Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, February 8, 2001
News
The Southern Cross, Page 3
The Flipper family of Saint Benedict Parish, Savannah,
and their famous kinsman
Rita H.
DeLorme
B oth Festus F. Flipper and his
son, Festus Flipper, Jr., were
shoe repairmen. For many years,
they ran their own business on
Savannah’s busy Waters
Avenue. People came to them
with shoes that needed new soles
or heels, a golf bag which needed
handle repair, a leather purse
strap which had broken. The
Flippers greeted these customers
cordially, performed the needed
repairs competently and answered the occasional
inquiry about the photograph on the wall behind the
counter of the place. “Yes,” acknowledged Festus
Flipper, Sr., “that’s my grand-uncle, Henry Ossian
Flipper—the first African-American to graduate
from West Point.” He seldom mentioned the heart
break behind the photo of the handsome young
black man wearing the uniform of a West Point
cadet. Being an industrious family man with a wife
and four children, he did not have time to brood on
old injuries.
Bom in Tallahassee, Florida, on November 15,
1906, Festus Fitzgiles Flipper, Sr., moved to Savan
nah many years. He and his wife, Mildred, became
devout parishioners of Saint Benedict the Moor
parish and raised their children Catholic. Together,
they raised youngsters who, despite the difficulties
of those pre-integration days, managed to become
educated, hard-working people. Festus Sr. had earli
er attended Morris Brown College in Atlanta. His
only son, Festus Jr., graduated from Beach High
School and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in
business administration from Savannah State
College (now University). He also served in his
country’s armed forces during the Korean conflict.
Later, the younger Flipper joined his father in the
shoe repair business. His sister, Faye Flipper Hall,
also graduated from Savannah State, and became a
librarian in the Chatham County School system.
There is reason to suppose that the other two chil
dren, sisters Blanche Flipper Miller and Barbara
Flipper Watson, were likewise well-educated and
well-employed. These sisters married and moved
away and had families of their own.
In 1992, Festus F. Flipper Jr. died at age 59, sur
vived by his father, mother and siblings. In 1996,
one month short of ninety, Festus F. Flipper, Sr.
died. A year later, his wife, Mildred, also passed
away. When Mrs. Faye Flipper Hall died late in
July, 2000, she was the sole surviving member of
West Point Cadet Henry O. Flipper
her original family.
Like many stories, this one has more to it than
meets the eye. Grand-uncle Henry Ossian Flipper
who graduated, despite predictable 19th-century
obstacles, from West Point, was this upstanding
family’s shining light. The oldest of five sons of
Festus and Isabella Flipper, he was bom into slavery
on March 21, 1856. Later, his diligent father bought
freedom for the entire family and Henry went on to
attend an American Missionary Association school,
and Atlanta University, and was appointed to the
U.S. Military Academy. Four other black students
preceded him at West Point, but Henry Flipper was
the first to make it through. Despite difficulties
inherent in his situation as the sole black cadet,
Flipper graduated fiftieth in a class of ’76 on June
14, 1877, and published the story of his time at the
Military Academy in 1878. Lt. Flipper was assigned
to Company A of the Tenth United States Cavalry
and commenced military service which would take
him all over the state of Texas. He was stationed at
Fort Concho, Fort Elliott, Fort Davis and other mili
tary installations and served with distinction in the
Indian War. Henry Flipper was responsible for
designing a ditch which helped thwart the spread of
malaria among the troops and his excellent miliary
record earned him appointment to various posts of
trust: acting assistant quartermaster, post quarter
master and acting commissary of substance at Fort
Davis.
When Col. William R. Shafter assumed com
mand of Fort Davis, Lt. Flipper was quickly
relieved as quartermaster and soon realized his post
as commissary was also in jeopardy. Civilians at the
fort warned him that there was a plot against him.
Within a year, Flipper discovered post funds had
been removed from his quarters and he tried desper
ately to replace the money. Alerted to the situation,
Col. Shafter filed charges against the young black
lieutenant. Henry Flipper weathered the court mar
tial and was declared innocent of embezzlement, but
guilty of “conduct unbecoming an officer”. Dis
missal from the army followed on June 30, 1882.
Set adrift, Henry Flipper found work in El Paso,
Texas as an assistant engineer and went on to many
other jobs of engineering and surveying. He served
the community of Nogales well in the land grant
case of 1891 and was appointed special agent for
the U.S. Court of Private Land Claims. Flipper’s
career spiralled upward as he went on to win respect
not only as an engineer and a surveyor but also as a
translator of Spanish and Mexican land laws. He
worked for the Department of the Interior until 1923
and as an engineer for a Venezuelan oil company.
Henry Flipper retired in 1931 and returned home
to live with his brother, Joseph S. Flipper, bishop of
the African Methodist Episcopal Church, in Atlanta.
He died on March 3, 1940, still avowing his inno
cence, and was vindicated in 1976, when a bust of
the former Lt. Flipper was unveiled at West Point
and his discharge from the Army was declared
“honorable.” In 1999, Henry Flipper was granted a
full presidential pardon.
Today, the Henry Ossian Flipper Award goes to
the West Point cadet who shows “ the highest quali
ties of leadership, self-discipline, and perservance in
the face of unusual difficulties while a cadet.” His
relatives, the Catholic Flipper family of the
Savannah Diocese, in their quiet, orderly lives, also
exhibited the “highest qualities of leadership, self-
discipline, and perseverance in the face of unusual
difficulties.”
Rita H. DeLorme is a volunteer in the
Diocesan Archives.
PARISH TARGETS FOR DDA 2001
rr-ihe following are the parish targets for the 2001
St. Augustine, Thomasville
$ 11,230
St. Benedict
$ 9,052
1 Diocesan Development Appeal, listed by dean-
Our Divine Saviour, Tifton
$ 12,420
Christ the King, Hamilton
$ 6,540
ery.
DEANERY TOTAL
$112,751
DEANERY TOTAL
$156,713
ALBANY DEANERY
St. Ann, Alapaha
$ 1,316
AUGUSTA DEANERY
MACON DEANERY
St. Teresa, Albany
$ 54,948
Holy Trinity
$ 64,482
Immaculate Conception, Dublin
$ 13,232
St. Mary, Americus
$ 11,217
St. Joseph
$21,476
Macon: Holy Spirit
$ 13,275
St. Joseph, Bainbridge
$ 4,282
St. Mary on the Hill
$129,680
St. Joseph
$ 61,772
Holy Family, Blakely
$ 1,376
St. Teresa of Avila
$ 42,750
St. Peter Claver
$21,269
St. Elizabeth, Cairo
$ 959
DEANERY TOTAL
$258,387
St. Juliana/St. Patrick, Fort Valley
$ 6,850
St. John Vianney, Camilla
$ 2,289
.
St. William, Sandersville
$ 1,890
St. Theresa, Cordele
$ 4,033
COLUMBUS DEANERY
Sacred Heart, Warner Robins
$ 78,201
St. Luke, Cuthbert
$ 384
St. Mary Mag., Buena Vista
$ 975
DEANERY TOTAL
$196,489
Incarnation, Donalsonville
$ 1,305
Columbus: Holy Family
$ 35,093
St. Michael, Montezuma
$ 1,741
Our Lady of Lourdes
$ 15,977
Immaculate Conception, Moultrie
$ 5,252
St. Anne
$ 89,076
(Continued on page 11)