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| OF THEE I SING |
Forward Agreement is building among scholars interested in the minority military experience in the United States that more than a casual relationship has existed between the political, economic, and social advances made by racial and ethnic minorities-particularly African American- and the participation of their sons and daughters in the defense of the Nation. Their contributions have been and continue to be signal, but from a historical perspective, while there have been voices like Fredrick Douglas and champions like Colin Powell, there has been a dearth of written material on the contributions made by men and women who have served their nation in uniform. In the following pages, Charles Blatcher, III, himself a Vietnam veteran and one who has been an indefatigable voice and champion of the minority military story for more than twenty years, makes a significant contribution to the field by providing the reader with a useful overview and summary of the involvement-often critical- of minority persons in the military concerns of the United States. The volume will be particularly useful to the secondary student and teacher, valuable as a reference guide, and a good introduction for those acquiring an interest in minority military history. The chapters on Native American Military History,Hispanic American Military History, Japanese and Hawaiian American Military History Promise to encourage more research in these areas, and the chapter on Black Military History is comprehensive. Dr. Michael J. Clark Professor Emeritus California State University |
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| HISTORICAL EVENTS DISCUSSED IN "OF THEE I SING" |
JANUARY HISTORICAL FACTS:
Jan. 1st, ...........NEW YEARS DAY.
Jan. 16,1776.....Continental Congress accepted Washington’s proposal to enlist free Blacks.
Jan 1, 1863.... President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
Jan. 13,1863.....The First Kansas Colored Volunteers, the Civil War’s first all-black unit,
were mustered.
Jan. 9, 1918.....The 10th Cavalry Regiment rode its last charge against the Indians.
Jan. 3, 1944... .All-black 332nd Air Unit entered the War in Europe.
Jan. 27,1944.....99th black Pursuit Squadron confirmed eight hits to enemy aircraft.
Jan. 12,1954.....Secretary of Defense Charles Wilson announced desegregation of schools on
military bases.
Jan. 16,1954.....Army announced blacks with special skills to be assigned to all units.
FEBRUARY HISTORICAL FACTS:
Feb. 1st.............BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Feb. 2, 1778......Rhode Island passed the first Slave Enlistment Act, which granted the same pay as
whites and freedom for those serving through the end of the war.
Feb. 28,1917.. ..America entered World War I with Germany.
Feb. 17,1919......Returning from overseas, the all-black 369th Regiment received a heroes’ welcome
in New York.
Feb. 10,1941......The all-black 366th Infantry Regiment was activated.
Feb. 6, 1942......First black Military Police Battalion (730th) was activated.
Feb. 27,1946......The Secretary of Navy, James Forrestal announced black naval personnel are eligible
for all assignments.
Feb. 2, 1948......President Truman issued a message to Congress stating that segregation in the military
would end.
Feb. 12,1948......The first black nurse was integrated into the Nurse Corps.
Feb. 1, 1966......Thomas D. Parham, Jr. became the first black chaplain to receive the Navy captain’s rank.
Feb. 28,1978.....The National Minority Military Museum Foundation formed by Charles Blatcher, III.
Chartered in California by: Charles Blatcher, III, Addine Moss and Thresea Harris.
MARCH HISTORICAL FACTS:
March 5, 1770...Crispus Attucks, a runaway slave, was among the first five patriots to fall in the
Boston Massacre.
March 13,1865..The South passed the black enlistment bill.
March 21,1941..The 99th Fighter Squadron of black aviators was activated.
March 7, 1942..The first black pilots received commissions in the Air Corps.
March 17,1944..The Golden Thirteen, the first group of black officers, were commissioned by the Navy.
March 20,1944..The USS Mason, the first naval vessel with a predominantly black crew, was
commissioned.
March 8, 1945..Phyllis Mae Dailey was swore in as the first black nurse in the Navy Nurse Corps.
March 24,1945..Black pilots, the 332nd Fighter Squadron, participated in a raid over Berlin.
March 15,1947..The first black officer John W. Lee was transferred into the Navy.
March 27,1950..Army abolished black enlistment quotas.
March 15,1971..Defense Secretary Laird announced a program to end discrimination. The Department
of Defense established the Race Relations Institute.
March.......1980..Hazel Winifred Johnson became the first black female general in the Army Nurse
Corps, Washington, D.C. Prior, she served as chief nurse and assistant to the chief.
