Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 18 April 2002 — Page 12

The Muncie Times, April 18, 2002, page 12

Black Americans to remember

Armstrong famous boxer

Henry Jackson was living laying track for t h e railroad in^ Missouri; when gust‘HI! of wind blew a newspaper in his face and in that paper he saw an article about a featherweight boxing champ named Kid Chocolate. Kid Chocolate had just earned $75,000 for a fight in New York and that fact set Jackson to thinking. “I thought to myself, $75,000 for an half a hour’s work. It’s gotta beat this. So I put my tools in the box and quit. “I told the boys I was gonna be champ. They laughed.” In the beginning, Jackson fought under the ring name of Honey Melody. He shed that name later, however, and fought his way to pugilistic immortality as Henry Armstrong. Hammering Hank is the only fighter in ring history to hold three world titles at the same time. In 1938, he reigned as featherweight, lightweight and welterweight champion of the world. During his career, Armstrong fought 175 professional bouts, won 144 of them (97 by knockouts) and earned nearly a million dollars. With the exception of Joe Louis, Armstrong fought more title bouts than any fighter in modern history626. Louis fought 27. Armstrong also compiled one of boxing’s longest winning streaks. From 1937 to 1939, he punched his way to 46 straight victories, 39 of them knockouts. Armstrong’s record won him a place in 1954 to boxing’s Hall of Fame. Named along with him

were Louis and Jack Dempsey. The 11th of 15 children in his family, Armstrong was born in Columbus, Miss., in 1912. His mother moved with him and six other children to St. Louis where Armstrong attended Vashon High School. The Depression had just begun when he quit, the railroad and took to boxing. After fighting a while in St. Louis, Armstrong moved to Los Angeles where he shined shoes during the day and fought at night. He got his big break when he beat Baby Arizmendiand A1 Jolson, the famous singer, saw his potential, bought his contract and vowed to make him a champion. The next year, on Oct. 29th, 1937, Armstrong knocked out Petey Sarron and won the featherweight crown. He outboxed Barney Ross and won the welterweight crown by a decision on May 31st, 1938, to become boxing’s only triple champ. In 1940, he came close to becoming middleweight champ when he fought Ceferino Garcia to a draw. Armstrong quit the ring in 1945 and after some ups and downs in a battle with alcohol, turned to religion. He was ordained a Baptist minister in 1951 and became assistant pastor of St. Louis’ First Baptist Church. He also became active in youth work, serving as executive director of the Herbert Hoover Boys Club.

Richard Allen organized church When a yellow fever epidemic struck Philadelphia in 1793, the city’s negroes were called on to care for the sick and to bury the dead in the belief that they were immune to the disease. A Negro clergyman named Richard Allen

answered the appeal. He and several of his associates organized a massive relief effort providing nursing care, spiritual solace and burial crews. Many Negroes who, of course, were not immune to the disease died in serving their fellow man, but hundreds of the stricken survived and the city was carried through the crisis. This response in the time of need was typical of Allen. When the British sacked Washington during the War of 1812, Philadelphia braced for an expected attack. In this crisis, Allen responded by helping to raise 2,500 Negro troops for the defense of the city. Allen probably was the most prominent Negro in Philadelphia. Besides being known as a humanitarian and a patriot, Allen also was noted as a man of God. He founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church which today is one of America’s largest Negro denominations. Born a slave in Philadelphia in 1760, Allen was sold as a youth to a farmer from Dover, Delaware. He was converted to Christianity while still a slave. Impressed by his devotion, Allen’s master permitted him to conduct religious services in his home and was himself converted at one of the meetings. He later freed Allen. Allen who was selfeducated traveled throughout the colonies as an itinerant preacher until 1784 when he was accepted as a minister at thfe first General Conference of the Methodist Church in Baltimore. Given no pastorate, he traveled the Baltimore circuit with evangelist

Richard Watcoat. Occasionally, Francis Asbury, America’s first Methodist bishop gave Allen preaching assignments. One was at the St. George Methodist Church of Philadelphia. A forceful preacher, Allen’s sermons attracted large numbers of Negroes and the white parishioners objected. In 1787, they ordered the Negro worshipers to the gallery apart from the whites and the insult prompted Alleu’s withdrawal from the church. He organized the A.M.E. Church to minister to the spiritual needs of ‘ the black community and became its first bishop. In his later years, Allen became a prominent abolitionist. He died in 1831. Josephine Baker Entertainer and Humanitarian

Josephine Baker (1906- ?), “the toast of Paris” and a humanitarian, was born of a poor family in St. Louis, Missouri. She began her career in the United States in the allNegro musical “Shuffle

Along,” and in the 1920’s she was featured as a dancer of the “Charleston” and the “Black Bottom” at the Old Plantation Club in New York City. She is noted for her statuesque beauty and as an exciting entertainer on the stage. After an appearance in the Ziegfeld Follies in 1936, she was featured in the 1938 by Jack Goldberg in the film Siren of the Tropics. Miss Baker then departed for Paris, where she became a sensation as an exotic dancer at the Folies Bergere and the Casino de Paris. For 15 years, Josephine Baker was

known as “the toast of Paris.” In this period, she returned occasionally to make appearances in the United States, but the “Black Venues” of Paris preferred to become a French citizen. During World War II, she entertained the Allied soldiers in North Africa, worked as an ambulance driver on the Belgian front and fought with the Free French Resistance, for which she later received the Legion of Honor medal. Having earned a fortune as an entertainer, Miss Baker and her French husband, Monsieur Bouillon, in 1950 purchased a chateau at Milandes in Perigord. The motive for buying this estate was to make an unusual, humanitarian racial study. Her objective was to adopt children of different racial origins and prove that children of all races, when given the same opportunity and treatment, can achieve equally. By 1966, Miss Baker had adopted 11 children, who, when they reach adulthood, were to choose their permanent nationality. The chateau became a showplace, as Miss Baker equipped it with a restaurant, a museum, a zoo for children, a miniature golf course and two bowling alleys. The museum contained the life of Miss Baker done in wax dolls, beginning with her childhood in St. Louis and including her reception by the Pope at the Vatican. The project was a noble experiment, conceived to prove that innate racial differences affecting the ability do not exist. Another aspect of Josephine Baker’s concern over racial discrimination was demonstrated when she flew to America to participate in the “March on Washington” in 1963. She wanted to display

BLACK AMERICANS SEE PAGE 14