Celebrating Black History Month: Madeline Swegle, first African American female US Navy tactical jet pilot

 

Madeline Swegle, from Burke, Virginia, is the first African American woman to become a US Navy tactical jet pilot, July 7, 2020.  She graduated from the US Naval Academy in 2017. She completed her Tactical Air Strike pilot training in Kingsville, TX. 

Lt. Madeline Swegle

Celebrating Black History Month: Vice Adm. Samuel Gravely, first black officer to command a US Navy ship

Samuel Gravely, born June 4, 1922 in Richmond, Virginia, joined the Naval Reserve in 1942.  He graduated from UCLA, and completed Midshipmen's School at Columbia University and was commissioned as ensign in December 1944. 

He was the only black officer aboard the USS PC-1264, a submarine chaser, during WWII.  After the war, he was released from active duty, but remained in the Naval Reserve.  He was recalled to active duty in 1949, as a recruiter in Washington, DC through the Korean War. In 1955, he transferred to the Reserve to the regular Navy and specialized in naval communications.

He was the first African American officer to command the USS Theodore E. Chandler, from February to October 1961.   He commanded the destroyer USS Taussig, from January 1962 to June 1963 during the Vietnam War.   He was the first African American to lead a ship into combat.  In 1967 he was the first African American to be promoted to captain, and then 1971 the first to reach the rank of rear admiral.

He commanded the Third Fleet in Hawaii and then transferred to Virginia to direct the Defense Communications Agency until he retired in 1980.

He received the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service, Navy Commendation Medal, WWII Victory Medal, the Korean Service Medal, and the United Nations Korea Medal.

He passed away in October 2004 after a stroke. 

Celebrating Black History Month: Martin Delany, first African-American major in US Army

On February 8, 1865, Martin Delany, born as a free man in Charles Town, Virginia January 24, 1812, was commissioned as a major in the US Army, becoming the first African-American field officer.  

Growing up, Delany and his siblings learned to read and write by their mother, despite the prohibition of educating black people.  His mother moved them to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania to ensure their continued freedom and learning. His father joined them a year later, after he was allowed to buy his freedom.

At 19, Martin traveled to Pittsburgh, where he attended the Cellar School of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and apprenticed with a white physician.  He was one of four black men accepted into Harvard Medical School, but were dismissed after white supremacists complained.

Delany continued to be active in medicine and politics, attending his first National Negro Convention in 1835. He began publishing The Mystery, the first black-owned newspaper printed west of the Appalachians. 

In 1856, he moved his family to Chatham, Ontario, Canada, where he assisted in the Underground Railroad, helping escaped slaves who reached freedom in Canada. 

During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln called for a military draft.  Delany began recruiting black men for the Union Army, and raised thousands of enlistees, forming the new United States Colored Troops.  In early 1865, Delany was granted an audience with Lincoln and proposed a corps of black men led by black officers, who could win over black Southerners to the Union.

He was commissioned as major February 8, 1865 as the first black major in the US Army, and achieving the highest rank a black man would reach during the Civil War. 

Read more on this amazing man: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Delany

Celebrating Black History Month: Earl Lloyd, first African-American to play in the NBA

Earl Lloyd, born April 3, 1928 in Alexandria, Virginia, became the first African-American to play in the National Basketball Association.  He played basketball in high school and named to the All-South Atlantic Conference three times and the All-State Virginia Interscholastic Conference twice. He received a scholarship to play basketball at West Virginia State University.

Lloyd led WVSU to two Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Conference and Tournament Championships in 1948 and 1949. 

He was drafted into the NBA during the ninth round in 1950 by the Washington Capitols. Lloyd was one of three black players to be drafted at the same time.  He played his first game on Halloween night, one day ahead of Chuck Cooper, and four days ahead of Nat Clifton. 

The Nationals folded in January 1951, and he was drafted into the US Army at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He served time in the Korean War before coming back to basketball in 1952. He played six seasons with Syracuse Nationals and two with the Detroit Pistons.

He retired in 1961. He passed away in February 2015 in Tennessee. 

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Robert L. Owen, first Native American US Senator from Oklahoma

Actually, Robert Owen was one of first two senators from Oklahoma when it became a state in 1907. Born in Lynchburg, Virginia February 2, 1856, Owen grew up a child of privilege, living in a mansion, and attending private schools in Lynchburg and Baltimore, Maryland.  His father died in 1873, after the Panic of 1873 financially ruined his father's wealth. However, he managed to graduate from Washington and Lee University as valedictorian in 1877. 