APRIL HISTORICAL FACTS:
April 20, 1773..Slaves petitioned the Massachusetts legislature to be allowed to earn money to buy their
freedom.
April 15, 1776..The first black Marine, John Martin, enlisted in the Continental Brig Reprisal.
April 19, 1783..Independence was won. More than 5,000 blacks served in the American forces, and
another 1,000 served the British.
April 7, 1942..Secretary of the navy Frank Know advocated the acceptance of blacks in the general
services.
April 16, 1943..The first black unit, the 1st Marine Depot Company, was sent overseas in World War II.
April 24, 1943..All-black 99th Pursuit Squadron attached to the 33rd Fighter Group in North African.
April 14, 1944..Coast Guard commissioned its first black officer, Ensign Joseph C. Jenkins.
April 14, 1944..The Navy commissioned a second vessel with a predominantly black crew, the PC 1264.
April 11, 1945..The concentration camp in Buchenwald was liberated by the 761st black Tank Battalion
under General George Patton.
April 13, 1945..Restrictions were lifted on the number of black personnel to be assigned to Navy vessel.
April 1, 1952..Army European Command announced integration plan. The Air Force also announced
complete integration.
April 28, 1971..Samuel l. Gravely Jr. became the first black admiral in naval history.
April 19, 1974..The Marine Corps named the first permanent facility in memory of a black Marine,
Sergeant Major Gilbert H. Johnson, Ret.
April 29, 1982..Twelve black American veterans of the 761st Tank Battalion were honored in Paris for
their assistance in the liberation.
April 21, 1986..Northwestern University Sociologist Charles Moskos stated in an article in the Atlantic
that blacks have been more successful in moving up the career ladder in the armed forces
than in any other segment of U.S. society.
MAY HISTORICAL FACTS:
May 20, 1775.......The Union decided to allow free blacks to participate in the Revolutionary War but
rejected slaves.
May 9, 1862.......In South Carolina, General David Hunter enlisted black volunteers into the Union
Army.
May 12, 1862.......Robert Smalls, a black harbor pilot, seized the Confederate ship Planter in the
Charleston Harbor and delivered it to the Union. He was later named captain of the
vessel.
May 22, 1863.......The Bureau of Colored Troops was formed by the War Department.
May 1, 1917........Black colleges set up a Central Committee at Howard University to prove the
willingness of blacks to participate in the Armed Forces.
May 12,1917........The U.S. Army established a black officers’ training base in Des Moines, Iowa.
May 18,1917........On the passing of the Selective Service Act, blacks were allowed to participate in
Expeditionary Forces commanded by the French Government.
May 15,1918........Black soldiers Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts became the first American
to receive the Croix de Guerre, France’s highest military honor.
May 1,1941........The first black Signal Unit, the 275th Construction Company was activated.
May 15,1942........The Army’s all-black 93rd Division was activated.
May 1,1944........Marine Corps promoted the first black to field sergeant major, Charles F. Anderson.
May 8,1945........World War II ended in Europe on VE-Day.
May 17,1970........Prairie View A&M College established the first Black Naval Reserve Officers Training
Corps.
May.....1975........ Lieutenant Donna P. Davis became the first black woman physician in the history of
the Naval Medical Corps.
May 6,1976.........Midshipman First Class Mason C. Reddix Jr. became the first black in the U.S. Naval
Academy to earn the highest midshipman’s rank.
May 1,1978.........Charles Blatcher, III, William Lewis, Jerome Harris, Henry Bailey and Dylan Wright Blatcher
started 500 mile march through California to focus public attention on the preservation
of minority military history.
May 18,1983........Angela Dennis became one of the two first black women to graduate from the U.S.
Coast Guard Academy.
JUNE HISTORICAL FACTS:
June 17,1775.....Peter Salem, a former slave, shot the British officer who ordered the firing on the
Minutemen at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
June 17,1776....Thomas Hubey was hanged for conspiracy against General Washington, after being
exposed by black serving girl Phoebe Francis.
June 3,1780....British Commander-In-Chief Clinton granted freedom to runaway slaves of
rebel masters, provided that they agreed to serve the British faithfully to the
end of the war.
June..... 1887....John H. Alexander was the second black West Point graduate.
June 1 1941....The first black Tank Battalion was activated.
