1942
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Pan-African Chronology
In January 1942 the Méndez faction adopted a party hymn, composed by Victor Irrazabal and Carlos Tarama.
On January 23, 1942 the Electoral Court declared that it would not take sides in the dispute in PAN, arguing that it was not possible to determine who was the legitimate claimant to the name PAN.
Méndez died on June 5, 1942. Following his death the two factions were reunited in October 1942.
January 17
*Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., was born in Louisville, Kentucky. Later known as Muhammad Ali,, he would become one of the most popular world heavyweight boxing champions in history.
January 31
January 31
*The British government recognized Ethiopia as a sovereign state.
February 21
*In South Africa, Prime Minister Jan Christiaan Smuts attacked white political attitudes at an Institute of Race Relations meeting in Cape Town (February 21).
February 23
*Poet and literary critic Don Lee, later known as Haki Madhubuti, was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. He would found the Third World Press.
February 28
*In Detroit, 1,200 European Americans armed with knives, clubs, rifles and shotguns gathered to prevent three African American families from moving into the 200 unit Sojourner Truth settlement, designated by the United States Housing Authority as African American housing. The New York Times reported that scores of African Americans and European Americans were injured as police tried three times to disperse the crowd with tear gas. Shots were fired. About 18 people were taken to hospitals, and 104 rioters were arrested. Mayor Jeffries ordered the moving halted. Occupancy of the homes by African Americans was postponed until April, when 12 families moved in with 800 state troopers standing guard.
March
*General Douglas MacArthur wired General George C. Marshall that he would accept African American troops and do everything he could to prevent friction and resentment on the part of Australians concerning them. Most other generals refused to accept African American troops in combat areas. Several African American combat units had to be broken up or retrained as service units because no assignment could be found for them.
March 25
*Blues and gospel singer Aretha Franklin, who would earn the title "Queen of Soul," was born in Memphis, Tennessee.
May
*In South Africa, the government relaxed the influx control measures (May).
May 17
*Musician "Taj Mahal" was born in Harlem, New York.
May 29
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Robert Lee Allen (May 29, 1942 – July 10, 2024) was an American activist, writer, and adjunct professor of African-American Studies and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.[1] Allen received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, San Francisco, and previously taught at San José State University and Mills College. He was Senior Editor (with Editor-in-Chief and Publisher Robert Chrisman) of The Black Scholar: Journal of Black Studies and Research,[2] published quarterly or more frequently in Oakland, California, by the Black World Foundation since 1969.
In the 1980s, he co-founded with Alice Walker the publishing company called Wild Trees Press,[3] publishing the work of Third World writers.[4]
Allen married Pam Allen in 1965.[5] He died on July 10, 2024, at the age of 82.[6]
- Black Awakening in Capitalist America: An Analytic History (1969)
- A Guide to Black Power in America: An Historical Analysis (1970)
- Reluctant Reformers: The Impact of Racism on Social Movement in the U.S. (1983)[7]
- Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America (co-edited with Herb Boyd,[8] reprinted 1996)
- Strong in the Struggle: My Life as a Black Labor Activist (with ILWU militant Lee Brown, 2001)
- Honoring Sergeant Carter: A Family's Journey to Uncover the Truth About an American Hero[9] (with Allene G. Carter, 2004)
- The Port Chicago Mutiny: The Story of the Largest Mass Mutiny Trial in U.S. Naval History[10][11] (Heyday Books, 1989, republished 2006).
- Guggenheim Fellowship (1977)[12]
- American Book Award (1995, with Herb Boyd[13]) for Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America[14]
- The Joseph Small Legacy Award[10] (1998) of the Black Hollywood Education and Research Center.[15] The award honors Port Chicago disaster survivor Joseph R. Small Jr.,[16] a member of The Port Chicago 50,[17] who provided the narrative for the first chapter of The Port Chicago Mutiny.
- One of 12 honorees of the San Francisco Public Library's Long Walk to Freedom living-history exhibition[18] (2003)
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Robert L. Allen, Who Recounted a Naval Mutiny Trial, Dies at 82
He wrote of how 50 Black sailors were court-martialed for refusing to keep loading munitions onto cargo ships in 1944 after explosions had killed hundreds. They were exonerated this month.
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Robert L. Allen, who definitively told the story of 50 Black sailors who were convicted of conspiracy to commit mutiny for refusing to continue to load munitions onto cargo ships after explosions had blown apart two ships at a California port during World War II, killing hundreds, died on July 10 at his home in Benicia, in Northern California. He was 82.
Mr. Allen, a writer, activist and academic, died a week before the Navy exonerated the men.
His former wife Janet Carter said the cause was kidney failure.
“The secretary of the Navy called to offer condolences,” Ms. Carter said in an interview, referring to Carlos Del Toro. “And he said, ‘I’m going to do more than that — I’m going to exonerate these sailors.’”
Ms. Carter, who remained close to her former husband, a writer, activist and academic, added, “I cried in part because Robert wasn’t here to see it.”
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On the night of July 17, 1944, hundreds of sailors were loading ordnance and ammunition onto the E.A. Bryan at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine, northeast of San Francisco. Suddenly, the munitions in the holds detonated, destroying the ship, the pier and structures within a 1,000-foot radius. Another ship, the Quinault Victory, blew apart and sank nearby in Suisun Bay.
The blasts killed 320 sailors, civilians and Coast Guard personnel, most of them Black. Nearly 400 were injured, most of them also Black.
White officers were given leave to recover, but Black sailors were soon ordered to continue their dangerous work loading munitions at a nearby port. They did not know why the ships had exploded — a cause has never been determined — and 258 refused to keep working, Mr. Allen said, leading an admiral to threaten to execute them by firing squad.
The Black sailors were arrested and taken to the hold of a barge that had room for 75 men. “The scene conjured up images of a slave ship,” Mr. Allen told The Sacramento Bee in 1997.
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Of the 258 men, 208 returned to work, but they were still court-martialed for disobeying orders. The 50 others, in a summary court-martial, were convicted of conspiracy to commit mutiny and sentenced to eight to 15 years of confinement.
One of the sailors, Martin Bordenave, told Mr. Allen: “How could it be a mutiny? I didn’t talk to nobody. I didn’t conspire with nobody. I just made up my mind, I was tired of it, you know. I wanted to be a sailor.”
