This Week In Black History

Miles Davis, jazz trumpet legend, was born on this day in Alton, IL. The son of an affluent dental surgeon, Davis was reared in East St. Louis, IL, and was given his first trumpet and music lessons on his 13th birthday. Two years later, he earned his musicians' union card and performed locally for the next three years, including a brief stint with the Billy Eckstine Band, which included jazz greats Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, whose be-bob style greatly influenced Davis. In 1944 Davis moved to New York City where he enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music. He studied classical music during the day and played jazz at night. But he soon dropped out of Juilliard to pursue his love of jazz and joined Charlie Parker's quintet. He later experimented with a new style that became known as "Cool Jazz" and his music genius continually evolved during a trendsetting career that spanned more than 40 years. Davis died September 28, 1991, in Santa Monica, CA.

May 27, 1942--

Dorie Miller became the first Black awarded the Navy Cross for gallantry in World War II on this day for his heroics during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Miller was born on October 12, 1919, on a small farm in Waco, TX. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1939. At that time, the messman branch was the only branch officially open to Black enlistment. As a messman, Miller had never been instructed to fire a gun. Aboard the battleship USS Arizona at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, he came to the aid of the mortally wounded captain. After he moved the captain to shelter on deck, Miller manned a machine gun and shot down five Japanese planes. A hero, Miller was later assigned to the carrier Liscombe Bay, which was sunk by a Japanese submarine on November 23, 1943, with most of its crew aboard, including Miller.