5'1") wanted to "have sex with" 11 year old Betty June Binnicker and could not do so until her companion, Mary Emma Thames, age 8, was removed from the scene; thus he decided to kill Mary Emma.[3] When he went to kill Mary Emma, both girls "fought back" and he thus decided to kill Betty June, as well, with a 15 inch railroad e that was found in the same ditch a distance from the bodies.[3] According to the accounts of deputies, Stinney apparently had been successful in killing both at once, causing major blunt trauma to their heads, shattering the skulls of each into at least 4-5 pieces.[3] The next day, Stinney was charged with first-degree murder.[3] Jones describes the town's mood as grief, transformed in the span of a few hours into seething anger, with the murders raising racially and politically charged tension. Townsmen threatened to storm the local jail to lynch Stinney, but prior to this, he had been removed to Charleston by law enforcement.[3] Stinney's father was fired from his job at the local lumber mill and the Stinney family left town during the night in fear for their lives.[3]

The trial took place on April 24 at the Clarendon County Courthouse. Jury selection began at 10 am, ending just after noon, and the trial commenced at 2:30 pm.[3] Stinney's court appointed lawyer was 30-year-old Charles Plowden, who had political aspirations.[3] Plowden did not cross-examine witnesses, his defense was reported to consist of the claim that Stinney was too young to be held responsible for the crimes.[3] However the law in South Carolina at the time regarded anyone over the age of 14 as an adult.[3] Closing arguments concluded at 4:30 pm, the jury retired just before 5 pm and deliberated for 10 minutes, returning a guilty verdict with no recommendation for mercy.[3] Stinney was sentenced to death in the electric chair.[2] When asked about appeals, Plowden replied that there would be no appeal, as the Stinney family had no money to pay for a continuation.[3] When asked about the trial, Lorraine Binnicker Bailey, the sister of Betty June Binnicker, one of the murdered children, stated:
� Everybody knew that he done it, even before they had the trial they knew that he done it. But, I don't think that they had too much of a trial. �

�Lorraine Binnicker Bailey, sister of victim Betty June Binnicker, as quoted by Jones, Mark R., South Carolina Killers: Crimes of Passion, pg. 41.[3]

Local churches, the N.A.A.C.P., and unions pleaded with Governor Olin D. Johnston to stop the execution and commute the sentence to life imprisonment, citing Stinney's age as a mitigating factor.[3] There was substantial controversy about the pending execution, with one citizen writing to Johnston, stating, "Child execution is only for Hitler."[3] Still, there were supporters of Stinney's execution; another letter to Johnston stated: "Sure glad to hear of your decision regarding the Brotha Man Stinney."[3] Johnston did nothing, thereby allowing the execution to proceed.[3]
[edit] Execution

The execution of George Stinney was carried out at the South Carolina State Penitentiary in Columbia, South Carolina, on June 16, 1944. At 7:30 p.m., Stinney walked to the execution chamber with a Bible under his arm.[3] Standing 5'1" and weighing just over 90 pounds,[2] he was small for his age, which presented difficulties in securing him to the frame holding the electrodes. Neither did the state's adult-sized face-mask fit Stinney; his convulsing exposed his face to witnesses as the mask slipped free.[4] Stinney was declared dead within four minutes of the initial electrocution[3] From the time of the murders until Stinney's execution, eighty one days had passed.[3]

[clambake]

bobby seale being gagged and chained during trial.

[Trill Clinton]

http://www.williefrancis.com/inside/html/book.html

On May 3, 1946, in picturesque St. Martinville, Louisiana, a seventeen year-old black boy was scheduled for execution by electric chair inside of a tiny redbrick jail. Charged with the murder of a local Cajun pharmacist, Willie Francis�s trial had been brief and a guilty verdict was never in doubt. Willie�s appointed lawyers called no witnesses, presented no evidence and had not filed a single appeal once he was sentenced to die by electrocution.

