The NorthStar’s Week in Black History

October 25 through October 31

October 25

1913 ----- Bill Spiller, pioneering African-American golfer born on this date in Tishomingo, Okla., challenged the Professional Golf Association (PGA) to abandon its policy of segregation on golf courses and in golf tournaments.  His efforts led the PGA to open their competitions to golfers of all races.

An avid golfer from a young age, Spiller shot a 68 tying the golf great Ben Hogan for second place during the first round of the 1948 Los Angeles Open.  While Spiller’s playing was weaker during the second round of the tournament, which caused his ranking to drop, he still played well enough to qualify to play in the next tournament, the Richmond, Calif., Open.

Spiller was denied entry to the Richmond Open because he was black.  At the time, the PGA determined who played in professional golf tournaments, and one of their stated requirements was that players should be white.

Spiller and fellow-golfer Ted Rhodes sued the PGA, claiming that African American golfers were not only denied the right to play, they were denied the right to earn a living at golf, a clear violation of the Taft-Hartley Act, enacted into law in 1947.

The two men withdrew their lawsuit when a PGA attorney assured them the PGA intended to end their practice of racial segregation.  The PGA later reneged on their promise and instead held “invitation tournaments,” tournaments to which black players were never invited.

In 1952, Spiller and former heavyweight-boxing champion Joe Louis, also an avid golfer, were invited to participate in the first San Diego Open.  Tournament sponsors were unaware of the PGA’s “caucasians only” policy.  Having the final say, the PGA excluded both men from play.

Louis went immediately to the press, reporting to columnist Walter Winchell how the PGA had treated him and Spiller. Winchell devoted his column to the San Diego incident, and largely through his efforts, Spiller and Louis’ story went national.

In response to the ensuing national outcry, the PGA promised once again to end its  policy and practice of racial segregation on the links. Once again, they did not rescind the association’s segregation rule, though some tournament sponsors began to invite black golfers to play in significant tournaments.

Finally, in 1960, 12 years after Spiller and Rhodes’ initial suit against the PGA, California Attorney General Stanley Mosk informed the PGA that it could no longer use public golf courses for tournaments if the tournaments were not open to golfers of all races who qualified to play.  The PGA responded to Mosk’s mandate, saying that it would use private courses instead.  Mosk responded to the PGA, citing its action as illegal.  He contacted states’ attorneys across the country, asking them to be aware of the PGA’s illegal practices.

In 1961, the PGA capitulated and removed the “whites only” policy from the association’s by-laws.
The PGA’s change in policy came too late to afford Spiller opportunities to participate in professional golf tournaments, because Spiller was 48 years old by then.  Younger black players, however, did benefit.

In 2009, the PGA of America granted posthumous memberships to African American golfers Bill Spiller, Ted Rhodes and John Shippen.  They also granted posthumously an honorary association membership to Joe Louis.


October 26

620 BC ----- Aesop, an enslaved man born in either northern Africa or Ethiopia, perhaps the world’s most renowned storyteller, is thought to have been born on this date. His morality tales, still read and revered today, are collectively known as Aesop’s fables.

Some historians doubt that Aesop existed.  Other historians claim there are references to him in the works of the classic Greek philosophers, Aristotle, Herodotus and Plutarch.

Texts of both Aristotle and Herodotus mention that Aesop was a slave in Samos who first served a nobleman named Xanthus and later another nobleman, named Iadmon. The texts speak of him in ways that suggest that Aesop was eventually freed and indicate even more clearly that he traveled to Delphi and died there.

Plutarch elaborated, saying that Aesop went to Delphi on a mission for King Croesus of Lydia and that he was provocative with the Delphinian leaders with whom he met and that they ordered Aesop executed.

Aesop may or may not have written the fables attributed to him.  No examples of his texts, if any, survive, though Herodotus and Aristophanes both wrote that Aesop was the author of many fables and that they had read his tales.

Contemporary historians have noted a similarity between Aesop as a culture hero and an advocate of the underdog and African American tales about Br’er Rabbit.

Translated into many languages, Aesop’s fables are read worldwide and are often used as a part of a moral education for children.  His iconic tales include “The Tortoise and the Hare,” “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” and “The Fox and the Grapes,” a story from which the term “sour grapes” is derived.

In 1970, the University of Washington Press published an edition of Aesop’s Fables that included 23 tales, each of which was illustrated with striking black pen and ink drawings by African American artist Jacob Lawrence.

“After all is said and done, more is said than done.” --- Aesop  (pull quote?)


October 27

1891 ----- African American inventor Philip B. Downing of Boston invented an improved street letterbox, a metal box with four legs and a hinged top that closed to protect the mail from theft and inclimate weather.  The street letterbox was patented on this date and given U. S. patent number 462,043.

Downing’s street letterbox design was the prototype for the street corner mailboxes in use in the United States today.

A year before patenting his letterbox design, Downing invented an electrical switch for the railroads.


October 28

1862 ----- The First Kansas Colored Volunteers were the first black troops to enter combat during the Civil War.  The Volunteers fought the Battle of Toothman’s Mound (also known as Island Mound) on this date.

The First Kansas Colored were recruited for service by U. S. Senator James Henry Lane.  His recruitment efforts were controversial, but nonetheless, the black soldiers formed a troop in August of 1862. It was five months before they were recognized and admitted to federal service.

On October 28, a detachment of 225 men faced more than 500 Confederate soldiers at Toothman’s Mound, Bates County, Missouri.  Ten First Kansas Colored soldiers were killed and 12 more were wounded, but the Confederates retreated, and the Kansas First Colored was victorious. 

The men fought bravely and proved that black men were good and able soldiers, a likelihood that had been held as questionable as a way of denying black men opportunities to serve in the military.

October 29

1889 ----John Stanard (also spelled Standard) of Newark, N.J., received a patent No. 413,689 for an improved oil stove that could be installed in small spaces on trains, according to The Inventive Spirit of African American: Patented Ingenuity.

The stove included attachments that enabled the cook to prepare several dishes at one time.

October 30

1989 ---- Frank L. Mingo, co-founder of Mingo Jones Advertising, a black ad agency, died on this day.

Mingo Jones, which was founded in 1977, boasted a nameplate roster of clients, including Walt Disney Productions and Westinghouse Electric Corp. In 1986, Mingo left the firm, which was renamed The Mingo Group.

October 31

1899 ---- William F. Burr of Agawan, Mass., was awarded U. S. patent number 636,197 for inventing improvements to switching devices for street railways. Burr’s device was simple to construct and automatically switched the rail car.


The NorthStar's Week in Black History is compiled and written by Frederick H. Lowe and Susan M. Miller.