On this day in 1943, Gale Eugene Sayers was born in Wichita, Kansas. Nicknamed “The Kansas Comet”, Sayers would go on to become one of the most electrifying players in American football history. A dazzling running back, he played seven seasons in the NFL during the 1960s and early 1970s, all with the Chicago Bears.

Despite a career shortened by injuries, Sayers left an indelible mark on the game. He still holds several records, including:

• Most touchdowns in a rookie season (22 in 1965),

• Most touchdowns in a single game (6, tied with Ernie Nevers and Dub Jones),

• Highest career kickoff return average (30.56 yards),

• Most return touchdowns in a game (2, tied with several players).

Sayers’ explosive agility and unmatched field vision made him a legend—not just of the Bears, but of the entire sport. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977, becoming the youngest player ever to receive that honor at the time.

On May 30, 1971, baseball legend Willie Mays scored his 1,950th career run, further cementing his legacy as one of the greatest players in Major League Baseball history. Known for his all-around excellence—batting, fielding, and base running—Mays’ milestone highlighted his enduring dominance during a time when Black athletes were still navigating the aftermath of baseball’s segregation era.

Sparked by the arrest of two Florida A&M University students who refused to give up their seats on a segregated bus, the Tallahassee Bus Boycott began on May 30, 1956. Inspired by the Montgomery movement, the boycott was led by local activists and students, with significant support from the Inter-Civic Council (ICC). It lasted until December of that year and resulted in the desegregation of the city’s buses, marking another crucial victory in the early civil rights movement.

On this day in 1903, Countee Cullen was born. Raised in a Methodist parsonage, Cullen found his voice early, beginning to write poetry at age fourteen while attending DeWitt Clinton High School in New York. In 1922, he enrolled at New York University, where his literary talents flourished. His poems were frequently published in The Crisis, the influential NAACP magazine edited by W.E.B. Du Bois, establishing him as a leading voice of the Harlem Renaissance.

The U.S. Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and allowing settlers in those territories to determine via popular sovereignty whether to permit slavery. This inflamed national tensions, sparked violent conflicts like “Bleeding Kansas,” and marked a critical turning point in the lead-up to the Civil War.

On this day, a house slave revealed the details of Denmark Vesey’s planned uprising to white authorities, leading to the unraveling of one of the most extensive slave revolt conspiracies in U.S. history. Vesey, a formerly enslaved man who had purchased his freedom, had organized thousands of Black supporters in Charleston, South Carolina, to rise up against the institution of slavery. The plan aimed to seize the city, liberate the enslaved, and escape to Haiti. As a result of the betrayal, 131 Black people were arrested, and 37 were hanged, including Vesey himself. The event shook the South and led to harsher laws against Black gatherings, literacy, and religious worship.