The Brownsville Texas Incident of 1906: The True and Tragic Story of a Black Battalion’s Wrongful Disgrace and Ultimate Redemption

Product Description

In 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt summarily discharged 167 black soldiers of the 25th Infantry without honor, without trial and without due process. It was the only instance of mass punishment in the history of the regular U.S. Army. The men were, in fact, innocent of any wrongdoing in what became known as the Brownsville (TX) Incident. Yet they had to live the rest of their lives with the shame and disgrace leveled upon them. In his memoir, “The Brownsville Texas Incident of 1906: The True and Tragic Story of a Black Battalion’s Wrongful Disgrace and Ultimate Redemption,” Lieutenant Colonel (ret) William Baker, tells the story of his quest to unearth the powerful and compelling evidence that would eventually exonerate those falsely accused men and give them the justice that had eluded them for more than 67 years. Through the words of the lone survivor, Dorsie Willis, “That dishonorable discharge kept me from Improving my station in life,” he told the New York Times in 1977. “God knows what it did to the others.”

About the Author

Lieutenant Colonel (RET) William Baker was born November 26, 1931 and grew up in Amsterdam, Georgia. When he was 11 months old, he was adopted by Angeline and Ned Keaton after the death of his mother, Julianne Lee Baker, and the remarriage of his father, Roosevelt Baker. Angeline, and Ned Keaton, a freed slave, raised him as their grandson. Baker graduated valedictorian of his class from the college preparatory program of Attapulgus (Georgia) Vocational High School in 1949. He was a Georgia State Quiz Contest winner, earning a full scholarship to Howard University, where he graduated cum laude. The top-ranked cadet in the ROTC program there, he received the Distinguished Military Graduate Award. The author received his MBA in Controllership from Syracuse University, distinguishing himself at the Ballistic Research Laboratories, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. While at Aberdeen, he published “The Role of Cost Discounting in Weapons Systems Evaluations” in 1969. It was co-authored with his assistant Robert Williams and published by the U.S. Department of Commerce which sold it around the world for more than 40 years. This work is now archived by the National Science Foundation. He was assigned to the Office of Equal Opportunity at the Pentagon in 1972 where, in addition to other duties, he developed Operation Aware in conjunction with the White House staff, which permitted black soldiers to air their concerns directly to influential black businessmen and the Department of the Army. Bill Baker’s crowning life’s achievement was the reinvestigation of the Brownsville Texas Incident of 1906. After extensive research, he prepared a case for Congress that resulted in the reversal of President Theodore Roosevelt’s decision to dishonorably discharge the soldiers of the First Battalion, Twenty-fifth Infantry. Based on Baker’s research, the Secretary of the Army made the decision to correct the injustice and change the soldiers’ discharge to ‘Honorable.’ The resolution was signed by President Richard M. Nixon, bringing national acclaim to Baker and the United States Army. Baker received the coveted Pace Award from the Secretary of the Army and the Legion of Merit in 1973 as a result of his painstaking work. Secretary of the Army Robert F. Froehlke described Baker’s contributions best when he said, “Baker’s achievement has brought favorable acclaim to the Army in the field of Civil Rights and has had a positive commitment to elimination of racial injustice.” Baker is also the recipient of two Bronze Stars, two commendation medals with oak leaf clusters, and other medals for service in Korea, NATO, and Vietnam. In his post-military retirement, he was employed as a financial manager for Rohm and Haas Chemical Company, Philadelphia, PA, (now Dow Chemical), and retired in 1993. He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and a charter member of the Delta Epsilon Boule, Sigma Pi Phi Fr