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.
August 13| Date | Type | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1906 |  A white bartender is killed and a white police officer wounded by gunshots during the night, prompting an organized campaign by the white townspeople of Brownsville, Texas to accuse the Buffalo Soldiers, Black soldiers in the segregated African-American 25th Infantry Regiment stationed at the adjacent Fort Brown. The Black soldiers had previously complained of local police harassment and civilian discrimination. Although their white commanders said the Black soldiers had been in the barracks all night. To reinforce their accusations, local townspeople of Brownsville produced spent bullet cartridges from Army rifles which they said belonged to the 25th's men; despite the contradictory evidence that demonstrated the spent shells were planted in order to frame men of the 25th Infantry in the shootings, investigators accepted the statements of the local whites and the Brownsville mayor. As a result of the investigation, President Theodore Roosevelt ordered the discharge without honor of 167 soldiers of the 25th Infantry Regiment, costing them pensions and preventing them from ever serving in federal civil service jobs. The case aroused national outrage in Black white communities. After more investigation, several of the men were allowed to re-enlist. Following publication of a history of the affair in the early 1970s, a renewed military investigation of the "Brownsville Affair" exonerated the discharged Black troops. The government pardoned the men in 1972 and restored their records to show honorable discharges, but it did not provide retroactive compensation to them or their descendants. Only one man had survived to that time; Congress passed an act to provide him with a tax-free pension. The other soldiers who had been expelled all received posthumous honorable discharges. Learn more. | |
| 1933 |  Minnie Joycelyn Elders (born Minnie Lee Jones is an American pediatrician and public health administrator who served as Surgeon General of the United States from 1993 to 1994. A vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, she was the second woman, second person of color, and first African American to serve as Surgeon General. Elders is best known for her frank discussion of her views on controversial issues such as drug legalization, masturbation, and distributing contraception in schools. She was forced to resign in December 1994 amidst controversy as a result of her views. She is currently a professor emerita of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Learn more. | |
| 1948 |  Soprano Kathleen Battle is born in Portsmouth, Ohio. Battle attended Portsmouth High School and upon graduation was awarded a scholarship to the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. She received a bachelor’s degree in music education in 1970, and an M.A. degree the following year. After graduation, Battle taught music to 5th and 6th graders at inner city public schools in Cincinnati. She also continued to study voice privately which furthered her interest in singing. In 1975 she made her opera debut as “Rosina” in Rossini’s II Barbiere di Siviglia with the Michigan Opera Theatre. Battle has won numerous awards. including the 1985 Laurence Olivier Award for “Best Performance in a New Opera Production” for her work with the Royal Opera in London. She won five Grammy Awards between 1986 and 1993. Battle also won an Emmy for “Outstanding Individual Achievement in Classical Music/Dance Programming and Performance” for her work with the Metropolitan Opera for their Silver Anniversary Gala. Learn more. | |
| 1955 |  During the middle of the morning, while he was encouraging African Americans to vote in a local run-off election, 63-year-old Black farmer and World War I veteran Lamar Smith is shot and killed on the lawn of the Lincoln County Courthouse in front of dozens of witnesses in Brookhaven, Mississippi. Sheriff Robert E. Case was one of the witnesses; Case permitted the alleged assailants to leave the crime scene covered in blood. Days later, that man and two others were arrested in connection with the shooting. All three suspects were white. In September 1955, a grand jury composed of 20 white men declined to indict the three suspects for murder after witnesses failed to come forward to testify. Although, District Attorney E.C. Barlow criticized the lack of witness cooperation and complained about the sheriff’s handling of the case, the criminal case against the three suspects was dismissed and no one was punished for Lamar Smith's murder. Learn more. |
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