As the noontide church bells began to toll, a crowd of townspeople gathered in the streets surrounding the jailhouse. Inside, the executioners � still smelling of liquor after spending a late night in the local taverns -- strapped Willie into the electric chair. Three hundred pounds of oak and metal, the chair had been dubbed �Gruesome Gertie.� At 12:08 PM, the executioners flipped the switch. Willie screamed and writhed under his restraints. The chair shuddered and slid across the floor. But Willie Francis did not die.
Having miraculously survived, Willie was soon informed that the State would try to kill him again in six days. Letters and telegrams began pouring into St. Martinville from across the country�spurred on by editorials and radio commentaries. Americans of all colors and classes were transfixed by the fate of this young man. Had he been saved from death by the hand of the Almighty? Could Louisiana really electrocute someone twice? Was the boy innocent�the victim of secrets and lies told by powerful whites in the cursed town of St. Martinville? Into the fray stepped a young Cajun lawyer just returned from WWII, Bertrand DeBlanc. After a visit from Willie�s shaken but resolute father, DeBlanc resolved to take on Willie�s case�in the face of overwhelming local resistance. Despite the fact that the murdered pharmacist was one of DeBlanc�s best friends, and the knowledge that his own family was rooted in white supremacy, DeBlanc would battle those on both sides of the color line in the hope of saving Willie Francis from an inhuman fate. He argued the case from the Bayou all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court where it caused a rift between the Justices. Felix Frankfurter, tortured by his vote to allow Willie to face the electric chair a second time, would make an unprecedented and covert last-ditch effort to overturn his own decision and save the life of Willie Francis.
An extraordinary and troubling story of a brutal crime, community vengeance, legal heroism, and cons utional law, The Execution of Willie Francis offers a historical examination of race and capital punishment � issues that remain all too timely today.

Edited by pattigurlatl - Jul 25 2010 at 3:57am

[Trill Clinton]

bobby seale being gagged and chained during trial.

the black panther movement was indeed interesting. Seale and Newton(before the drugs) had the CIA ting their pants.

[Trill Clinton]

The Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 was a mass civil disturbance in Atlanta, Georgia, USA which began the evening of September 22 and lasted until September 26, 1906. An estimated 25 to 40 African-Americans were killed along with 2 confirmed European Americans. The main cause was the rising tension between whites and blacks as a result of compe ion for jobs, black desire for civil rights, Reconstruction, and the gubernatorial election of 1906.

Atlanta was considered to be a prime example of how whites and blacks could live together in harmony; however, with the end of the Civil War an increased tension between black wage-workers and the white elite began. These tensions were further exacerbated by increasing rights for blacks, which included the right to vote. With these increased rights, African-Americans began to enter in the realm of politics, began establishing businesses, and gaining notoriety as a social class. These newly acquired African-American rights brought increased compe ion between blacks and whites for jobs and heightened class distinctions.

These tensions came to a boil with the gubernatorial election of 1906 in which Hoke Smith and Clark Howell competed for the Democratic nomination. Both candidates were looking to find ways to disenfranchise black voters because they felt that the black vote could throw the election to the other candidate. Hoke Smith was a former publisher of the Atlanta Journal and Clark Howell was the editor of the Atlanta Cons ution. Both candidates used their influence to incite white voters and help spread the fear that whites may not be able to maintain the current social order. These papers and others attacked saloons and bars that were run and frequented by black citizens. These "dives", as whites called them, were said to have nude pictures of women, some of whom were white. Competing for circulation, the Atlanta Georgian and the Atlanta News began publishing stories about white women being molested and raped by black men. These allegations were reported multiple times and were largely false accusations.

On September 22, 1906, Atlanta newspapers reported four alleged assaults on local white women. Soon, some 10,000 white men and boys began gathering on Decatur Street in the Five Points area downtown. The newspapers with their incendiary headlines were circulated, and the mob soon turned violent, running down, beating, stabbing.

It is estimated that there were between twenty-five to forty African American deaths. It was confirmed that there were only two European American deaths. Significant African American social changes were also an outcome of the riot. This included a disturbance of black housing and social patterns. In the years after the riot, African Americans were most likely to live in settled black communities. These communities were most likely found to the west of the city near Atlanta University or in eastern downtown. Black businesses were dispersed to the east, where a thriving black business district soon developed. Other outcomes included an increase in black suffrage in 1908.

[Trill Clinton]

In preparing for the penalty phase of an African-American defendant's trial, a white judge in Florida said in open court: "Since the n*gger mom and dad are here anyway, why don't we go ahead and do the penalty phase today instead of having to subpoena them back at cost to the state."

Anthony Peek was sentenced to death and the sentence was upheld by the Florida Supreme Court in 1986 reviewing his claim of racial bias.

[Trill Clinton]

Australian Aborigines were almost exterminated by the English colonizers. Today, they represent only 1% of the Australian population, roughly estimated at around 200,000 people. When Captain Cook arrived in 1770, there were about 300,000 of them. The Aborigines inhabited Australia for at least 25,000 years (this was proven by Carbon 14 on paintings left on rocks). At that time, Australia was probably connected with Papua-New Guinea, and had many more rivers and forests in contrast to the desert that it is today.