June 1, 1942...Marine Corps opened enlistment to blacks. Blacks were also allowed to enlist in
Navy positions other than stewards.
June 1, 1943...Army Air Corps formed the third black war unit, the 477th Bomber Group.
June 6, 1944...The 320th Negro Anti-Aircraft Barrage Balloon Battalion participated in the D-Day
Invasion, the largest full scale attack in history.
June 23,1946...The first group of black officers, 31 total, were integrated into the Army.
June 23,1949...Secretary of the Navy Francis Matthews announced equality for all Navy and
Marine Personnel.
June 25,1950...The Korean War began.
JULY HISTORICAL FACTS:
July 4,..........INDEPENDENCE DAY.
July 4,1776..Thomas Jefferson’s reproach of the slave trade was voted out of the Declaration of
Independence before it passed.
July 15,1779..African American Pompey lamb provided information that led to the capture of
Stony Point by General Anthony Wayne.
July 16,1862..Congress authorized black enlistment for war services.
July 28,1866..Congress pass a provision to form the all-black 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments and
the 38th, 39th, 40 and 41st Infantry Regiments.
July 5, 1917..700,000 Blacks registered for the draft.
July 1, 1941..Army integrated the Officers’ Candidate School.
July 19,1941..The Tuskegee Institute began its black air training program.
July 20,1942..From the inception of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAC),black women
were accepted.
July 2, 1943..Black pilots in the 99th Pursuit Battalion downed their first enemy aircraft over Italy.
July 3, 1944..The 99th Pursuit Squadron became an attachment of the 332nd
July 23,1945..Government officials made an appeal for qualified women of color to join the WAVES.
July 1, 1948..Predominately black colleges, Morgan State University, Florida A&M and Southern
University, established ROTC programs.
July 25,1948..The Army established integrated training centers at Fort Riley, Kansas and
Fort Ord, California.
July 20,1950..The all-black 24th Infantry Regiment won the first U.S. victory in Korea.
July 21,1951..The U.S. Army announced that the all-black 24th Infantry would be integrated
into the Far East Command.
July......1974..The Army commissioned Reverend Alice Henderson, the first female chaplain
black or white, in the Armed Forces.
July......1974..Five black women were among the first group of female cadets at the Merchant
Marine Academy.
July 4,1984..Two reports contending that the Army has too many black soldiers and they might not
execute their duties well against black civilians was disputed by U.S. Army Personnel Chief,
Lieutenant General Maxwell Thruman.
AUGUST HISTORICAL FACTS:
August 29,1778..The all-black Connecticut Regiment distinguished itself in the battle against German
mercenaries fighting for the British.
August 7,1918..The German army tried unsuccessfully to encourage members of the black 92nd
Division to desert by spreading propaganda on the battlefront.
August 24,1942..Then-Colonel B.O. Davis Jr., black graduate of West Point, became the commanding
officer of the 99th Pursuit Squadron. Years later, he became the first black general in the
United States Air Force.
August 20,1953..Secretary of the Navy Robert Anderson ordered desegregation of facilities on naval
shore installations.
August 2,1979..Representative Ronald V. Dellums, vice chairperson of the Congressional Black Caucus
(CBC), reported the CBC’s opposition to the reinstitution of the military draft during
peacetime.
SEPTEMBER HISTORICAL FACTS:
Sept. 12,1813..Commodore Oliver H. Perry won a victory reversing earlier criticism against the
effectiveness of black sailors at the Battle of Lake Erie.
Sept. 21,1872..The first black, James Conyers, was admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy.
Sept. 2,1945..World War II ended in the pacific. The Japanese surrendered unconditionally.
Sept. 1,1967..Navy Bureau of Personnel established the Minority Officers’ Recruitment Effort.
Sept. 28,1972..Sergeant Major Edgar R. Huff became the first black to complete thirty years of service
as a Marine.
OCTOBER HISTORICAL FACTS:
Oct. 2,1774..The Continental Congress voted for discontinuance of the slave trade after December 1,
1774.
Oct. 26,1774..Massachusetts blacks enlisted in the Minuteman companies being organized by the
Committee of Safety.
Oct. 8,1775..General Washington’s council of war decided to exclude blacks from the Continental
Army. This action was legalized by Congress five days later, but on the following day,
Congress initiated the Continental Navy in which both freemen and slaves were allowed
to serve.
