Black Panther

This is Black History Month and the big news has been about the release of the movie Black Panther.  This movie is built around the supposedly first Black superhero. I probably will not go to see this movie, not because of the hero but I am just not into superhero type movies of any type.

We tend to think of black heroes as either sports or entertainment stars:  Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Bob Gibson, just three of the great black baseball players of my time; Louie Armstrong, Denzell Washington, Ella Fitzgerald in the entertainment world.

But this got me thinking about real black heroes, most of whom we don’t hear much about.  Let me tell you about some of them, both American and Canadian.

William Hall, VC – William Hall was a black Nova Scotian who joined the Royal Navy as a young man. He was a gunner. He fought in the Crimean War and the Indian Uprisings where he won the Victoria Cross.  When his military career was finished, he returned to Nova Scotia where he farmed and raised a family.  Most Canadians have never heard of him.

Viola Desmond – was a black woman from New Glasgow, Nova Scotia who was arrested for having the temerity to sit in the “white section” of a movie theatre.  She will be the new face on a Canadian ten dollar bill in the near future.

Frederick Douglass – was a black American who became one of the great proponents of the abolition of slavery and a spokesman for black rights after the Civil War.  He was born into slavery but was released from that condition when he was 20, many years before the Emancipation Proclamation.  He was admired by Abraham Lincoln who called him a friend.  This year is the bicentennial of Douglass’ birth.  An article in today’s (Wednesday) Ottawa Citizen speaks eloquently about him.

Samuel L. Gravely, Vice-Admiral, US Navy (retired) – was the first black admiral in the US Navy.  I had the privilege of working for him when I served an exchange appointment with that service.  Sam Gravely joined the Navy early in World War 2.  He was one of the first black candidates selected for officer training but not the first to be commissioned.  He served a distinguished career in the US Navy and was selected for the rank of Rear-Admiral in 1972-73.  When I met him he was the Commander of Cruiser Destroyer Group Two in Newport, Rhode Island.  The command where I worked was integrated into his command in 1974 when our combined group was moved to Charleston, South Carolina of all places.  After leaving our group in the summer of 1975 he went first to San Diego and then on promotion to Vice-Admiral, became Commander of the Third Fleet in Hawaii.  He had a great sense of humour.

There are four examples of black people who, each in their own way, were real life heroes of their time.  There have been others of course: Lincoln Alexander, politician and Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario; General Colin Powell of the US Army; Ferguson Jenkins, Canadian boy who became a great pitcher in baseball.  But all people can talk about this week is a black superhero in a movie.