On this Day in Black History

1780 - Massachusetts' Paul Cuffe files a petition protesting his taxation because he is not allowed to vote.
1832 - Florida allows the selling into slavery of free blacks convicted of misdemeanors.
1854 - Joseph Charles Price born
1906 - State of siege proclaimed in Zululand
1907 - Grace Towns Hamilton 1st black member of Georgia state legislature born
1909 - William Henry "Chick" Webb born
1911 - Kapo, a Jamaican spiritual artist, born
1927 - Leontyne Mary Violet Price born. She will be the first African-American awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
1932 - Rockin Dopsie, Sr. [Alton Jay Rubin] born
1932 - Michael Anthony born
1934 - Manu Dibango born
1939 - Roberta Flack born
1940 - Jimmy Merchant, Frankie Lymon & Teenagers, born
1946 - Jackie Robinson marries Rachel Isum
1957 - Southern Christian Leadership Conference forms
1988 - Rocky Malebane-Metsing coup in Bophuthatswana fails
1988 - Louis Sullivan, MD is named Secretary of Health and Human Services, the only black in President George H.W. Bush's cabinet.
1989 - Ronald H. Brown is elected chair of the Democratic National Committee
1989 - Tony Robinson (not the actor) becomes Nottingham's 1st black sheriff
1990 - Buster Douglas KOs Mike Tyson in 10 to become heavyweight boxing champion
1990 - South Africa President de Klerk announces Nelson Mandela will be free Feb 11th
1992 - Mike Tyson convicted of raping Desiree Washington in Indiana
1992 - Alex Haley dies
1992 - Michael Jackson, in his first interview in 14 years, announces that his new white skin is due to a disorder called vitiligo.