Oct. 4,1777..Seventeen-year-old Samuel Charlton, a slave, enlisted as his master’s substitute and fought
in the attack on the British at Charleston.
Oct. 25,1940..Colonel Benjamin O. Davis Sr. was appointed the first black general in the Armed Forces.
Oct. 19,1944..Black women were admitted into the Women’s Auxiliary Navy Corps, the WAVES.
NOVEMBER HISTORICAL FACTS:
Nov. 7, 1775...The Earl of Dunmore, Virginia’s royal governor, issued a proclamation offering
freedom for those slaves who desert their rebel masters and join the British Army.
Less than a month later, 300 runaway slaves had joined “Dunmore’s Ethiopian
Regiment” in battle.
Nov. 13,1942...Black Steward Leonard Roy Harmon was awarded the Navy Cross for heroic action
aboard the USS San Francisco, in the Solomon Islands. The following year, the USS
Roy Harmon became the first commissioned Naval vessel named for a black sailor.
Nov. 10,1945...Frederick C. Branch was the first black marine officer commissioned as second
lieutenant in the reserves.
Nov. .....1974..Jill Brown became the first female black pilot in the U.S. armed forces.
Nov.......1979..Second Lieutenant Marcella A. Haynes became the second black woman pilot in the
U.S. armed forces.
DECEMBER HISTORICAL FACTS:
Dec. 25,1776..Black American soldiers Prince Whipple and Oliver Cromwell crossed the Delaware
with General George Washington.
Dec. 21,1944..The first WAVE officers graduated from training at Smith College.
Dec. 26,1944..Directive issued for black volunteers to be integrated into white units within the Allied
Strike Forces.
Dec. 4,1950..Ensign Jesse L. Brown became the first black to receive the Navy Distinguished Flying
Cross. In 1971, the Navy announced a destroyer escort to be named in his honor.
Dec.12,1961..The first formal human relations program was introduced in the armed forces. The
program was established by First Lieutenant Howard D. Jackson, U.S. Marine Corps.
Dec. 6,1978..The Pentagon reported that the percentage of blacks in the Army’s enlisted ranks
doubled between 1970 and 1978.
Dec......1980..Ensign Brenda Robinson became the first black female aviator in the U.S. Navy assigned
to the Fleet Logistics Support Squadron Forty in Norfolk, Virginia.
1984..............Roscoe Robinson Jr. became the first black Four Star General in the U.S. Army.
1990..............Marelite J. Harris was promoted to brigadier general and became the first black
woman general in the Air Force. She was also the U.S. Air Force’s first woman
aircraft maintenance officer and one of the first two women to be “air officers
commanding” at Colorado’s Air Force Academy.
1977..............Clifford Alexander Jr. became the first black Secretary of the Army.
1977..............Togo West became the first black sworn in as the United States Navy General Counsel and later became
Secretary of the Army.
Jan. 1st, ...........NEW YEARS DAY.
Jan. 16,1776.....Continental Congress accepted Washington’s proposal to enlist free Blacks.
Jan 1, 1863.... President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
Jan. 13,1863.....The First Kansas Colored Volunteers, the Civil War’s first all-black unit,
were mustered.
Jan. 9, 1918.....The 10th Cavalry Regiment rode its last charge against the Indians.
Jan. 3, 1944... .All-black 332nd Air Unit entered the War in Europe.
Jan. 27,1944.....99th black Pursuit Squadron confirmed eight hits to enemy aircraft.
Jan. 12,1954.....Secretary of Defense Charles Wilson announced desegregation of schools on
military bases.
Jan. 16,1954.....Army announced blacks with special skills to be assigned to all units.
FEBRUARY HISTORICAL FACTS:
Feb. 1st.............BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Feb. 2, 1778......Rhode Island passed the first Slave Enlistment Act, which granted the same pay as
whites and freedom for those serving through the end of the war.
Feb. 28,1917.. ..America entered World War I with Germany.
Feb. 17,1919......Returning from overseas, the all-black 369th Regiment received a heroes’ welcome
in New York.
Feb. 10,1941......The all-black 366th Infantry Regiment was activated.
Feb. 6, 1942......First black Military Police Battalion (730th) was activated.
Feb. 27,1946......The Secretary of Navy, James Forrestal announced black naval personnel are eligible
for all assignments.
Feb. 2, 1948......President Truman issued a message to Congress stating that segregation in the military
would end.