In early 1946, 47 of the 50 men were released from prison under pressure from the National Negro Council and the Urban League, as well as from Eleanor Roosevelt and Thurgood Marshall, the future Supreme Court justice who was chief counsel of the N.A.A.C.P. at the time and had attended the trial.
In an appeal, Mr. Marshall argued before the judge advocate general in 1945 that the men had at worst disobeyed an order but had not mutinied, and that they should be exonerated. “I can’t understand why, whenever more than one Negro disobeys an order, it is mutiny,” he said.
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Their convictions were upheld, but the publicity over the episode was a catalyst for the desegregation of the Navy in 1946.
In clearing 256 of the 258 men (the convictions of the others had been previously set aside, one for mental incompetency, the other for insufficient evidence), Secretary Del Toro said that the defendants had been denied a meaningful right to counsel and that they had been improperly tried together despite conflicting interests.
Mr. Allen was a professor of ethnic studies at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., when he first heard about the Port Chicago case. In the late 1970s, he discovered a faded pamphlet in a library in San Francisco with a picture of Black sailors on its cover under the title “Mutiny?” (The pamphlet had been written by a reporter for a left-wing newspaper at Mr. Marshall’s request.)
Over the next decade, Mr. Allen traveled by bus to interview survivors, some of whom were too ashamed of their mutiny convictions to have told their families. He obtained the transcript of the mutiny trial, scoured documents in federal archives for information on Port Chicago and found Mr. Marshall’s paperwork on the case. He received a Guggenheim fellowship, which helped finance his research.
His book on the episode, “The Port Chicago Mutiny: The Story of the Largest Mass Mutiny Trial in U.S. Naval History,” was published in 1989.
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“I don’t think you can overstate the significance of the interviews that he did,” Regina Akers, a historian with the Naval History and Heritage Command, said in an interview.
She added, “He gave them a chance to capture their perspective in that season of their lives, about what happened to them and what it was like to be in the Navy — the work they did loading ammunition and the discrimination they faced.”
Robert Lee Allen Jr. was born on May 29, 1942, in Atlanta. His mother, Sadie (Sims) Allen, was a teacher at Spelman College. His father was a mechanic. Both were community activists.
Robert, who grew up in segregated Atlanta, was 13 when Emmett Till, then only 14, was tortured and murdered by white men in Mississippi in 1955. Robert learned about the killing through an article in Jet magazine and the horrifying pictures that accompanied it.
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“This is when I realized that the white people were not only dangerous, but they were dangerous to all of us, including me, because he was my age,” Mr. Allen said, referring to Emmett Till, in an oral history interview in 2019 with the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught.
After graduating from Morehouse College in Atlanta with a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1963, Mr. Allen moved to New York City, where he was a welfare caseworker and then a reporter for The National Guardian, a left-wing newsweekly. He earned a master’s degree from the New School for Social Research in 1967.
He began teaching in 1969, first in the Black studies department of San Jose State University and then at Mills, where he was chairman of the ethnic studies department. He joined Berkeley in 1994 as a professor of ethnic studies and African American studies. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, San Francisco, in 1983.
Mr. Allen was a longtime editor of The Black Scholar, a Black studies and research journal, which he joined in 1971. He and the novelist Alice Walker, his companion at the time, founded Wild Tree Press, a feminist publishing company, in 1984.
His book “Black Awakening in Capitalist America” (1969) detailed the rise of Black activism. His other books included “A Guide to Black Power in America: An Historical Analysis” (1970) and “Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters: C.L. Dellums and the Fight for Fair Treatment and Civil Rights” (2014).
Mr. Allen is survived by his wife, Zelia Bora; his son, Casey Allen, from his marriage to Pamela Parker, which ended in divorce; his sisters, Damaris Kirschhofer, Teresa Coughanour and Rebecca Allen; and three grandchildren.
After publishing his book about the Port Chicago episode, Mr. Allen remained active in campaigns seeking exoneration of the 50 sailors and in the naming of two parks to honor them, one of them, the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial, in Concord, Calif.
Even as the Navy considered clearing the sailors, the Port Chicago Alliance, a nonprofit group, persuaded the State of California and cities, counties and organizations in the state to pass resolutions supporting the exoneration. It also organized an inaugural four-day Port Chicago Weekend, a festival in the Bay Area, which began on July 18 and was able to celebrate the exoneration.
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Yulie Padmore, the alliance’s executive director, credited Mr. Allen with being a significant champion of justice for the Black sailors.
“Without his work, we wouldn’t know what we know today,” she said in an interview. “We wouldn’t be here without him talking to the men and hearing what they wanted to say all along.”
June
*A group of African Americans and European Americans organized the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in Chicago. They committed themselves to direct, non-violent action. Their first major effort was a sit-in against discrimination at a Chicago restaurant. The national CORE was founded in June, 1943.
June 3
*Singer and songwriter Curtis Mayfield was born in Chicago, Illinois.
June 26
(born June 26, 1942, Salvador, Bahia, Braz.) In 2014 multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter Gilberto Gil released the album Gilbertos Samba, a tribute to the king ofbossa nova, fellow Brazilian João Gilberto. The album contained Gil’s versions of songs associated with Gilberto, and it also incorporated elements of earlier Bahiansamba music and 1970s Tropicália. It was by many accounts—in the words of one critic—“an astonishing compendium of Brazilian music.”
Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira, the son of a doctor and an elementary schoolteacher, grew up mostly in Ituaçu, a small town located near the Chapada Diamantina upland, in Bahia state. When it was time for him to enter secondary school, the family returned to live in Salvador. By that time Gil had learned to play the accordion as a result of his love for the music of the celebrated Northeastern performer Luiz Gonzaga, whose style of music (called baião) reflected the rhythms of the zabumba drum played in Pernambuco and Bahia states. When Gil was 18 years old and studying business administration in the Federal University of Bahia, in Salvador, he and others formed a music group, Os Desafinados. Shortly after Gil recorded his first song (“Coça, coça, lacerdinha”), in 1962, he befriended other then-unknown Brazilian superstars Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Maria Bethânia, and Tom Zé. Gil, who was impressed with the music of the older singer and guitarist Gilberto, added the guitar to the list of instruments he had made his own. He released his first album, Louvação (“Worship”), in 1967. The following year Gil and his friends were swept up in the popular movement known as Tropicália (Tropicalismo), a hybridization ofrock music, samba, funk, soul, and other styles that reflected the upheaval characteristic of the late 1960s. Gil’s song “Domingo no parque” (“Sunday in the Park”) was considered one of the seeds of the movement. In 1968 he participated in the album Tropicália ou panis et circensis, alongside Veloso, Costa, and others. With Veloso, Bethânia, and Costa, he later formed the group Doces Bárbaros (“Sweet Barbarians”). The military dictatorship then in power in Brazil found the Tropicália movement such a threat to the social order that it arrested and imprisoned Gil and Veloso in 1968, eventually releasing them on the condition that they would leave the country. Both moved to London, where Gil first came into contact with the reggae sound. Gil returned to Salvador in 1972. He produced at least one record nearly every year and sometimes as many as three or even four in a year, experimenting with many different styles. Among his many hits songs were “Procissão” (“Procession”), “Sítio do pica-pau amarelo” (“Site of the Yellow Woodpecker”), “Realce” (“Highlight”), “Toda menina baiana” (“Every Bahian Girl”), “Andar com fé” (“Walking with Faith”), and “Vamos fugir” (“Let’s Run Away”). He won Grammy Awards for best world music album in 1998 (Quanta Live) and for best contemporary world music album in 2005 (Eletracústico), and he took home several Latin Grammys, including three (2001, 2002, 2010) for best Brazilian roots/regional album and one in 2010 for best Brazilian popular music album. In addition to his musical career, Gil was involved from 1987 in politics. He worked in various positions in Salvador and also worked with the agency Onda Azul (“Blue Wave”) to protect Brazil’s waters. He served (2003–08) as minister of culture for Pres. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. One of his first acts in that official capacity was to get involved with Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization dealing with the legal infrastructure for the sharing of digital content and intellectual property rights issues.
July 1
*Andrae Crouch, the "Father of Modern Gospel Music", was born in San Francisco, California.
July 9
*Richard Roundtree, an actor known for his role in Shaft, was born in New Rochelle, New York.
July 20
*With the formation of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAC), African American women were accepted along with European American women.
August 2
*Historian Nell I. Painter was born in Houston, Texas.
August 20
*Isaac Hayes, singer and composer of the award-winning score for the movie Shaft, was born in Covington, Tennessee.
September 11
*Singer and dancer Lola Falana was born in Camden, New Jersey.
September 19
*Freda Payne, a pop singer famous for the hit "Band of Gold", was born in Detroit, Michigan.
September 29
*The Booker T. Washington, commanded by an African American captain, Hugh Mulzac, was launched at Wilmington, Delaware.
October 26
Milton Nascimento (Portuguese pronunciation: [miwˈtõ nasiˈmẽtu]; born October 26, 1942, Rio de Janeiro,[2] Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is a prominent Braziliansinger-songwriter and guitarist.\
Nascimento's mother, Maria Nascimento, was a maid. As a baby, Milton Nascimento was adopted by a couple who were his mother's former employers; Josino Brito Campos, a bank employee, mathematics teacher and electronic technician and Lília Silva Campos, a music teacher and choir singer. When he was 18 months old, Nascimento's biological mother died, and he moved with his adopted parents to the city of Três Pontas, in the state of Minas Gerais.
Nascimento was an occasional DJ on a radio station that his father once ran.[3] He lived in the boroughs of Laranjeiras and Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro.
In the early stages of his career, Nascimento played in two samba groups, Evolussamba and Sambacana. In 1963, he moved to Belo Horizonte, where his friendship with Lô Borges led to the Clube da Esquina ("corner club") movement.[4] Members included Beto Guedes, Toninho Horta, Wagner Tiso, and Flávio Venturini, with whom he shared compositions and melodies. One composition was "Canção do Sal", which was first interpreted by Elis Regina in 1966 and led to a television appearance with Nascimento.[3] The collective, as well as some others, released Clube da Esquina in 1972. Several hit singles were also released.[5]
Nascimento is famous for his falsetto and tonal range, as well for highly acclaimed songs such as "Maria, Maria", "Canção da América" ("Song from America"/"Unencounter"), "Travessia" ("Bridges"), "Bailes da Vida", and "Coração de Estudante" ("Student's Heart"). The lyrics remember the funeral of the student Edson Luís, killed by police officers in 1968. The song became the hymn for the Diretas Já social-political campaign in 1984, was played at the funeralof the late President of Brazil Tancredo Neves the next year, and was also played at Ayrton Senna's funeral.
While his reputation within Brazil was firmly established with his Clube da Esquina works, Nascimento's international breakthrough came with his appearance on jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter's 1974 album Native Dancer. This led to widespread acclaim, and collaborations with stars such as Paul Simon, Cat Stevens, George Duke and Quincy Jones and the band Earth, Wind and Fire. Angelus (1994) features appearances by Pat Metheny, Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Jack DeJohnette, Nana Vasconcelos, Jon Anderson, James Taylor, and Peter Gabriel. Through his friendship with guitarist Warren Cuccurullo, Nascimento came to work with the pop rock band Duran Duran in 1993. Nascimento co-wrote and performed the song "Breath After Breath", featured on the band's 1993 album Duran Duran.[5]He also performed with the band in concert when they toured in Brazil in support of that album.
In 1996, Nascimento contributed the song "Dancing" to the AIDS-Benefit Album Red Hot + Rio produced by the Red Hot Organization.
In 2004, he worked with the Brazilian Heavy Metal band Angra, in the song "Late Redemption". The song is in the Temple of Shadows album.[6]
November 2
*Following the restoration of Haile Selassie in 1941, Emperor Haile Selassie re-established the 1931 constitution and convened the parliament on November 2, 1942.
November 3
*William L. Dawson, for two decades the dean of African American congressmen, was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Chicago.
November 13
*Leonard Roy Harmon died in combat at Guadalcanal. Harmon was an African American sailor who was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his valor.
November 27
*Rock guitarist and vocalist Johnny "Jimi" Hendrix was born in Seattle, Washington.
The United States
*****
Father Divine
The Verinda Brown lawsuit against Father dragged on and was sustained on appeal. In July, 1942, he was ordered to pay Brown or face contempt of court. Instead, Father Divine fled the state and re-established his headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He still visited New York, however. State law forbade serving subpoenas in New York on Sunday, so he often spoke on the Sabbath day in Harlem, the Promised Land (his Kingston commune), and Sayville.
