Mae C. Jemison, M. D. was chosen by NASA to begin training as a space shuttle astronaut on this date.
On this day in 1977, Joseph Lawson Howze installed as bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Biloxi, Mississippi.
On this day in 1966, James Meredith wounded by white sniper as he walked along U.S. Highway 51 near Hernando, Mississippi, on second day of 220-mile voter registration march from Memphis to Jackson. March was continued on June 7 by Martin Luther King Jr., Floyd McKissick, Stokely Carmichael and other civil rights workers.
On this day in 1950, Frank Petersen enlisted in the Navy. At the age of 20, he was the first Afro-American to be named a naval aviator in the Marine Corp. He was also the first African American to command a fighter squadron, a fighter air group, an air wing, and a major base.
On this day in 1939, Children’s Advocate Marian Wright Edelman was born.
On this day in 1869, Dillard University chartered in New Orleans, Louisiana.
On this day in 1863, at the Battle of Milken’s Bend a Negro soldier takes his former master prisoner.
On this day in 1831, the Second National Black convention met in Philadelphia. There were fifteen delegates from five states.
On this day in 1790, Jean Baptist Pointe Desable, a French speaking Santo Domingo native, becomes the first permanent resident and thus founder of Chicago.