Owen's mother, Narcissa Chisholm Owen was part Cherokee and she wrote memoirs about her life being raised among the Cherokee.  Robert Owen moved to what is now Salina, Oklahoma and was accepted as a member of the Cherokee Nation. After being admitted to the bar in 1880, Owen served as the secretary of the board of education of the Cherokee Nation from 1881-1884.

He argued many significant cases dealing with Native American land issues.  He took the case of the Eastern Cherokees against the US government, seeking compensation for them under a treaty of 1835 for land they lost at the time of the Native American removals.  He finally won the case after 6 years and obtained almost $5M for the Eastern Cherokees. 

When Oklahoma became a state in 1907, he was elected as one of the first two US senators to represent the new state.  He served from December 1907 to March 1925.

Owen passed away in July 1947 in Washington DC from complications from prostate surgery and is buried in Lynchburg, Virginia. 

He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1941.

Patsy Cline, country & western superstar, born 1932

Mega-star Patsy Cline, born September 8, 1932 in Winchester, Virginia, is one of the most influential vocalists and one of the most successful country artists ever.  She began performing on a radio station when she was fifteen, which led to more appearances.  She made her first national television appearance on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, where she performed Walkin' After Midnight, her first big hit.

Her first single to reach #1 was I Fall to Pieces in 1961. 

She was killed in a plane crash in 1963.  

In 1973, she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the first female artist to be included. In 1995, Cline received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.  Her hits I Fall to Pieces and Crazy have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame,

Celebrating Black History Month: Boston Vigilance Committee frees escaped slave Shadrach Minkins 1851

Shadrach Minkins escaped slavery in Virginia in 1850 and fled to Boston.  He worked as a waiter until February 1851 when he was arrested by federal marshals and taken to the courthouse. The Boston Vigilance Committee, an abolitionist organization to protect escaped slaves from being captured and returned to slavery in the South, hired lawyers to defend Minkins.  

On February 15, 1851, about twenty black activists stormed the courthouse, overpowered the marshals, and released Minkins. They spirited him away in a wagon to Beacon Hill and hid him in an attic until nightfall.  With the help of the Underground Railroad, he escaped to Canada.

He settled in Montreal and never returned to the United States.  He passed away in December 1875.

Happy birthday, NASA astronaut John Phillips!

John Phillips, born April 15, 1951 in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, is a veteran of three space shuttle flights. 

His first flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-100) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in April-May 2001.  The main objective of the mission was to install the Canadarm2 to help continue assembly of the ISS.

His second flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-6 to the International Space Station in April 2005.  He participated in Expedition 11 and remained on board until October 2005.

His third and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-119) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in March 2009.  During the mission, Phillips operated the ISS's Canadarm2.

He has spent over 203 days in space.

Celebrating Black History Month: Blanche Bruce, first African-American senator to serve a full term

Blanche Kelso Bruce, born March 1, 1841 into slavery in Virginia, was the first elected African-American from Mississippi senator to serve a full term.  Hiram Revels, also of Mississippi was the first African-American senator but did not complete a full term.

His mother was a domestic slave and his father was her master, Pettis Perkinson, a white Virginia planter.  His father legally freed him and arranged for an apprenticeship to learn a trade.  He worked as a steamboat porter on the Mississippi River and moved to Hannibal, Missouri where he established a school for black children.  In 1868, he purchased a Mississippi Delta plantation and became a landowner of several thousand acres in the delta area.  

He was elected to the Senate in 1874 and on February 14, 1879, he presided over the first African-American and the only former slave to do so.  He served from March 1875 to March 1881.  

He was appointed Register of the Treasury in 1897 by President William McKinley and served until his death in 1898.  

Celebrating Black History Month: Douglas Wilder, first African American governor of Virginia

Douglas Wilder, born on January 17, 1931 in Richmond, Virginia, became the first African-American governor of Virginia and the first since the Reconstruction era.  He served from January 1990 until January 1994.  

He is the grandson of slaves and graduated from Virginia Union University with a degree in chemistry in 1951.  He served in the US Army in the Vietnam War and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his actions at the Battle of Pork Chop Hill.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Guy Gardner!

Guy Gardner, born January 6, 1948 in Altavista, Virginia, is a veteran of two space flights.  He has been a test pilot and pilot instructor for the US Air Force and attained the rank of colonel.

His first trip was aboard Atlantis (STS-27) as pilot in December 1988.  It was a mission for the Department of Defense.

His second and final trip was aboard Columbia (STS-35) as pilot in December 1990.  The mission was dedicated to astronomical observations with ASTRO-1.  

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Robert Satcher!

Dr. Robert Satcher, born September 22, 1965 in Hampton, Virginia, went to the International Space Station aboard Atlantis (STS-129) in November 2009.  During the mission, he performed two EVAs with fellow astronauts Michael Foreman and Randy Bresnik for a total of 12 hours 19 minutes.

