Johnson Chesnut Whittaker

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Johnson Chesnut Whittaker (1858-1931) was one of the first black men to win an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point.[1] When at the academy, he was brutally assaulted and then expelled after being convicted of faking the incident.[2] Over sixty years after his death, his name was formally cleared when he was posthumously commissioned by President Bill Clinton.[2]

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[edit] Biography

Whittaker was born into slavery on the Chesnut Plantation in Camden, South Carolina.[2] He studied privately with Richard Greener, the first African American to graduate from Harvard college.[citation needed] Whittaker later attended the University of South Carolina, then a freedmen's school.[citation needed] He was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1876 under congressman S. L. Hoge.[2][3] For most of his time at West Point, he was the only black cadet,[4] and he was ostracized by his white peers.[2]

In the morning of April 5, 1880, he was found tied to his bed, unconscious, bleeding, and bruised.[2][3] His hands and face had been cut by a razor, and burned pages from his Bible were strewn about his room.[2] Whittaker told administrators that he had been attacked by three fellow cadets, but his account of the morning was not believed.[2] West Point administrators said that he had fabricated the attack to win sympathy.[2] After more than a year of nationally publicized hearings, Whittaker was found guilty in an 1881 court martial and expelled from West Point.[2][3] The prosecuting attorney was West Point Judge Advocate Major Asa Bird Gardiner who later was a Sachem of Tammany Hall in New York and served as New York District Attorney from 1897 - 1900. Though the verdict was overturned in 1883 by President Chester A. Arthur, West Point reinstated the expulsion on the grounds that Whittaker had failed an exam.[2]

In his later life, Whittaker was a teacher, lawyer, high school principal, and psychology professor.[2][1] He died in 1931.[2]

[edit] Posthumous commission

In the 1970s, a book about Whittaker by John Marszalek, a historian at Mississippi State University, drew attention to his case.[2] It was not until 1994, however, when a television movie based on the book aired, that a movement for his posthumous commission gained ground.[2]

On July 25, 1995, President Bill Clinton awarded the commission to Whittaker's heirs, saying, "We cannot undo history. But today, finally, we can pay tribute to a great American and we can acknowledge a great injustice."[2][1]

There is now a drama production known as Matter of Honor, that retells Whittaker's story while at West Point. It plays at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Purdum, Todd S. "Week in Review: 115 Years Late, He Won His Bars." New York Times (July 30, 1995).
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Purdum, Todd S. "Black Cadet Gets a Posthumous Commission." New York Times (July 25, 1995).
  3. ^ a b c "Editorial: Seeking 'Fair Deal' for a Black Cadet." New York Times (January 31, 1994).
  4. ^ "Editorial: After a Century, a Black Cadet Is Vindicated." New York Times (July 20, 1995).

[edit] Further reading/viewing