Feb. 12,1948......The first black nurse was integrated into the Nurse Corps.
Feb. 1, 1966......Thomas D. Parham, Jr. became the first black chaplain to receive the Navy captain’s rank.
Feb. 28,1978.....The National Minority Military Museum Foundation formed by Charles Blatcher, III.
Chartered in California by: Charles Blatcher, III, Addine Moss and Thresea Harris.
MARCH HISTORICAL FACTS:
March 5, 1770...Crispus Attucks, a runaway slave, was among the first five patriots to fall in the
Boston Massacre.
March 13,1865..The South passed the black enlistment bill.
March 21,1941..The 99th Fighter Squadron of black aviators was activated.
March 7, 1942..The first black pilots received commissions in the Air Corps.
March 17,1944..The Golden Thirteen, the first group of black officers, were commissioned by the Navy.
March 20,1944..The USS Mason, the first naval vessel with a predominantly black crew, was
commissioned.
March 8, 1945..Phyllis Mae Dailey was swore in as the first black nurse in the Navy Nurse Corps.
March 24,1945..Black pilots, the 332nd Fighter Squadron, participated in a raid over Berlin.
March 15,1947..The first black officer John W. Lee was transferred into the Navy.
March 27,1950..Army abolished black enlistment quotas.
March 15,1971..Defense Secretary Laird announced a program to end discrimination. The Department
of Defense established the Race Relations Institute.
March.......1980..Hazel Winifred Johnson became the first black female general in the Army Nurse
Corps, Washington, D.C. Prior, she served as chief nurse and assistant to the chief.
APRIL HISTORICAL FACTS:
April 20, 1773..Slaves petitioned the Massachusetts legislature to be allowed to earn money to buy their
freedom.
April 15, 1776..The first black Marine, John Martin, enlisted in the Continental Brig Reprisal.
April 19, 1783..Independence was won. More than 5,000 blacks served in the American forces, and
another 1,000 served the British.
April 7, 1942..Secretary of the navy Frank Know advocated the acceptance of blacks in the general
services.
April 16, 1943..The first black unit, the 1st Marine Depot Company, was sent overseas in World War II.
April 24, 1943..All-black 99th Pursuit Squadron attached to the 33rd Fighter Group in North African.
April 14, 1944..Coast Guard commissioned its first black officer, Ensign Joseph C. Jenkins.
April 14, 1944..The Navy commissioned a second vessel with a predominantly black crew, the PC 1264.
April 11, 1945..The concentration camp in Buchenwald was liberated by the 761st black Tank Battalion
under General George Patton.
April 13, 1945..Restrictions were lifted on the number of black personnel to be assigned to Navy vessel.
April 1, 1952..Army European Command announced integration plan. The Air Force also announced
complete integration.
April 28, 1971..Samuel l. Gravely Jr. became the first black admiral in naval history.
April 19, 1974..The Marine Corps named the first permanent facility in memory of a black Marine,
Sergeant Major Gilbert H. Johnson, Ret.
April 29, 1982..Twelve black American veterans of the 761st Tank Battalion were honored in Paris for
their assistance in the liberation.
April 21, 1986..Northwestern University Sociologist Charles Moskos stated in an article in the Atlantic
that blacks have been more successful in moving up the career ladder in the armed forces
than in any other segment of U.S. society.
MAY HISTORICAL FACTS:
May 20, 1775.......The Union decided to allow free blacks to participate in the Revolutionary War but
rejected slaves.
May 9, 1862.......In South Carolina, General David Hunter enlisted black volunteers into the Union
Army.
May 12, 1862.......Robert Smalls, a black harbor pilot, seized the Confederate ship Planter in the
Charleston Harbor and delivered it to the Union. He was later named captain of the
vessel.
May 22, 1863.......The Bureau of Colored Troops was formed by the War Department.
May 1, 1917........Black colleges set up a Central Committee at Howard University to prove the
willingness of blacks to participate in the Armed Forces.
May 12,1917........The U.S. Army established a black officers’ training base in Des Moines, Iowa.
May 18,1917........On the passing of the Selective Service Act, blacks were allowed to participate in
Expeditionary Forces commanded by the French Government.
May 15,1918........Black soldiers Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts became the first American
to receive the Croix de Guerre, France’s highest military honor.
May 1,1941........The first black Signal Unit, the 275th Construction Company was activated.
