Just days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the U.S. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Also known as the Fair Housing Act, this landmark legislation banned racial discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing. Covering approximately 80 percent of the nation’s housing market, it marked a crucial step toward dismantling systemic barriers in housing and combating residential segregation in America.

Jasmine Guy, acclaimed actress, dancer, and director, was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She rose to fame for her iconic role as Whitley Gilbert on the television show A Different World, which became a cultural touchstone for African American college life. Throughout her career, Guy has contributed to Black representation in the arts, both on screen and on stage.

Nana Annor Adjaye, a respected Ghanaian statesman and Pan-Africanist, passed away in Western Nzima, Ghana. A prominent advocate for African unity and self-determination during the colonial era, he was instrumental in early political organizing that laid the groundwork for Ghana’s independence movement. His work inspired future leaders in the broader Pan-African struggle for liberation across the continent.

Johnnie Tillmon Blackston (born Johnnie Lee Percy) was born in Scott, Arkansas, on April 10, 1926. She became a pioneering welfare rights activist and was the first chairperson of the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO). Tillmon’s advocacy highlighted the intersection of race, gender, and poverty, emphasizing that welfare is a women’s issue. Her 1972 essay in Ms. magazine, “Welfare Is a Woman’s Issue,” remains a seminal work in feminist and social justice literature. Tillmon’s efforts laid the groundwork for future movements advocating for economic justice and women’s rights.?

Richard Allen was elected and ordained as the first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Philadelphia. This marked the formal establishment of the AME Church—the first independent Black denomination in the United States—founded to give African Americans spiritual autonomy and resist racial discrimination in worship spaces. Allen’s leadership laid the foundation for generations of Black religious and civic activism.