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*Margaret Walker won the Yale University Younger Poets Award for her collection poems entitled For My People.
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*The Booker T. Washington was launched at Wilmington, Delaware, commanded by Hugh Mulzac, the first African American captain of a United States merchant ship.
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Civil Rights
*James Farmer and students at the University of Chicago formed the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a nonviolent protest group based on Gandhi's principles of passive resistance (June).
*A riot erupted in Detroit, Michigan, when 1,200 European Americans bearing knives, clubs, and firearms tried to prevent three African American families from moving into the new 200 Sojourner Truth Settlement, designated as African American housing by the United States Housing Authority. After scores of injuries and arrests, occupancy was postponed.
In Detroit, on February 28, 1,200 European Americans armed with knives, clubs, rifles and shotguns gathered to prevent three African American families from moving into the 200 unit Sojourner Truth settlement, designated by the United States Housing Authority as African American housing. The New York Times reported that scores of African Americans and European Americans were injured as police tried three times to disperse the crowd with tear gas. Shots were fired. About 18 people were taken to hospitals, and 104 rioters were arrested. Mayor Jeffries ordered the moving halted. Occupancy of the homes by African Americans was postponed until April, when 12 families moved in with 800 state troopers standing guard.
*The local office of the Federal Employment Service in Portsmouth, Virginia, in its advertising for workers specified that African Americans could apply only for unskilled and domestic jobs.
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*Columbia, South Carolina, passed an ordinance the effect of which was that an African American had to be 87 years old to vote.
*****
*Langston Hughes' book of poems Shakespeare in Harlem was published.
*Margaret Walker won the Yale University Younger Poets Award for her collection, For My People.
*****
*The United States conducted bio-weapon research on African American soldiers.
From 1942 to 1944, the United States Chemical Warfare Service conducted experiments which exposed thousands of United States military personnel to mustard gas, in order to test the effectiveness of gas masks and protective clothing. Up to 60,000 men were enlisted for a program, declassified in 1993, to test mustard gas and other chemicals agents on American troops.
As bio-weapon research intensified in the 1940’s, military officials began testing its repercussions and defenses on the Army itself.
In order to test the effectiveness of various bio-weapons, officials were known to have sprayed mustard gas and other skin-burning, lung-ruining chemicals, like Lewisite, on soldiers without their consent or knowledge of the experiment happening to them.
They also tested the effectiveness of gas masks and protective clothing by locking soldiers in a gas chamber and exposing them to mustard gas and lewisite, evoking the gas chamber image of Nazi Germany.
Lewisite is a gas that can easily penetrate clothing and even rubber.
Upon contact with the skin, the gas immediately causes extreme pain, itching, swelling and even a rash. Large, fluid-filled blisters develop 12 hours after exposure in the form of intensely severe chemical burns. And that is just skin contact with the gas.
Inhaling of the gas causes a burning pain in the lungs, sneezing, vomiting, and pulmonary edema.
Symptomless until about 24 hours after exposure, mustard gas has mutagenic and carcinogenic properties that have killed many subjected to it.
Its primary effects include severe burns that turn into yellow-fluid-leaking boils over a period of time. Although treatment is available, mustard gas burns heal very, very slowly and are extremely painful.
The burns the gas leaves on the skin are sometimes irreparable.
It was also rumored that along with the soldiers, patients at VA hospitals were being used as guinea pigs for medical experiments involving bio-warfare chemicals, but that all experiments were changed to be known as “observations” to ward off suspicions.
The Defense department had previously admitted it conducted mustard gas experiments on United States soldiers, but a 2015 report was the first time the Pentagon conceded that it grouped test subjects based on skin color. The investigation found that African American, Japanese-American and Puerto Rican soldiers were often the subjects of tests involving mustard gas and lewisite, another chemical agent that caused blistering and lung irritation, while European American soldiers were generally used as the control groups.
Federal officials broke their silence on the military’s secret chemical testing in 1991, admitting that they tested chemical agents on soldiers. The experiments involved patch tests, in which liquid mustard gas was dropped directly onto a soldier’s skin, field tests and gas chamber tests.
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*African Americans in the Air Force numbered 77,592. They were organized in Air Base Security Battalions, a new type of unit designed to accommodate African Americans and assigned the task of protecting air bases from riots, parachute raids and aerial attacks. However, they were not provided for the most part with anti-aircraft weapons, and it soon became clear that they were superfluous in their present assignments and not wanted overseas. By 1943, many of these battalions were deactivated and the men retrained and assigned to service units.
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Movies
Music
*****
*In Fort Huachuca, Arizona, the United States Army established the 93rd Infantry, the first African American division created during World War II. It was sent on combat duty to the South Pacific.
*In the South Pacific, General Douglas MacArthur was one of the few army generals to accept African American troops for combat duty. Most generals dissolved African American combat units or reassigned them to service duty.
In March, General Douglas MacArthur wired General George C. Marshall that he would accept African American troops and do everything he could to prevent friction and resentment on the part of Australians concerning them. Most other generals refused to accept African American troops in combat areas. Several African American combat units had to be broken up or retrained as service units because no assignment could be found for them.
*Bernard W. Robinson, a medical student at Harvard University, became an ensign in the Naval Reserve, making him the first African American to receive a commission in the United States Navy.
*African American women were declared eligible to join the newly formed Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (July 20).
*In 1942, almost 500,000 African Americans were in the Army. However, only 4.8% of the combat units were African American, compared to 20.7% of the service units. In the Navy, African Americans were only allowed to serve on-shore.
*The Booker T. Washington, the first United States merchant ship with an African American captain (Hugh Mulzac), was launched at Wilmington, Delaware (September 29).
Of the men who entered the Army between March, 1941, and December, 1942, 84% of the African Americans and 33% of the European Americans had test scores in the two lowest categories in the Army Classification Test, and 4% of the African Americans and 35% of the European Americans scored in the top two categories.
African Americans were accepted for general service in the Navy, but only for service ashore. They were allowed to train for general ratings (as opposed to steward and mess service only), but only in segregated camps and schools.
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Movies
*Richard Roundtree, an actor known for his role in Shaft, was born in New Rochelled, New York.