May 15,1942........The Army’s all-black 93rd Division was activated.
May 1,1944........Marine Corps promoted the first black to field sergeant major, Charles F. Anderson.
May 8,1945........World War II ended in Europe on VE-Day.
May 17,1970........Prairie View A&M College established the first Black Naval Reserve Officers Training
Corps.
May.....1975........ Lieutenant Donna P. Davis became the first black woman physician in the history of
the Naval Medical Corps.
May 6,1976.........Midshipman First Class Mason C. Reddix Jr. became the first black in the U.S. Naval
Academy to earn the highest midshipman’s rank.
May 1,1978.........Charles Blatcher, III, William Lewis, Jerome Harris, Henry Bailey and Dylan Wright Blatcher
started 500 mile march through California to focus public attention on the preservation
of minority military history.
May 18,1983........Angela Dennis became one of the two first black women to graduate from the U.S.
Coast Guard Academy.
JUNE HISTORICAL FACTS:
June 17,1775.....Peter Salem, a former slave, shot the British officer who ordered the firing on the
Minutemen at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
June 17,1776....Thomas Hubey was hanged for conspiracy against General Washington, after being
exposed by black serving girl Phoebe Francis.
June 3,1780....British Commander-In-Chief Clinton granted freedom to runaway slaves of
rebel masters, provided that they agreed to serve the British faithfully to the
end of the war.
June..... 1887....John H. Alexander was the second black West Point graduate.
June 1 1941....The first black Tank Battalion was activated.
June 1, 1942...Marine Corps opened enlistment to blacks. Blacks were also allowed to enlist in
Navy positions other than stewards.
June 1, 1943...Army Air Corps formed the third black war unit, the 477th Bomber Group.
June 6, 1944...The 320th Negro Anti-Aircraft Barrage Balloon Battalion participated in the D-Day
Invasion, the largest full scale attack in history.
June 23,1946...The first group of black officers, 31 total, were integrated into the Army.
June 23,1949...Secretary of the Navy Francis Matthews announced equality for all Navy and
Marine Personnel.
June 25,1950...The Korean War began.
JULY HISTORICAL FACTS:
July 4,..........INDEPENDENCE DAY.
July 4,1776..Thomas Jefferson’s reproach of the slave trade was voted out of the Declaration of
Independence before it passed.
July 15,1779..African American Pompey lamb provided information that led to the capture of
Stony Point by General Anthony Wayne.
July 16,1862..Congress authorized black enlistment for war services.
July 28,1866..Congress pass a provision to form the all-black 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments and
the 38th, 39th, 40 and 41st Infantry Regiments.
July 5, 1917..700,000 Blacks registered for the draft.
July 1, 1941..Army integrated the Officers’ Candidate School.
July 19,1941..The Tuskegee Institute began its black air training program.
July 20,1942..From the inception of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAC),black women
were accepted.
July 2, 1943..Black pilots in the 99th Pursuit Battalion downed their first enemy aircraft over Italy.
July 3, 1944..The 99th Pursuit Squadron became an attachment of the 332nd
July 23,1945..Government officials made an appeal for qualified women of color to join the WAVES.
July 1, 1948..Predominately black colleges, Morgan State University, Florida A&M and Southern
University, established ROTC programs.
July 25,1948..The Army established integrated training centers at Fort Riley, Kansas and
Fort Ord, California.
July 20,1950..The all-black 24th Infantry Regiment won the first U.S. victory in Korea.
July 21,1951..The U.S. Army announced that the all-black 24th Infantry would be integrated
into the Far East Command.
July......1974..The Army commissioned Reverend Alice Henderson, the first female chaplain
black or white, in the Armed Forces.
July......1974..Five black women were among the first group of female cadets at the Merchant
Marine Academy.
July 4,1984..Two reports contending that the Army has too many black soldiers and they might not
execute their duties well against black civilians was disputed by U.S. Army Personnel Chief,
Lieutenant General Maxwell Thruman.
AUGUST HISTORICAL FACTS:
August 29,1778..The all-black Connecticut Regiment distinguished itself in the battle against German
mercenaries fighting for the British.
August 7,1918..The German army tried unsuccessfully to encourage members of the black 92nd
Division to desert by spreading propaganda on the battlefront.
