March 15, 1959 Lester Willis Young, jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist, died. Young was born August 27, 1909 in Woodville, Mississippi and played in his family’s band on the vaudeville and carnival circuit. He left the family band in 1927 because he refused to play in the South where Jim Crow Laws were in effect. […]
Archive | March 15, 2011
March 15th in African American History – Ruppert Leon Sargent
March 15, 1967 Ruppert Leon Sargent, Medal of Honor recipient, died. Sargent was born January 6, 1938 in Hampton, Virginia. He joined the United States Army and was serving as a First Lieutenant in Company B, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. On March 15, 1967, while in Hau Nghia Province of the […]