Richard Roundtree became the first African American private detective and superhero in a motion picture role in the trend-setting movie, Shaft. Born in New Rochelle, New York, he attended Southern Illinois University on a football scholarship, but became interested in acting in campus theater. In 1967, he was a model for the Ebony Fashion Fair and later advertised hair care products for African American men in Ebony magazine. After Bill Cosby advised him to study dramatic arts in New York, Roundtree joined the Negro Ensemble Company and appeared in three of their publications.
Music
*On October 24, Billboard, the major newspaper of the music industry, began a new feature, "Harlem Hit Parade," a sales and popularity ratings chart devoted to recordings by African Americans. In 1949, the feature would be renamed "Rhythm and Blues." In 1969, it would be called "Soul Music" and, in 1982, it would be renamed again to "Black Music". Finally, in 1990, the chart would once again be called "Rhythm and Blues".
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The NAACP
*The Department of Justice threatened to sue several African American newspapers for sedition because they had attacked the government's racial policies in the military. The NAACP prevented the suits by issuing editorial guidelines that appeased department officials.
Because African American newspapers continually headlined stories of racial injustice in the Armed Forces, the Justice Department considered bringing charges of sedition against them. It also made it difficult for them to buy newsprint and paper. The NAACP called a conference of the editors of 24 African American newspapers to set guidelines for criticism that would not lead to government suppression. The NAACP also secured the needed quotas of newsprint for these papers.
Because African American newspapers continually headlined stories of racial injustice in the Armed Forces, the Justice Department considered bringing charges of sedition against them. It also made it difficult for them to buy newsprint and paper. The NAACP called a conference of the editors of 24 African American newspapers to set guidelines for criticism that would not lead to government suppression. The NAACP also secured the needed quotas of newsprint for these papers.
*NAACP President Walter White met with heads of the Hollywood movie studios to complain about the perpetuation of negative black stereotypes in American films.
*Detroit had the largest NAACP chapter in the country with 12,000 members.
*Detroit had the largest NAACP chapter in the country with 12,000 members.
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The Nation of Islam
*Elijah Muhammad was indicted in October for pro-Japanese sympathies. Members of the Nation of Islam considered all non-whites to be black.
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The New Deal
*Of the housing units built under the United States Housing Authority, 33%, or 41,000, were for African Americans.
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The Nation of Islam
*Elijah Muhammad was indicted in October for pro-Japanese sympathies. Members of the Nation of Islam considered all non-whites to be black.
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The New Deal
*Of the housing units built under the United States Housing Authority, 33%, or 41,000, were for African Americans.
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Notable Births
*****
*****
*Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., was born in Louisville, Kentucky (January 17). Later known as Muhammad Ali,, he would become one of the most popular world heavyweight boxing champions in history.
Muhammad Ali (b. Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., January 17, 1942, Louisville, Kentucky — d. June 3, 2016, Phoenix, Arizona) was a professional boxer and social activist. Ali was the first fighter to win the world heavyweight championship on three separate occasions. He successfully defended this title 19 times.
Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., grew up in the American South in a time of segregated public facilities. His father, Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr., supported a wife and two sons by painting billboards and signs. His mother, Odessa Grady Clay, worked as a household domestic.
When Clay was 12 years old, he took up boxing under the tutelage of Louisville policeman Joe Martin. After advancing through the amateur ranks, he won a gold medal in the 175-pound (light heavyweight) division at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome and began a professional career under the guidance of the Louisville Sponsoring Group, a syndicate composed of 11 wealthy white men.
In his early bouts as a professional, Clay was more highly regarded for his charm and personality than for his ring skills. He sought to raise public interest in his fights by reading childlike poetry and spouting self-descriptive phrases such as “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” He told the world that he was “the Greatest,” but the hard realities of boxing seemed to indicate otherwise. Clay infuriated devotees of the sport as much as he impressed them. He held his hands unconventionally low, backed away from punches rather than bobbing and weaving out of danger, and appeared to lack true knockout power. The opponents he was besting were a mixture of veterans who were long past their prime and fighters who had never been more than mediocre. Thus, purists cringed when Clay predicted the round in which he intended to knock out an opponent, and they grimaced when he did so and bragged about each new conquest.
On February 25, 1964, Clay challenged Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship of the world. Liston was widely regarded as the most intimidating, powerful fighter of his era. Clay was a decided underdog. But in one of the most stunning upsets in sports history, Liston retired to his corner after six rounds, and Clay became the new champion. Two days later Clay shocked the boxing establishment again by announcing that he had accepted the teachings of the Nation of Islam. On March 6, 1964, he took the name Muhammad Ali, which was given to him by his spiritual mentor, Elijah Muhammad.
On February 25, 1964, Clay challenged Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship of the world. Liston was widely regarded as the most intimidating, powerful fighter of his era. Clay was a decided underdog. But in one of the most stunning upsets in sports history, Liston retired to his corner after six rounds, and Clay became the new champion. Two days later Clay shocked the boxing establishment again by announcing that he had accepted the teachings of the Nation of Islam. On March 6, 1964, he took the name Muhammad Ali, which was given to him by his spiritual mentor, Elijah Muhammad.
For the next three years, Ali dominated boxing as thoroughly and magnificently as any fighter ever had. In a May 25, 1965, rematch against Liston, he emerged with a first-round knockout victory. Triumphs over Floyd Patterson, George Chuvalo, Henry Cooper, Brian London, and Karl Mildenberger followed. On November 14, 1966, Ali fought Cleveland Williams. Over the course of three rounds, Ali landed more than 100 punches, scored four knockdowns, and was hit a total of three times. Ali’s triumph over Williams was succeeded by victories over Ernie Terrell and Zora Folley.
Then, on April 28, 1967, citing his religious beliefs, Ali refused induction into the United States Army at the height of the war in Vietnam. This refusal followed a blunt statement voiced by Ali 14 months earlier: “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong.” Many Americans vehemently condemned Ali’s stand. It came at a time when most people in the United States still supported the war in Southeast Asia. Moreover, although exemptions from military service on religious grounds were available to qualifying conscientious objectors who were opposed to war in any form, Ali was not eligible for such an exemption, because he acknowledged that he would be willing to participate in an Islamic holy war.
