1970 – Joe Frazier Joe Frazier becomes world heavyweight boxing champion. 1957 – Actor Levar Burton born Actor Levar Burton was born in Landsthul, Germany. Burton won fame for his acting in the television movie “roots,” which was based on the novel by...

1920 – Andrew “Rube” Foster organizes the Negro National League. Foster, who was owner and manager of the Chicago American Giants, met with other team owners at the Kansas City YMCA and Foster was named the first league President. The initial teams were the St. Louis Giants,...

1943 – Singer Barbara Lewis, known for #1 R&B song “Hello Stranger” was born in South Lyon, Michigan.     1944 – Novelist Alice Walker, author of “The Color Purple” was born in Eatonton, Georgia. 1953 -Author Ralph Ellison’s novel...

1924 – Activist and lawyer Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher  is born in Chickasha, Oklahoma.     1944  – Harry S. McAlpin becomes the first Black reporter allowed obtain accreditation for a White House press conference. 1968 – Diminutive actor Gary Coleman was born in Zion,...

1820 – The Mayflower of Liberia – Minister Daniel Coker led a group of 86 free blacks from New York Harbor aboard the Mayflower of Liberia. They are bound for the British colony of Sierra Leone, which welcomes free African Americans as well as fugitive slaves. The group arrived...

1869 – Minnie Cox, the first Black postmistress in U.S. was born in Lexington, Mississippi. 1894 – Willis Johnson patented a device now known as the Egg Beater. For more information on Willis Johnson, see his profile on blackinventor.com.    1934 – Hank Aaron Born...