By 1965, the population of "Pure Aboriginals" was little more than 40,000 people. They were literally massacred by the colonizers and expelled from their land, especially from productive land. They were pushed to the North of the country, where temperatures reach 50 degree Celsius in very wet or extremely dry areas. The Aborigines are extremely spiritual people and by 1770 they were so primitive that they didn't know what metal was. Most instruments and artifacts were made from wood, rock or bones. The boomerang itself was primarily a toy used to entertain the villagers, only later being used as a hunting and war device.

By 1806, racism from colonizers and soldiers reached a very high point. Not only were sacred Aboriginal places violated and desecrated, the Aboriginals themselves became hunted like kangaroos for pleasure and fun, like trophy prizes. The soldiers used to visit Aboriginal villages offering gifts, while the real purpose of the visit was to contaminate the village water supply with arsenic. Whole communities including children, elderly, women and men were removed by arsenic poisoning. Rum, initially imported from England, was freely offered to Villagers. The introduction of rum made many villagers drunk for a whole week until death arrived from alcoholic comas. The English soldiers took advantage of this stage of alcoholism to create wars between friendly villages, leaving them to kill each other. It was a massacre.

[Trill Clinton]

The Stolen Generations (also Stolen children) is a term used to describe the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Federal and State government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments. The removals occurred in the period between approximately 1869 and 1969, although in some places children were still being taken in the 1970s.

The extent of the removal of children, and the reasoning behind their removal, are contested. Do entary evidence, such as newspaper articles and reports to parliamentary committees, suggest a range of rationales. Motivations evident include child protection, beliefs that given their catastrophic population decline after white contact that black people would "die out", a fear of miscegenation by full blooded aboriginal people and a desire to attain white racial purity. Terms such as "stolen" were used in the context of taking children from their families � the Hon P. McGarry, a member of the Parliament of New South Wales, objected to the Aborigines Protection Amending Act 1915 which then enabled the Aborigines' Protection Board to remove Aboriginal children from their parents without having to establish that they were in any way neglected or mistreated; McGarry described the policy as "steal[ing] the child away from its parents". In 1924, in the Adelaide Sun an article stated "The word 'stole' may sound a bit far-fetched but by the time we have told the story of the heart-broken Aboriginal mother we are sure the word will not be considered out of place."

Indigenous Australians in most jurisdictions were "protected", effectively being wards of the State. The protection was done through each jurisdictions' Aboriginal Protection Board; in Victoria and Western Australia these boards were also responsible for applying what were known as Half-caste acts.

[Trill Clinton]

Bayard Rustin was most responsible for the famous March On Washington, MLK was just a speaker (I Have A Dream speech). His role was diminished because he was openly gay. He was also a champion for gay rights, he deserves a film about his life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayard_Rustin

[The Reckoning]

Hannibal! Ramses! Australopithecus!

[Trill Clinton]

Dr. Mark Dean

Computer Inventions


As a child, Mark Dean excelled in math. In elementary school, he took advanced level math courses and, in high school, Dean even built his own computer, radio, and amplifier. Dean continued his interests and went on to obtain a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee, a masters degree in electrical engineering from Florida Atlantic University and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford. He is one of the most prominent black inventors in the field of computers.
Dr. Mark Dean started working at IBM in 1980 and was instrumental in the invention of the Personal Computer (PC). He holds three of IBM's original nine PC patents and currently holds more than 20 total patents. The famous African-American inventor never thought the work he was doing would end up being so useful to the world, but he has helped IBM make instrumental changes in areas ranging from the research and application of systems technology circuits to operating environments. One of his most recent computer inventions occurred while leading the team that produced the 1-Gigahertz chip, which contains one million transistors and has nearly limitless potential.

http://www.black-inventor.com/Dr-Mark-Dean.asp

[clambake]

wwII vet medgar evers.

[redzero]

tl;dr

[Trill Clinton]

I have pics to go with some of the articles but they're too big and since I'm at work I can't resize them.

