[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 9 (Friday, February 4, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 4, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                            MORNING BUSINESS

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        A COMMISSION--AND VINDICATION--FOR JOHNSON C. WHITTAKER

  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, on January 27, I introduced a bill to 
posthumously commission Johnson Chesnut Whittaker as an officer in the 
U.S. Army. Born a slave in 1858 in Camden, SC, Whittaker was appointed 
to West Point in 1876 by Representative S.L. Hoge of South Carolina.
  Whittaker was one of the first blacks to enter the U.S. Military 
Academy, and for most of his 4 years at the Academy he was the only 
black cadet. Because of his color, he was shunned by the entire corps 
of cadets, shut out of the school's social life, and spoken to only 
when official business required. His only refuge was his daily Bible 
readings.
  On April 5, 1880, what had previously been a systematic, passive 
persecution of Cadet Whittaker took a monstrous turn for the worse. In 
the dead of night, Whittaker was attacked in his room by three masked 
men who beat him about the head and slashed his ears. The attackers 
left him unconscious, bleeding profusely and tied to his bed.
  Adding gross insult to injury, West Point authorities defended the 
accused attackers and alleged that Whittaker had fabricated the attack 
in order to create sympathy for himself. In a subsequent court of 
inquiry and court-martial, Whittaker was found guilty and forced to 
leave the Academy. During the court-martial, the prosecutor brazenly 
appealed to racism and bigotry in winning a conviction.
  Two years later, President Chester A. Arthur reversed the conviction 
on the grounds that the court-martial had been illegal. But, on the 
same day, the Secretary of War formally discharged Whittaker from the 
Academy on the grounds that 2 years earlier he had failed a philosophy 
exam.
  Johnson Whittaker courageously refused to allow these extraordinary 
events and injustices to destroy his life. After his discharge from the 
Academy, he returned to South Carolina, practiced law in Sumter, and 
taught at what is now South Carolina State University in Orangeburg. In 
1908, he moved to Oklahoma, where he was a teacher and principal. In 
1925, he returned to the college in Orangeburg as a psychology 
professor. His son, Miller Whittaker, became president of the college 
in 1932.
  Mr. President, the bill I introduced last week has a simple purpose: 
to right a wrong. The requests the President to posthumously appoint 
Johnson Chesnut Whittaker as a commissioned officer in the regular Army 
in the grade of second lieutenant. We cannot erase the pain and 
persecution endured by Johnson Whittaker in the course of those 
terrible events more than a century ago. What we can do is set the 
official record straight. We can vindicate Johnson Whittaker. And we 
can express to his descendants the regret and remorse of the U.S. 
Government. To that end, I urge my colleagues' support for this bill.

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