Ali was stripped of his championship and precluded from fighting by every state athletic commission in the United States for three and a half years. In addition, he was criminally indicted and, on June 20, 1967, convicted of refusing induction into the United States armed forces and sentenced to five years in prison. Although he remained free on bail, four years passed before his conviction was unanimously overturned by the United States Supreme Court on a narrow procedural ground.
Meanwhile, as the 1960s grew more tumultuous, Ali’s impact upon American society was growing, and he became a lightning rod for dissent. Ali’s message of black pride and black resistance to white domination was on the cutting edge of the civil rights movement. Having refused induction into the United States Army, he also stood for the proposition that “unless you have a very good reason to kill, war is wrong.” As civil rights activist Julian Bond later observed, “When a figure as heroic and beloved as Muhammad Ali stood up and said, ‘No, I won’t go,’ it reverberated through the whole society.”
In October 1970, Ali was allowed to return to boxing, but his skills had eroded. The legs that had allowed him to “dance” for 15 rounds without stopping no longer carried him as surely around the ring. His reflexes, while still superb, were no longer as fast as they had once been. Ali prevailed in his first two comeback fights, against Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena. Then, on March 8, 1971, he challenged Joe Frazier, who had become heavyweight champion during Ali’s absence from the ring. It was a fight of historic proportions, billed as the “Fight of the Century.” Frazier won a unanimous 15-round decision.
Following his loss to Frazier, Ali won 10 fights in a row, 8 of them against world-class opponents. Then, on March 31, 1973, a little-known fighter named Ken Norton broke Ali’s jaw in the second round en route to a 12-round upset decision. Ali defeated Norton in a rematch. After that he fought Joe Frazier a second time and won a unanimous 12-round decision. From a technical point of view, the second Ali-Frazier bout was probably Ali’s best performance in the ring after his exile from boxing.
On October 30, 1974, Ali challenged George Foreman, who had dethroned Frazier in 1973 to become heavyweight champion of the world. The bout (which Ali referred to as the "Rumble in the Jungle") took place in the unlikely location of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Ali was received by the people of Zaire as a conquering hero, and he did his part by knocking out Foreman in the eighth round to regain the heavyweight title. It was in this fight that Ali employed a strategy once used by former boxing great Archie Moore. Moore called the maneuver “the turtle” but Ali called it "rope-a-dope". The strategy was that, instead of moving around the ring, Ali chose to fight for extended periods of time leaning back into the ropes in order to avoid many of Foreman’s heaviest blows.
Over the next 30 months, at the peak of his popularity as champion, Ali fought nine times in bouts that showed him to be a courageous fighter but a fighter on the decline. The most notable of these bouts occurred on October 1, 1975, when Ali and Joe Frazier met in the Philippines, 6 miles (9.5 km) outside Manila, to do battle for the third time. In what is regarded by many as the greatest prizefight of all time (the "Thrilla in Manila"), Ali was declared the victor when Frazier’s corner called a halt to the bout after 14 brutal rounds.
The final performances of Ali’s ring career were sad to behold. In 1978 he lost his title to Leon Spinks, a novice boxer with an Olympic gold medal but only seven professional fights to his credit. Seven months later Ali regained the championship with a 15-round victory over Spinks. Then he retired from boxing, but two years later he made an ill-advised comeback and suffered a horrible beating at the hands of Larry Holmes in a bout that was stopped after 11 rounds. The final ring contest of Ali’s career was a loss by decision to Trevor Berbick in 1981.
Ali’s place in boxing history as one of the greatest fighters ever is secure. His final record of 56 wins and 5 losses with 37 knockouts has been matched by others, but the quality of his opponents and the manner in which he dominated during his prime placed him on a plateau with boxing’s immortals. Ali’s most-tangible ring assets were speed, superb footwork, and the ability to take a punch. But perhaps more important, he had courage and all the other intangibles that go into making a great fighter.
Ali’s later years were marked by physical decline. Damage to his brain caused by blows to the head resulted in slurred speech, slowed movement, and other symptoms of Parkinson syndrome. However, his condition differed from chronic encephalopathy, or dementia pugilistica (which is commonly referred to as “punch drunk” in fighters), in that he did not suffer from injury-induced intellectual deficits.
Ali’s religious views also evolved over time. In the mid-1970s he began to study the Qurʾan seriously and turned to Orthodox Islam. His earlier adherence to the teachings of Elijah Muhammad (e.g., that white people are “devils” and there is no heaven or hell) were replaced by a spiritual embrace of all people and preparation for his own afterlife. In 1984, Ali spoke out publicly against the separatist doctrine of Louis Farrakhan, declaring, “What he teaches is not at all what we believe in. He represents the time of our struggle in the dark and a time of confusion in us, and we don’t want to be associated with that at all.”
Ali married his fourth wife, Lonnie (née Yolanda Williams), in 1986. He had nine children, most of whom avoided the spotlight of which Ali was so fond. One of his daughters, however, Laila Ali, pursued a career as a professional boxer.
In 1996 Ali was chosen to light the Olympic flame at the start of the Games of the XXVI Olympiad in Atlanta, Georgia. The outpouring of goodwill that accompanied his appearance confirmed his status as one of the most-beloved athletes in the world. His life story is told in the documentary film I Am Ali (2014), which includes audio recordings that he made throughout his career and interviews with his intimates.
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*Andrae Crouch, the "Father of Modern Gospel Music", was born in San Francisco, California (July 1).
Andraé Edward Crouch (July 1, 1942 – January 8, 2015) was an American gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, record producer and pastor. Referred to as "the father of modern gospel music" by contemporary Christian and gospel music professionals, Crouch was known for his compositions The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power, My Tribute (To God Be the Glory) and Soon and Very Soon. In secular music, he was known for his collaborative work during the 1980s with Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Quincy Jones as well as conducting choirs that sang on the Michael Jackson hit Man in the Mirror and Madonna's Like a Prayer. Crouch was noted for his talent of incorporating contemporary secular music styles into the gospel music he grew up with. His efforts in this area were what helped in paving the way for early American contemporary Christian music durng the 1960s and 1970s.
Crouch's original music arrangements were heard in the films The Color Purple and Disney's The Lion King, as well as the NBC television series Amen. Awards received by him include seven Grammy Awards, being inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1998, and receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004.
