Ticker Tape

Jet, Nov 20, 2000 by Simeon Booker

Confidential Though his administration officially ends on Inauguration Day in January, President Bill Clinton is one of the most popular chief executives ever among Blacks and has a stack of accomplishments to verify the claim. His naming of seven Black special presidential assistants at the White House is a record that will stand for years.

In recent months, Clinton has traveled widely, has spoken to a lot of Black churches, has written proclamations and has appeared before various groups on the need to vote, and has served as a White House host for numerous gatherings ... After celebrating the 200th birthday of the White House, national leaders prepared to honor Black heroes of the Union Army who have been neglected for more than a century. Legislation recently passed in Congress authorizing the construction of a memorial for the 14 Black soldiers who won the nation's highest award, the Medal of Honor, for their bravery during the Civil War during the historic Virginia battle of New Market. For more than a century, not even a road marker had marked the site of the greatest Black performance in military history ... When the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History opens its new exhibition on American presidents, Dr. Spencer R. Crew will make history. The 20-year veteran is the first Black to direct the country's only national history museum and develop his own presentation ... In February 2001, The Independent Television Service will air an hour-long nationwide show From Swastika to Jim Crow, a film on teachers who left Germany to teach at Black colleges in the South.