Assault at West Point: The Court-Martial of Johnson Whittaker

Johnson Whittaker was among the first Black cadets at West Point. On the morning of April 5, 1880, he was found tied to his bed, unconscious, bleeding, and bruised. His hands and face had been cut by a razor, and burned pages from his Bible were strewn about his room. Whittaker told administrators that he had been attacked by three fellow cadets, but his account of the morning was not believed. West Point administrators said that he had fabricated the attack to win sympathy. He was tried at court martial the following year and found guilty. President Arthur overturned the decision two years later, but West Point refused to reinstate him. On July 25, 1995, President Clinton awarded his descendants Whittaker's commission, saying "We cannot undo history. But today, finally, we can pay tribute to a great American and we can acknowledge a great injustice."

This Showtime movie is a class production, with Sam Waterston and Samuel L. Jackson -- in one of his more outrageous hairpieces -- as his defense attorney, and with a cast that includes Mason Adams, Eddie Bracken, John Glover, and Seth Gilliam as Whittaker. The dialogue, much of it drawn from court records, is declaimed stiffly, is declaimed stiffly, because that is the manner in which people spake in old-timey days. More interesting as history than as drama, it's a worthwhile effort.