Crouch has won numerous awards and honors over the years including nine Grammy Awards, four GMA Dove Awards, and ASCAP, Billboard and NAACP Awards. In 2004, he became the only living Gospel artist – and just the third in history – to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Andrae Crouch was inducted into the Gospel Music Association's Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1998.
Andrae Crouch won seven Grammys:
Andrae Crouch won seven Grammys:
- 1975: Best Soul Gospel Performance Take Me Back
- 1978: Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album Live in London
- 1979: Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album I'll Be Thinking of You
- 1980: Best Gospel Performance, Contemporary or Inspirational "The Lord's Prayer" (collaborative)
- 1981: Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album Don't Give Up
- 1984: Best Soul Gospel Performance, Male "Always Remember"
- 1994: Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album Mercy
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*Blues and gospel singer Aretha Franklin, who would earn the title "Queen of Soul," was born in Memphis, Tennessee (March 25).
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*Singer and dancer Lola Falana was born in Camden, New Jersey (September 11).
*Blues and gospel singer Aretha Franklin, who would earn the title "Queen of Soul," was born in Memphis, Tennessee (March 25).
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*Isaac Hayes, singer and composer of the award-winning score for the movie Shaft, was born in Covington, Tennessee (August 20).
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*Rock guitarist and vocalist Johnny "Jimi" Hendrix was born in Seattle, Washington (November 27).
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942, Seattle, Washington – d. September 18, 1970, Kensington, London, England) was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Rock Hall of Fame describes him as "arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music".
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*Poet and literary critic Don Lee, later known as Haki Madhubuti, was born in Little Rock, Arkansas (February 23). He would found the Third World Press.
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*Musician "Taj Mahal" was born in Harlem, New York (May 17).
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*Singer and songwriter Curtis Mayfield was born in Chicago, Illinois (June 3).
Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was a soul, R&B, and funk singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, who was one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically conscious African-American music. He first achieved success and recognition with the Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the late 1950s and 1960s, and later worked as a solo artist.
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*Historian Nell I. Painter was born in Houston, Texas (August 2).
*Freda Payne, a pop singer famous for the hit "Band of Gold", was born in Detroit, Michigan (September 19).
*Richard Roundtree, an actor known for his role in Shaft, was born in New Rochelled, New York (July 9).
Richard Roundtree (born July 9, 1942) is an American actor. He has been called "the first black action hero" for his portrayal of private detective John Shaft in the 1971 film, Shaft, and its sequels, Shaft's Big Score (1972) and Shaft in Africa (1973).
*Freda Payne, a pop singer famous for the hit "Band of Gold", was born in Detroit, Michigan (September 19).
*Richard Roundtree, an actor known for his role in Shaft, was born in New Rochelled, New York (July 9).
Richard Roundtree (born July 9, 1942) is an American actor. He has been called "the first black action hero" for his portrayal of private detective John Shaft in the 1971 film, Shaft, and its sequels, Shaft's Big Score (1972) and Shaft in Africa (1973).
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Notable Deaths
*There were six recorded lynchings in 1942.
*Leonard Roy Harmon died in combat at Guadalcanal. Harmon was an African American sailor who was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his valor.
The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Mess Attendant First Class Leonard Roy Harmon, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty in action against the enemy while serving on board the Heavy Cruiser U.S.S. SAN FRANCISCO (CA-38), during action against enemy Japanese naval forces near Savo Island in the Solomon Islands on the night of on 12–13 November 1942. With persistent disregard of his own personal safety, Mess Attendant First Class Harmon rendered invaluable assistance in caring for the wounded and assisting them to a dressing station. In addition to displaying unusual loyalty in behalf of the injured Executive Officer, he deliberately exposed himself to hostile gunfire in order to protect a shipmate and, as a result of this courageous deed, was killed in action. His heroic spirit of self-sacrifice, maintained above and beyond the call of duty, was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
Leonard Roy Harmon (January 21, 1917–November 13, 1942) was an African American sailor who died in action during World War II and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his valor.
Harmon, born in Cuero, Texas, was 22 years of age when he enlisted in the United States Navy in June 1939. He trained as a Mess Attendant, one of the few jobs available to African American men in the Navy at that time. The basic job description consisted of serving food to officers and crew aboard ship. However, like all members of a ship’s crew they were also trained in damage control and had stations to report to during general quarters.
During his service he became a Mess Attendant First Class and was serving aboard the USS San Francisco (CA-38) when on November 12, 1942 he was killed in action. During the course of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, he was assigned to assist pharmacist's mate Lyndford Bondsteel in caring for the wounded. While doing so he deliberately interposed himself between Bondsteel and enemy gunfire in order to protect his shipmate. This action resulted in his death.
Harmon was awarded the Navy Cross. Two ships were named in his honor. The HMS Aylmer had been provisionally named USS Harmon (DE-72) but was transferred to the Royal Navy prior to completion. The second ship, the USS Harmon (DE-678) served from 1943 to 1947 and remained in the Reserve Fleet until 1967; it was the first United States warship to be named after an African American.
The citation issued for Leonard Roy Harmon's Navy Cross read:
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Performing Arts
*Theolonious Monk, who was to become one of the great innovators of modern jazz, began playing with Lucky Millinder's band.
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Politics
*William L. Dawson of Chicago was elected to the United States House of Representatives (November 3). He would serve in that body until 1970, earning the title "Dean of the Black Congressmen."
Dawson was the son of an Alabama barber. He received his education at Fisk University and at a Chicago law school. After service in the First World War, Dawson opened a law practice in Chicago and became interested in politics. He began as a precinct worker and soon won favor with the Thompson Republican machine. He won five terms (1933-1943) in the City Council as a Republican before switching to the Democrats with the New Deal tide. Dawson became an important member of the Kelly and Daley Democratic machines during the Second World War. He served as "ward boss" in five Chicago districts, precinct captain, committeeman, vice-chairman of the Cook County Democrats, and vice-chairman of the Democratic National Committee during his long political career. He won a reputation as a shrewd political strategist. Dawson did not run for re-election in 1970 and died a year later.
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Publications
*John H. Johnson published Negro Digest in Chicago. He would later add Ebony, a monthly picture, and Jet, a weekly news magazine, to his publishing empire.
*Jay S. Redding published a report of his observations of the rural life of the Southern African American, No Day of Triumph.
*Jay S. Redding published a report of his observations of the rural life of the Southern African American, No Day of Triumph.
