Happy (and safe) 4th of July!

Have a good one people! I'll hit up a few barbecues, catch the fireworks from Venice Beach, most likely, and head back to the Q-cave. Still working on reviews so stay tuned for those.

In honor of this years 4th of July celebrations, I thought I swing the spotlight on some American patriots that you don't hear about in most schools, or colleges for that matter. (depending on which history class you take)

Prince "Caleb Quotom" Whipple

taken from "Colored Patriots of the American Revolution" by William C. Nell(1851) as referenced by Dennis Robinson (1997) SeacoastNH.com http://www.seacoastnh.com/blackhistory/prince.html

"Prince Whipple was born in Amabou, Africa, of comparatively wealthy parents. When about ten years of age, he was sent by them, in company with a cousin, to America to be educated. An elder brother had returned four years before, and his parents were anxious that their child should receive the same benefits.

The captain who brought the two boys over proved a treacherous villain, and carried them to Baltimore, where he exposed them for sale, and they were both purchased by Portsmouth men, Prince falling to Gen. Whipple. He was emancipated during the [Revolutionary] war, was much esteemed, and was once entrusted by the General with a large sum of money to carry from Salem to Portsmouth.

He was attacked on the road, near Newburyport, by two ruffians; one was struck with a loaded whip, the other he shot...Prince was beloved by all who knew him.
He was the "Caleb Quotom" of Portsmouth. where he died at the age of thirty-two leaving a widow and children.

More links on Prince Whipple's legacy

http://www.whipple.org/prince/

http://esperstamps.org/aa10.htm

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Tuskegee Airmen photo journal
http://isis.csuhayward.edu/dbsw/ethnicstudies//NMMMF/NMMMF.html

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"This is an age of wonders, and not the least among them is the celebration of the Fourth of July at Camp Nelson, Kentucky, by the colored people. To see so many thousands, who a year ago were slaves, congregate in the heart of a slave State and celebrate the day sacred to the cause of freedom, 'with none to molest or make afraid,' was a grand spectacle. It was the first time we have ever been permitted to celebrate the Nation's Day."

Sergeant William A. Warfield
119th United States Colored Infantry Regiment (1864).

Camp Nelson site
http://www.campnelson.org/

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"African-Americans were not given the credit some individuals & some units deserved for their service rendered in combat in Korea. The service of Charles Bussey would seem to be a prime example"
General Matthew B Ridgway
UN Supreme Commander in Korea

http://members.aol.com/warlib/dkc1.htm


After years of combat in Korea and being the last unit to actually fight in the last battle of the Korean conflict, they fought for years to have their actions correctly recorded.

Yet, the official history continues even in 1992 unjustly to diminish/distort/denigrate the 24th Infantry's overall Korean War performance as "poor" as well as, therefore, the proximate factor in 8th US Army's beginning to integrate as of 10-1-51. This history uses such terms as "ran away from the enemy", "broke and ran", "threw down their weapons", "withdrew without a fight", "broke ranks", etc, repeatedly in referring to this last black regiment while not utilizing such terms in referring to other (i.e, white) American * regiments. Even the Army's chief of staff 1950-53, the late General J. Lawton Collins, wrote in his Korean War memoir, War in Peacetime, "black 24th Infantrymen broke and ran repeatedly until the regiment was deactivated 10-1-1951---an outright misstatement.

David Carslile, "The Last Black Combat Unit Of The US Army Fights Alongside The Last Black 24th Infantry Regiment: The Last And Most Important Battle Of The Korean War"
see above link.
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JAMES ARMISTEAD LAFAYETTE
http://www.americanrevwar.homestead.com/files/JAMES.HTM

One of my favorites history stories, (pops hit me off with an African American picture history book back in the day) is about the 007 tactics of this man. He played Corwallis in a brave move, acting as if he sided with the English (not really that hard to believe, as the English were granting slaves freedom) and giving them bogus information. All the while he was delaying their moves until Washington could move in.

In the end, he was granted his freedom and got paid, something unheard of for most blacks back then. His image was painted years later and would make history as one of the early paintings to cast African Americans in a heroic setting.

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More on African American Patriots~

Incredible site with links to informative webpages, active groups and events nationwide!
http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/data.htm

Another good site with tons of links
http://www.geocities.com/mclane65/black-heroes.html