All Americans know of George Washington Carver, Ralph Bunche, Jackie Robinson and Senator Edward Brooke. The names of Pedro Nino, Nino Estevanico, Matthew Henson and Dr. Charles Drew are less likely to ring a bell. Yet these men too had an important part in the making of America, and as a congressional hearing in Manhattan pointed up last week, many legitimate Negro heroes have been overlooked by whites and Negroes alike.
The list starts in 1492, when Pedro Nino ventured to the New World with Columbus. Negroes followed with almost all of the Spanish conquistadors, and Estevanico (Little Stephen),...
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