Tuesday Open Thread- Little Known Black History Facts

Let’s continue on with this week’s theme of “Little Known Black History Facts”.

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.  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.

George Monroe and William Robinson are thought to be the first black Pony Express riders.At one point, Pony Express rider George Monroe was also a stagecoach driver for President Ulysses S. Grant. He frequently navigated the president through the curving Wanona Trail in the Yosemite Valley and, as a result, Monroe Meadows in Yosemite National Park is named for him.

Isaac Murphy, a great thoroughbred jockey, was the first to win three Derbies and the only jockey to win the Kentucky Derby, the Kentucky Oaks, and the Clark Handicap within the same year. 

In 1930, Valaida Snow captivated audiences with her professional singing and jazz trumpet playing. Her abilities earned her the name “Little Louis”, in reference to the style of trumpeter Louis Armstrong.   Raised on the road in a show-business family, she learned to play cello, bass, banjo, violin, mandolin, harp, accordion, clarinet, trumpet, andsaxophone at professional levels by the time she was 15. She also sang and danced.

Cathay Williams (1842 – 1892) was the first and only known female Buffalo Soldier. She was born into slavery and worked for the Union army during the Civil War. She posed as a man and enlisted as Williams Cathay in the 38th infantry in 1866. She was given a medical discharge in 1868.

Jesse Ernest Wilkins Jr. (1923 –2011 ),  was an African American nuclear scientist and mathematician, who gained first fame on entering the University of Chicago at age 13, becoming its youngest ever student. His intelligence led to him being referred to as a “negro genius” in the media. He earned a PhD in mathematics at the age 19.  As part of a widely varied and notable career, Wilkins contributed to the Manhattan Project during the Second World War. He also gained fame working in and conducting nuclear physics research in both academia and industry. He wrote numerous scientific papers, served in various important posts, earned several significant awards and helped recruit minority students into the sciences. In order to improve his rapport with the nuclear engineers reporting to him, Wilkins later received both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from New York University in 1957 and 1960 thus earning five science degrees during his life.

***Information courtesy of Wikipedia.org, and Biography.com***