1778 - The Nine Year Old African Prodigy
The talented 9 year old African violin prodigy George Polgreen Bridgetower was born in 1778, and died in London on February 29 1860. His father was an African prince who married a white European woman, named in English do ents as Mary Ann Bridgetower. They had two sons who both became fine musicians - George's younger brother Fredrick was a cellist.
George played in the Prince's band at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton for 14 years. He is best remembered today for his association with Ludwig van Beethoven, who met the 23 year old Bridgetower and the two got along famously. The composer praised him as "a very capable virtuoso who has a complete command of his instrument". Beethoven wrote a new piece - the Kreutzer Sonata - for the Afro-European violinist. Beethoven's autographed copy of the Sonata for violin and piano bears the inscription 'Sonata mulattica composta per il mullato'.
Young George appeared at a concert in Bath in the presence of King George III and 550 guests. The Bath Morning Post of December 8, 1789 gave this report:
"The young African Prince, whose musical talents have been so much celebrated, had a more crowded and splendid concert on Sunday morning than has ever been known in this place. There were upwards of 550 persons present, and they were gratified by such skills on the violin as created general astonishment, as well as pleasure from the boy wonder. The father was in the gallery, and so affected by the applause bestowed on his son, that tears of pleasure and gra ude flowed in profusion".
The Bath Chronicle of December 3, 1789 reported: "The amateurs of music in this city received on Saturday last at the New Rooms the highest treat imaginable from the exquisite performance of Master Bridgetower, whose taste and execution on the violin is equal, perhaps superior, to the best professor of the present or any former day. Those who had that happiness were enraptured with the astonishing abilities of this wonderful child - for he is but ten years old. He is a mulatto, the grandson, it is said, of in African Prince".
A letter from Beethoven to Bridgetower and a miniature of Bridgetower fetched $3,600 at Christie's, London 1973.

[The Reckoning]

i thought redzero was black?

[Trill Clinton]

Before there was Rosa Parks in the US, there was Viola Desmond in Nova Scotia


Viola Davis Desmond (July 6, 1914 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada�1965 in New York) was an African-Nova Scotian who ran her own beauty parlour and beauty college in Halifax. Desmond's story was one of the most publicized incidents of racial discrimination in Nova Scotian and Canadian history.
On November 8, 1946, Viola Desmond refused to sit in the balcony designated exclusively for blacks in the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow but, instead, she took her seat on the ground floor where only white people were allowed to sit. After being forcibly removed from the theatre and arrested, Desmond was eventually found guilty of not paying the one-cent difference in tax on the balcony ticket from the main floor theatre ticket. She was fined $20 ($251.30 in 2010[1]) and court costs ($6). She paid the fine but decided to fight the charge in court.
During subsequent trials the government insisted on arguing that this was a case of tax evasion. Retail sales tax was calculated based on the price of the theatre ticket. Since the theatre would only agree to sell the Black woman a cheaper balcony ticket, but she had insisted upon sitting in the more expensive main floor seat, she was one cent short on tax. For her crime of so-called tax evasion, she was removed from the theatre, thrown in jail overnight, tried without counsel, convicted and fined. During the trial, no one admitted that Viola Desmond was Black, and that the theatre maintained a racist seating policy. The trial proceeded as if it related to race-neutral tax evasion. All efforts to have the conviction overturned at higher levels of court failed. Her lawyer returned her fee which she used to set up a fund that was eventually used to support activities of the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NSAACP).
After the trial, Desmond closed her business and moved to Montreal where she enrolled in a business college. She eventually settled in New York where she died at the age of 51.
While the case received little attention outside of Nova Scotia, it has since gained notoriety as one of many cases fought for civil rights in the mid-20th century.
On 14 April 2010, the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, Mayann Francis, on the advice of her premier, invoked the Royal Prerogative and granted Desmond a posthumous pardon,[2] the first such to be granted in Canada.[3] The government of Nova Scotia also apologised.[4]

[Trill Clinton]

Marie Therese of Spain was married to King Louis the 14th and became Queen of France.

She was gifted by the African king of Arda a dwarf who was described as being incredibly dark and short and did tricks and acrobats. The queen took a liking to his antics as he would sometimes hold her train as she walked. This became so popular that many aristocratic women during that time "adopted" these dwarfs like pets.

The Queen became pregnant and wrote of feeling differently during this pregnancy and even commented on how her little page was eating differently (I guess today we would call these cravings).

She gave birth to a child and according to the memoirs of a supposed witness, the baby girl was dark as tar but beautiful. The witness were astonished and it was decided they would baptise the girl and send her away.

She is known as Louise Marie Therese. Now the Wikipedia reference is dismissing this as untrue but why on earth would she have the first name of King Louis and the rest of her name is the Queen's name?

