“I was good. But the thing is, nobody outside of Fort Meade knew who I was.”
– Andrew McCutchen
Jackie Robinson, who would have been one-hundred years old this February, stepped out of the Dodgers’ dugout and took his position at first base on April 15, 1947. He was the first African-American to play major-league baseball since the sport became restricted to whites in the 1880s. More than half of the 26,623 spectators at Ebbets Field that day were black. (An unintended consequence: the beginning of the end of the Negro Leagues.) Three decades later, 19% of MLB players were black.
African-Americans constitute 14% of the U.S. population; today, they make up just 8% of the MLB rosters. (Only 3% of pitchers.) By contrast, 74% of NBA players are black; in the NFL it’s 60%, even soccer’s 10% exceeds MLB.
To get paid in full, people like Tesoro would have had to take him to court, an expensive, risky, and hassle-inducing prospect.
The current occupant of the White House’s business modus operandi used fear of bankruptcy-by-attorneys as a cudgel. For example, in 2006, architect Andrew Tesoro submitted his final bill to the Trump Organization for his work on the clubhouse at the National Golf Club Westchester: $140,000. He was offered $50,000. Wanting to avoid legal hassle and expense, he sent a revised billing for $50,000. When that went unpaid, Tesoro contacted The Donald himself who said he would pay $25,000. Knowing that legal action to collect would cost much more, Tesoro took it, 18% of the billed amount, less than what he owed the consultants who had worked with him on the project.
A local news report tells of a couple in Rohnert Park California who were successful in their suit against the city. Police officers had entered Raul and Elva Barajas’s house, with guns drawn, looking for their son who was on parole.
Unfortunately for the city and its police force, they neglected to get a warrant for the search.
Were you wondering if St. Valentine was a real person? Valentinus was a priest in Rome during the third century. He was imprisoned for marrying Christian couples and aiding Christians who were being persecuted under Emperor Claudius. Apparently irrepressible, Valentinus attempted to convert the emperor, for which he was sentenced to death. He was beaten and stoned, then beheaded, in the year 269. He was buried on the Flaminian Way, north of Rome, purportedly on February 14.
St. Valentine is the patron saint of engaged couples, happy marriages, lovers. If that’s not enough, he is also patron of beekeepers, travelers, epilepsy and plague!
Allen Allensworth was
looking for a place to establish a town outside the Jim Crow South, a town where
African Americans could own property and pursue their economic potential.
Allensworth was born into
slavery in 1842. While still a youth he was punished for learning to read and
write, illegal for those in his situation. During the Civil War he escaped and
made his way behind Union lines. He signed on as a civilian nurse with the Army
Hospital Corps. He then served in the U.S. Navy from 1863-1865. After the war,
Allensworth was ordained a Baptist Minister. He later became an Army chaplain.
He retired from the service as a lieutenant colonel, the highest rank of an African American in the U.S.
Armed Forces to that time.
The Allensworth family settled in Pasadena California. Allen joined with four others to establish what was then called a race colony. They founded their town in 1908 on the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley, aka Central Valley, a region that still today is sometimes less than welcoming to minorities. They called their new town Solito, later changed to the eponymous “Allensworth” in honor of its most prominent citizen.
A school district was
formed in 1912. Two years later the state sanctioned a judicial district and a
post office opened. Unfortunately, Allen Allensworth was run over and killed by
a motorcycle while on a visit to Los Angeles in 1914.
The town continued to
thrive, serving the growing agricultural activity surrounding it. It reached
its peak in 1925. That’s when water shortages began. Pacific Farming Company, the land development
company that handled the original purchase, failed to deliver the promised
irrigation water in sufficient amounts. Legal battles with Pacific Farming
drained the municipal coffers and lack of water resulted in farmers moving
away. By 1930, the population had dropped below 300.
February 1959: Buddy Holly, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, Ritchie Valens and pilot Roger Peterson died when their chartered plane crashed into an Iowa cornfield. Richardson, suffering from the flu, had talked bassist Waylon Jennings into letting him have his place on the plane. Guitarist Tommy Allsup had given up his seat to Valens on a coin flip.
Waylon Jennings talks
about his friend and mentor Buddy Holly and the Day the Music Died.
Historian Carter G. Woodson declared the second week of February as “Negro History Week” in 1926. He chose that week because it coincided with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln on the 12th and Frederick Douglass on the 14th.
Black History Month became official in 1976 when white people recognized it. President Gerald Ford announced it was time to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” Subsequently, each year the President has proclaimed February as Black History Month.
Notably, in his 2017 declaration the current occupant of the White House, a renowned historian in his own right, stated, “Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice.”
From the 2019 declaration:
This year’s theme, “Black Migrations,” highlights the challenges and successes of African Americans as they moved from farms in the agricultural South to centers of industry in the North, Midwest, and West—especially the migrations that occurred in the twentieth century. Through these migrations, millions of African Americans reshaped the demographic landscape of America, starting new lives in cities such as Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, and New York City.