August 24,1942..Then-Colonel B.O. Davis Jr., black graduate of West Point, became the commanding
officer of the 99th Pursuit Squadron. Years later, he became the first black general in the
United States Air Force.
August 20,1953..Secretary of the Navy Robert Anderson ordered desegregation of facilities on naval
shore installations.
August 2,1979..Representative Ronald V. Dellums, vice chairperson of the Congressional Black Caucus
(CBC), reported the CBC’s opposition to the reinstitution of the military draft during
peacetime.
SEPTEMBER HISTORICAL FACTS:
Sept. 12,1813..Commodore Oliver H. Perry won a victory reversing earlier criticism against the
effectiveness of black sailors at the Battle of Lake Erie.
Sept. 21,1872..The first black, James Conyers, was admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy.
Sept. 2,1945..World War II ended in the pacific. The Japanese surrendered unconditionally.
Sept. 1,1967..Navy Bureau of Personnel established the Minority Officers’ Recruitment Effort.
Sept. 28,1972..Sergeant Major Edgar R. Huff became the first black to complete thirty years of service
as a Marine.
OCTOBER HISTORICAL FACTS:
Oct. 2,1774..The Continental Congress voted for discontinuance of the slave trade after December 1,
1774.
Oct. 26,1774..Massachusetts blacks enlisted in the Minuteman companies being organized by the
Committee of Safety.
Oct. 8,1775..General Washington’s council of war decided to exclude blacks from the Continental
Army. This action was legalized by Congress five days later, but on the following day,
Congress initiated the Continental Navy in which both freemen and slaves were allowed
to serve.
Oct. 4,1777..Seventeen-year-old Samuel Charlton, a slave, enlisted as his master’s substitute and fought
in the attack on the British at Charleston.
Oct. 25,1940..Colonel Benjamin O. Davis Sr. was appointed the first black general in the Armed Forces.
Oct. 19,1944..Black women were admitted into the Women’s Auxiliary Navy Corps, the WAVES.
NOVEMBER HISTORICAL FACTS:
Nov. 7, 1775...The Earl of Dunmore, Virginia’s royal governor, issued a proclamation offering
freedom for those slaves who desert their rebel masters and join the British Army.
Less than a month later, 300 runaway slaves had joined “Dunmore’s Ethiopian
Regiment” in battle.
Nov. 13,1942...Black Steward Leonard Roy Harmon was awarded the Navy Cross for heroic action
aboard the USS San Francisco, in the Solomon Islands. The following year, the USS
Roy Harmon became the first commissioned Naval vessel named for a black sailor.
Nov. 10,1945...Frederick C. Branch was the first black marine officer commissioned as second
lieutenant in the reserves.
Nov. .....1974..Jill Brown became the first female black pilot in the U.S. armed forces.
Nov.......1979..Second Lieutenant Marcella A. Haynes became the second black woman pilot in the
U.S. armed forces.
DECEMBER HISTORICAL FACTS:
Dec. 25,1776..Black American soldiers Prince Whipple and Oliver Cromwell crossed the Delaware
with General George Washington.
Dec. 21,1944..The first WAVE officers graduated from training at Smith College.
Dec. 26,1944..Directive issued for black volunteers to be integrated into white units within the Allied
Strike Forces.
Dec. 4,1950..Ensign Jesse L. Brown became the first black to receive the Navy Distinguished Flying
Cross. In 1971, the Navy announced a destroyer escort to be named in his honor.
Dec.12,1961..The first formal human relations program was introduced in the armed forces. The
program was established by First Lieutenant Howard D. Jackson, U.S. Marine Corps.
Dec. 6,1978..The Pentagon reported that the percentage of blacks in the Army’s enlisted ranks
doubled between 1970 and 1978.
Dec......1980..Ensign Brenda Robinson became the first black female aviator in the U.S. Navy assigned
to the Fleet Logistics Support Squadron Forty in Norfolk, Virginia.
1984..............Roscoe Robinson Jr. became the first black Four Star General in the U.S. Army.
1990..............Marelite J. Harris was promoted to brigadier general and became the first black
woman general in the Air Force. She was also the U.S. Air Force’s first woman
aircraft maintenance officer and one of the first two women to be “air officers
commanding” at Colorado’s Air Force Academy.
1977..............Clifford Alexander Jr. became the first black Secretary of the Army.
1977..............Togo West became the first black sworn in as the United States Navy General Counsel and later became
Secretary of the Army.