Ridgefield Allies

Today in “Hidden” History is a daily listing of important but little-known events illustrating the range of innovators, contributors, or incidents excluded from formal history lessons or common knowledge. Hidden history is intended not as an exhaustive review, but merely as an illustration of how popular narratives "hide" many matters of fundamental importance. Bookmark this page and check daily to quickly expand your knowledge. Suggest entries for Today in “Hidden” History by clicking the Contact Us link. Entries for April 05:

Date	Type	Event
1839		American politician, publisher, businessman, and naval pilot Robert Smalls is born into slavery in Beaufort, South Carolina. Smalls gained renown by freeing himself, his crew, and their families during the American Civil War by commandeering a Confederate transport ship, CSS Planter, in Charleston harbor, on May 13, 1862, and sailing it from Confederate-controlled waters of the harbor to the U.S. blockade that surrounded it. He then piloted the ship to the Union-controlled enclave in Beaufort-Port Royal-Hilton Head area, where it became a Union warship. His example and persuasion helped convince President Abraham Lincoln to accept African-American soldiers into the Union Army. After the American Civil War Smalls returned to Beaufort and became a politician, winning election as a Republican to the South Carolina Legislature and the United States House of Representatives during the Reconstruction era. Smalls authored state legislation providing for South Carolina to have the first free and compulsory public school system in the United States. He founded the Republican Party of South Carolina. Smalls was the last Republican to represent South Carolina's 5th congressional district until 2011. Learn more.
1856		African American leader, orator and educator, Booker T. Washington is born into slavery in Hale’s Ford, Virginia. Washington would become one of America’s most recognized African American leaders by the beginning of the twentieth century. Washington worked his way through Hampton Normal Agricultural Institute in Virginia (now Hampton University). He also studied at Wayland Seminary (now Virginia Union University). On July 4, 1881 Booker T. Washington founded Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University) located in Tuskegee, Alabama. Learn more.
1880		In the early hours of the morning, Cadet Johnson Whittaker, one of the first Black students in the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, was brutally beaten by white cadets while sleeping in his barracks. Three white cadets ambushed Cadet Whittaker, slashed his head and ears, burned his Bible, threatened his life and then left him in his underwear, tied to the bed and bleeding profusely. West Point opened an investigation into Whittaker, declined to hold his white attackers accountable, and charged and convicted Cadet Whittaker of staging the attack to get out of his final exams. After two years in prison, the court martial was overturned by order of US President Chester A. Arthur, but West Point then reinstated Whittaker’s expulsion by claiming he had failed one of his exams. Learn more.
1938		Prominent educator Walter Eugene Massey is born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. His father, Almar, was a steelworker and his mother, Essie, a teacher. Massey had an exceptional mind, even at an early age. By the time he finished 10th grade, his skills in mathematics were strong enough to earn him a college scholarship. Massey enrolled at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, and graduated with a BS in math and physics in 1958. While working on his master’s and doctorate degrees at Washington University in St. Louis, Massey conducted research on the quantum of liquids and solids. He received a PhD in 1966. Massey began his teaching career as an associate professor at the University of Illinois then moved to Brown University in 1970, becoming a full professor five years later. Massey became the first African American president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and as a director of the National Science Foundation, where he promoted more opportunities for minority students in math, science, and engineering programs at predominately white institutions. Massey also served as chair of the board of directors of Bank of America, chair of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board in 1997, and member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Learn more.