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Sports
*Beau Jack became lightweight boxing champion.
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Visual Arts
*Atlanta University began its annual show of African American art.
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The Americas
*Santo Domingo's population was 13% of European descent, 19% of African descent; the remainder mulatto. In Cuba, 27% of the total population of approximately 4 million was of African descent. In Puerto Rico, people of African descent represented 25.7% of the population.
Jamaica
*Roger Mais, an African Jamaican, published Face and Other Stories, a collection of short prose fiction.
Mexico
*Johnny Laboriel, an African Mexican rock and roll singer, was born in Mexico City, Mexico (July 9).
Johnny Laboriel (born Juan José Laboriel López, July 9, 1942 – September 18, 2013) was a African Mexican rock and roll singer. His career started in 1958, when at 16 years old he joined the rock and roll group "Los Rebeldes del Rock".
Laboriel was the son of actor and composer Juan Jose Laboriel and actress Francisca Lopez de Laboriel. His parents were Honduran immigrants to Mexico from the Garifuna coast. He was the brother of bassist Abraham Laboriel and singer Ela Laboriel.
In 2004, Laboriel was invited by Alex Lora to participate in the 36th anniversary of his band El Tri. The concert was presented at the Auditorio Nacional and was made into a CD and a DVD entitled 35 Años y lo que falta todavía.
In 2006, Johnny Laboriel was invited by Luis Álvarez "El Haragán" to participate in the 16th anniversary of his band, El Haragán y Compañía. The concert was presented on November 3, 2006, also at Mexico City's Teatro Metropolitan.
Johnny Laboriel died on September 18, 2013, in Mexico City, from prostate cancer. He was survived by his wife, Viviane Thirion, and sons, Juan Francisco and Emmanuel.
In January 1942 the Méndez faction adopted a party hymn, composed by Victor Irrazabal and Carlos Tarama.
On January 23, 1942 the Electoral Court declared that it would not take sides in the dispute in PAN, arguing that it was not possible to determine who was the legitimate claimant to the name PAN.
Méndez died on June 5, 1942. Following his death the two factions were reunited in October 1942.
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Africa
Ethiopia
(Abyssinia)
*The British government recognized Ethiopia as a sovereign state (January 31).
*Following the restoration of Haile Selassie in 1941, Emperor Haile Selassie re-established the 1931 constitution, convening the parliament on November 2, 1942.
Nigeria
*The Nigerian Trades Union Congress was given official recognition by the colonial government.
South Africa
*Prime Minister Jan Christiaan Smuts attacked white political attitudes at an Institute of Race Relations meeting in Cape Town (February 21).
South Africa appeared to be under a serious threat of invasion by Japan when Smuts told the large crowd attending the Institute of Race Relations meeting that he saw "white and black as fellow South Africans, standing together in the hour of danger". He later declared that if Japan's aggression made it necessary, "every native and colored man who can be armed, will be armed".
*Government relaxed the influx control measures (May).
The labor needs of thriving wartime industries opened the way for a massive influx of Africans to the cities of South Africa. This, in turn, created ideal conditions for the growth of trade unionism, and to the inevitable demands for higher wages, strikes and calls for political (democratic) reform.
Like all the Prime Ministers since Union, Jan Christiaan Smuts was committed to a policy of segregation. However, unlike the others, he was prepared to bend the rules and concede on certain issues -- if the need arose, and if it would benefit the white state.
It was the need for black-white unity in the face of the Japanese threat which prompted Smut's retreat from segregation that was given before the Institute of Race Relations on February 21, 1942 and which led to the dramatic but short-lived relaxation of influx control measures in May 1942.
*In the Alexandra township north of Johannesburg, bus fares were again raised to 5 pence, and again passengers refused to pay the extra penny. When the bus owners retaliated by moving the terminus to the edge of the township, clashes broke out between employees of the companies and protesters. Later, following more negotiations, the old fare was restored and an official investigation promised.
General Historical Events
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January 2
*The Japanese captured Manila.
January 10
*The Japanese invaded the Dutch East Indies, then experienced defeat at the Battle of Macassar Strait.
January 15
*An Inter-American Conference, convened at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, sought to co-ordinate the defense of the New World against aggression.
February 15
*Singapore fell to the Japanese.
April 9
*On the Bataan Peninsula, in the Philippines, 36,000 United States troops were forced to surrender to General Yamashita, who succeeded in killing most of them on forced marches to internment camps.
April 18
*Bombers from the United States aircraft carrier Hornet raided (bombed) Tokyo.
May
*The Battle of the Coral Sea was fought. The Japanese forces were defeated but sank the carrier Lexington.
May 2
*The Japanese took Mandalay, completing their conquest of Burma.
May 31
*Czech patriots assassinated the Reich Protector of Czechoslovakia Reinhard Heydrich.
June 6
*The German exacted a terrible revenge for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, choosing a village at random -- Lidice -- and executing every male and destroying the buildings.
*The Battle of Midway occurred. United States planes based on aircraft carriers stopped rather than defeated the Japanese fleet.
June 21
*Tobruk in North Africa fell to German forces under Rommel, who captured 25,000 British soldiers and then moved quickly across towards Alexandria. There he is checked by British troops commanded by General Montgomery at El Alamein (on October 2).
July 16
*The Germans rounded up 30,000 Parisian Jews and transported them to concentration camps. Only 30 survived the war.
August 22
*The Battle of Stalingrad began. Hitler directed his campaign in this direction in order to take control of the Baku oilfield. The huge battle dragged on for five months. In it, 750,000 Russian soldiers and 400,000 German soldiers died.
October 2
*British troops commanded by General Montgomery defeated the German forces commanded by General Rommel at the Battle of El Alamein.
November 27
*The French scuttled their warships at Toulon rather than see them fall into German hands.
December 24
*At Peenemunde, Germany's Wernher von Braun perfected the first flying bomb.
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*The Chinese received United States help in resisting Japanese aggression.
*General Stilwell began work on a supply road over the Himalayas, the 770 kilometer/478 mile Burma-India Ledo Road, so that supplies can be sent from the Indian subcontinent.
*The United States government placed over 100,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast in inland labor camps.
*General Douglas MacArthur was appointed Commander in Chief in the Far East.
*The first computer was developed in the United States.
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