On this Day in Black History

1788(?) - Prince Hall born
1827 - New Orleans held its first Mardi Gras celebration.
1833 - Maria Stewart became the first U.S.-born woman to speak publicly on political issues before a mixed-gender audience
1834 - Patrick Healy, who will become the first African American to earn a Ph.D. and the first to become president of a historically white university (Georgetown), born
1853 - The first black YMCA is opened in Washington, DC.
1868 - John Willis Menard was the first African American elected to Congress. He was refused his seat, but in making his defense he became the first black to speak on the floor of the House of Representatives.
1872 - Charlotte Ray, the first African American woman lawyer, graduated from Howard University Law School.
1880 - Angelina Weld Grimké born
1883 - Walter B. Purvis patented the hand stamp.
1890 - Mabel Keaton Staupers born
1897(?) - Marian Anderson, who will become the first African American soloist to perform at hte White House, born
1904 - Elisabeth Welch born
1907 - Hilton Smith born
1920 - The "Frederick Douglass," a ship in Marcus Garvey's ill-fated Black Star Line, sailed for Havana on its way to Africa.
1923 - Dexter Gordon born
1926 - Okeh Records presents its first "Race Records Artists Night" at the Chicago Coliseum.
1942 - Charlayne Hunter-Gault, the first African American woman admitted to the University of Georgia and the creator of The New York Times Harlem bureau, born
1956 - Little Richard's first Number One R&B hit, "Slippin' and Slidin'," backed with "Long Tall Sally," was released
1960 - The Miracles made their first TV appearance on "American Bandstand."
1964 - Anna Julia Cooper died
1967 - Wharlest Jackson was killed
1971 - Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas born
1980 - Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF won elections in Zimbabwe
1982 - Wayne B. Williams was found guilty of murdering two young black people.
1988 - Debi Thomas became the first African American to win an Olympic medal in the Winter Games
1992 - Tiger Woods, 16, became youngest PGA golfer in 35 years
1997 - Don Cornelius received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1999 - Nigeria returned to civilian rule when Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo became the country's first elected president since 1983.
2003 - Frederick McFeely Rogers (Mr. Rogers) died

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