Anyway, she is known as the Black Nun of Moret

[resistanze]

Before there was Rosa Parks in the US, there was Viola Desmond in Nova Scotia


Viola Davis Desmond (July 6, 1914 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada�1965 in New York) was an African-Nova Scotian who ran her own beauty parlour and beauty college in Halifax. Desmond's story was one of the most publicized incidents of racial discrimination in Nova Scotian and Canadian history.
On November 8, 1946, Viola Desmond refused to sit in the balcony designated exclusively for blacks in the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow but, instead, she took her seat on the ground floor where only white people were allowed to sit. After being forcibly removed from the theatre and arrested, Desmond was eventually found guilty of not paying the one-cent difference in tax on the balcony ticket from the main floor theatre ticket. She was fined $20 ($251.30 in 2010[1]) and court costs ($6). She paid the fine but decided to fight the charge in court.
During subsequent trials the government insisted on arguing that this was a case of tax evasion. Retail sales tax was calculated based on the price of the theatre ticket. Since the theatre would only agree to sell the Black woman a cheaper balcony ticket, but she had insisted upon sitting in the more expensive main floor seat, she was one cent short on tax. For her crime of so-called tax evasion, she was removed from the theatre, thrown in jail overnight, tried without counsel, convicted and fined. During the trial, no one admitted that Viola Desmond was Black, and that the theatre maintained a racist seating policy. The trial proceeded as if it related to race-neutral tax evasion. All efforts to have the conviction overturned at higher levels of court failed. Her lawyer returned her fee which she used to set up a fund that was eventually used to support activities of the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NSAACP).
After the trial, Desmond closed her business and moved to Montreal where she enrolled in a business college. She eventually settled in New York where she died at the age of 51.
While the case received little attention outside of Nova Scotia, it has since gained notoriety as one of many cases fought for civil rights in the mid-20th century.
On 14 April 2010, the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, Mayann Francis, on the advice of her premier, invoked the Royal Prerogative and granted Desmond a posthumous pardon,[2] the first such to be granted in Canada.[3] The government of Nova Scotia also apologised.[4]

Had a piece on the radio on my way to work about this. Very Interesting, tbh.

[clambake]

how about "james earl ray marksmanship appreciation day"

[Trill Clinton]

Had a piece on the radio on my way to work about this. Very Interesting, tbh.

Indeed. Didn't hear about it until last year this time myself. Isn't it ironic the cool thing to do is to sit at the back of the bus now?

[Trill Clinton]

In 2004, the Army named its first ship after an African-American. That man was Robert Smalls. Smalls was born to a slave mother and a white father in Beaufort, S.C. As a young man, Smalls held several jobs in Charleston, S.C., and finally began working at the docks. He eventually learned to be a seaman, and then how to pilot a ship. In 1861, Smalls was hired as a deckhand on the USS Planter, the transport steamer serving Brigadier General Roswell Ripley, commander of the Second Military District of South Carolina. The USS Planter served the Confederacy as an armed dispatch and transport boat. Soon after Smalls was hired he became the ship's pilot.
On May 12, 1862, the Planter's three white officers spent the night ashore. It was at that time that Smalls enacted a plan that he had been working out for some time. The plan was to take the Planter, pick up his family and some of the other black crew men's families and head towards the Union Army's blockade in the North. By the morning of May 13 Smalls had already picked up his family and the others and was already heading North.
He piloted the ship past the five Confederate forts which guarded the Charleston harbor, including Fort Sumter. When Smalls reached the Union blockade, he turned the ship over to United States Navy, along with all of the artillery and explosives on board.
Smalls began working for the United States Navy and became a hero in the North. Congress passed a bill, signed by President Abraham Lincoln, rewarding Smalls and his crewmen with the prize money for the captured ship. Smalls' share was $1,500 (what would be nearly $40,000 today).
Smalls was also sent to Washington, DC to persuade President Lincoln to permit black men to fight for the Union. He was successful. 5,000 African-American men were allowed to enlist in the Union forces at Port Royal as the 1st South Carolina Volunteers.
Smalls was taught to read and write by tutors and after the war he became a major general in the South Carolina militia and a state legislator. He participated in drafting the cons ution of the state in which he had been a slave. He was the most powerful black man in South Carolina for five decades.
Robert Smalls served five terms as a U.S. Congressman during Reconstruction. For nearly 20 years he served as U.S. Collector of Customs in Beaufort, S.C. where he bought the house in which he had been kept as a slave.
(Source: Robert Smalls.org: http://www.robertsmalls.org/about.htm;