Tennis sensation Serena Williams born on this date.
On this date in 1968, The Studio Museum of Harlem opens in NYC
On this date in 1962, Mississippi barred Meredith for the third time. Lt. Gov. Paul Johnson and a blockade of state patrolmen turned back Meredith and federal marshals about four hundred yards from the gate of the school.
On this date in 1962, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., becomes the first African American member of the Federal Trade Commission. He was also appointed a federal district judge and U.S. Circuit Judge of the Third Circuit.
On this date in 1957, an order alerting regular army units for possible riot duty in other Southern cities canceled by Army Secretary Wilbur M. Brucker.
On this date in 1937, Singer Bessie Smith dies of injuries sustained in an automobile accident near Clarksdale, Mississippi.
On this dated in 1929, Biochemist Ida Stephens Owens was born. Owens received a PhD. in Biology-Physiology from Duke University in 1967. At the National Institutes of Health (NIH), biochemist Dr. Ida Owens conducts studies in the genetics of detoxification enzymes.
On this dated in 1907, The People’s Savings Bank is incorporated in Philadelphia by former African American congressman George H. White of North Carolina. The bank will help hundreds of African Americans buy homes and start businesses until the illness of its founder forces its closure in 1918.
On this date in 1899, William Levi Dawson, composer and arranger of music, was born in Anniston, Alabama. Among his songs are, “I Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray” and “My Lord What a Morning.”
On this dated in 1867, Business and civic leader, Maggie L Walker was born.
