Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1969: A black airman at Cannon Air Force was being court-martialed for refusing to cut his hair.
Airman First Class August Doyle said he believed the order to cut his Afro-style was unlawful because it was an expression of his black cultural identity.
A five-member hearing board found Doyle guilty of “willful disobedience of a lawful order” and sentenced him to three months of hard labor and reduced his rank to airman basic. Doyle was also fined $180.
Doyle, 21, later told Jet magazine he had learned what it’s like to “challenge the white-oriented system.”
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens. Contact:
dstevens@thenews.email