He has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT, and an MD from Harvard Medical School, specializing in orthopedics.  

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut, William Oefelein!

William Oefelein, born March 29, 1965 in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, went into space once aboard Discovery (STS-116) as pilot to the International Space Station in December 2006. 

The following fellow astronaut Lisa Nowak drove from Houston to Orlando and attacked Oefelein's girlfriend at the time Colleen Shipman.  Both Nowak and Oefelein were dismissed from the astronaut program. 

Oefelein and Shipman married in 2010 and now reside in Alaska.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Joe Edwards!

Joe Frank Edwards, born February 3, 1957 in Richmond, Virginia, went into space aboard the space shuttle Endeavour (STS-89) to Mir as pilot in January 1998.  He spent over 8 days and 19 hours in space.

He retired from NASA in 2000.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Peter (Jeff) Wisoff!

Peter "Jeff" Wisoff, born August 16, 1958 in Norfolk, Virginia, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights.

His first mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-57) as mission specialist in June-July 1993.  He conducted a spacewalk with fellow astronaut David Low last almost 6 hours to retrieve the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) science satellite.

His second flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-68) as mission specialist in September-October 1994. Wisoff relayed information of storms, lightning and fires to the Space Radar Laboratory (SRL-2) scientists.

Wisoff's third mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-81) as mission specialist in January 1997.  It was the fifth space shuttle mission to the space station Mir.

His fourth and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-92) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in October 2000, the 100th space shuttle mission of the program.  During the flight Wisoff performed two EVAs with fellow astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria for a total of 14 hours.

Wisoff is married to fellow astronaut Tamara Jernigan.

Happy birthday, astronaut Mark Vande Hei!

Mark Vande Hei, born November 10, 1966 just down the road here in Falls Church, Virginia, has spent over 168 days in space on the International Space Station.  He was launched aboard Soyuz MS-06 as part of Expedition 53 in September 2017 and returned to Earth back in February. 

David Brown, Space Shuttle Columbia astronaut, born 1956

David M. Brown, born April 16, 1956 in just down the road here Arlington County, Virginia, was a crew of the space shuttle Columbia when it disintegrated over north Texas when it re-entered the atmosphere February 1, 2003.

He was a Navy captain and the Columbia mission (STS-107) was his only trip into space.

Celebrating Black History Month - Dr. Robert Satcher, Jr. 1st Orthopedic Surgeon astronaut

For the last day of Black History Month, I'm featuring (gasp!) a black astronaut!  Robert "Bobby" Satcher, born September 22, 1965 just down the road here in Hampton, Virgina, flew on the space shuttle Atlantis (STS-129) November 2009.

During the mission, he completed two EVAs for over 12 hours.  He has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT and a medical doctorate from Harvard Medical School. 

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut William Readdy!

William Readdy, born January 24, 1952 in Quonset Point, Rhode Island, is a veteran of three space shuttle missions.  He graduated high school down the road here in McLean, Virginia and then got his Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy over here in Annapolis, Maryland.

His first flight was as mission specialist aboard Discovery (STS-42) in January 1992.

He served as pilot for his second mission on Discovery (STS-51) in September 1993, which was a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

He was commander of his third and final spaceflight on Atlantis (STS-79) in September 1996, the first shuttle mission to arrive at a fully completed Mir space station.  His crew transferred almost two tons of supplies to Mir, including water generated by Atlantis' fuel cells.  The flight home brought Shannon Lucid back to Earth, after setting a record for an American in space at that time.

Trump proposes 93% cut to Chesapeake Bay clean up program

In another reversal from his campaign rhetoric, The Donald has proposed a 93% budget cut to the Chesapeake Bay Program, a six-state effort with Washington, DC to clean up the largest estuary in the country.  That would mean a budget of $73M to $5M.  It supports a lucrative fishing industry as well as a favorite tourist destination.

As early as last Tuesday, Trump vowed “to promote clean air and clear water” but he also promised to create jobs.  Not only is he putting clean air and clean water in jeopardy, he is proposing cutting 3000 jobs at the EPA.  He has no plans to keep his promises.

Remember that Scott Pruitt is from Oklahoma, and has no knowledge of how to keep such a large body of water free from pollution.  This could set  clean-up efforts back years.


http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/green/blog/bs-md-trump-epa-budget-20170302-story.html
http://www.dailypress.com/news/science/dp-nws-bay-budget-slashed-20170302-story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2017/live-updates/trump-white-house/real-time-fact-checking-and-analysis-of-trumps-address-to-congress/trump-vows-clean-air-and-clean-water-as-epa-cuts-loom/?utm_term=.6a9c64626d75