GM – FBF – Today’s American Champion event was a little challenging for me to research because there is not that much Information on this event for the time that I had. We all have heard the stories of Christopher Columbus and his voyages. In Trenton, N.J. where I am from as a young student we even had Columbus day off to go to the Columbus day parade. I would always ask the question – Did Columbus have any Blacks as slaves or working for him on the ship and teachers would never answer the question because THEY didn’t know or for whatever reason. So I am asking the question to you?Today in our History – March 21, 1492 – Alonzo di Pietro, a BLACK man was hired and would practice daily with the other ship’s captions to prepare for the upcoming voyage that Columbus would be embarking on later that year.Alonzo di Pietro did so well and Columbus was so Impressed that he commissioned Alonzo di Pietro to pilot one of the ships (Some say the Santa Maria).Which one I do not know but if you have the time, research and find out for yourself and share it with your babies and the world. This is what I have found thus far supporting the reason way a Black was there in power of one of the ships.In 1492, a black navigator named Alonzo di Pietro piloted one of Christopher Columbus’ ships on his first voyage to the Americas, according to one of my favorite books, “Great Negroes Past and Present.”1492 Pedro Alonso Niño known as Alonzo Pietro or Peralonso Niño and his three brother’s sets sail with Christopher Columbus. Pedro Alonso Niño was pilot of the Santa María, Juan Niño was master of La Niña, of which was the owner, and Francisco Niño is believed to have been a sailor on La Niña.The Niños took part as well in Columbus’s second and third voyages. Between 1499 and 1501 they traveled on their own account, with the merchants Cristóbal and Luis Guerra, following the route of Columbus’s third voyage to the Gulf of Paria on the South American mainland in what is now Venezuela.Alonzo Pietro sets sail with Christopher Columbus as he begins his famous journey to find a new trade route to China, but accidentally “discovers” the Americas. Pietro was one of Columbus’ navigators. He was known as “il Negro”—The Black.Please do more research if you can about this great American event that would Impact our forefathers and mothers, you and your children to this day.