People, Locations, Episodes

The USS Dale is commissioned

*The USS Dale was commissioned on this date in 1839. Later, it was called the Oriole, a sloop-of-war vessel in the United States Navy. It was the product of a non-patented invention by Benjamin Bradley. The Dale was one of six warships authorized to be constructed by The April 3, 1837 Congressional Act. The first of this group was Princeton, the […]

Robert B. Elliott, Soldier, and Politician born

On this date, we remember Robert Brown Elliott, a Black lawyer, politician, and military officer born in 1842.

Elliot was born and educated in Liverpool, England. After serving in the British navy, Elliott arrived in Boston in 1867. Robert Elliott was a brilliant lawyer who was admitted to the South Carolina bar and elected to the South Carolina legislature in 1868 during Reconstruction. In March 1869, Elliott was appointed assistant adjutant-general, becoming the first black commanding general of the South Carolina National Guard.

The XIX Army Corps is Formed

*On this date, in 1862, the XIX Army Corps was formed. They were a segregated regiment of the Union Army during the American Civil War.  The XIX Corps spent most of its service in Louisiana and the Gulf, though several units fought in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. It was assigned to Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, the […]

The 28th Indiana Colored Regiment is Formed

*On this date in 1863, the 28th Regiment, United States Colored Troops, was formed. Also called the 28th Regiment, Indiana Infantry (Colored) was a Black combat unit from Indiana that fought in the American Civil War.   The United States Department of War authorized Indiana to raise one regiment of infantry composed of Blacks on November 30, 1863. On December 3, the state’s […]

Walter Loving, Military Investigator, and Bandleader born

*Walter Loving was born on this date in 1872. He was an African American soldier and musician most noted for his leadership of the Philippine Constabulary Band.

Dorsie Willis, Solider born

*Dorsie Willis was born on this date in 1886. He was an African American soldier, and activist.

Aaron Fisher, Soldier born.

*Aaron Fisher was born on this date in 1895. He was a Black WW I soldier. He served over thirty years in the U.S. Army and received several military awards. Aaron Richard Fisher was born in the Lyles Station community in Gibson County, Indiana. He was the son of Macy Octiva (Barnhill) and Benjamin F. […]

Benjamin O. Davis Jr., American Military Pioneer born

Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr., was born on this date in 1912. He was an African American army officer and military activist.

Ulric Cross, a British Soldier and Diplomat, was born.

*Ulric Cross was born on this date in 1917. He was a Black British jurist, diplomat, and Royal Air Force (RAF) navigator. Philip Louis Ulric Cross was born in Belmont, Port of Spain, Trinidad, to Reginald Rufus and Maud Iris Cross. He was the second child in a family of nine. At 11, he came […]

The 366th Infantry Regiment is formed

*The 366th Infantry Regiment was created on this date in 1917. This was an all-Black unit of the United States Army that served in World War I and II. Officers of this racially segregated Regiment included Lieutenant Cleveland L. Abbott, Captain Joseph L. Lowe, Lieutenant Aaron R. Fisher, and Captain E. White. The 366th Infantry […]

Johnnie Jones Sr., Soldier, and Activist born

*Johnnie Jones, Sr., was born on this date in 1919. He was a Black soldier, lawyer, and Louisiana state legislator. Johnnie A. Jones was born in West Feliciana Parish near Woodville, Mississippi, in Laurel Hill, Louisiana. One of eight children, he was the son of lease sharecropping farmers Henry E. Jones and Sarah Ann Coats and the […]

Ken Wofford, Tuskegee Airman born

*Kenneth Wofford Sr. was born on this date in 1922. He was an African American administrator and former Tuskegee Airman.

Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, Military Officer born.

*Chukwuemeka Ojukwu was born on this date in 1933. He was a Black Nigerian military officer and politician. Chukwuemeka “Emeka” Odumegwu Ojukwu was born in northern Nigeria. He was the son of Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, an Igbo businessman in the transport business; he took advantage of the business boom during World War II to […]

Black History and WW II’s Pearl Harbor, a story

African American Registry acknowledges the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor with 10 short facts that occurred during or after the incident.

The ‘Burma Road Project’ Begins

*This date in 1942 celebrates the beginning of the Burma Road construction project, which was a three-year WW II military excavation project.  Black soldiers who worked to re-open the Burma Road were the single largest group of Blacks in World War II-era China. They were present in many WW II construction projects, including the Red Ball Express […]