On this day, Martin Luther King Jr became the youngest man ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

On this date in 1999, the governor of Pennsylvania, Thomas Ride, signs the death warrant for Mumia Abu-Jamal. Mumia is charged with the early eighties slaying of a police officer.

ON this date in 1999, Former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere dies at the age of 77 from leukemia. Nyerere was lauded as one of the greatest statesmen of his time.

ON this date in 1971, Two killed in Memphis racial disturbances.

On this date in 1969, a race riot occurred in Springfield, Massachusetts.

On this date in 1958, the District of Columbia Bar Association votes to accept African Americans as members.

On this date in 1916, Sophomore tackle Paul Robeson is excluded from the Rutgers football team when Washington and Lee University refused to play against and African American. The exclusion was temporary and the young Robeson would go on to be named a football All-American twice.

On this date in 1902, William Boyd Allison Davis, a leading social anthropologist and educator, challenged the cultural bias of standardized intelligence tests. Dr. Davis argued that Black’s low scores were not the results of lower intelligence but the result of middle-class cultural bias posed in the questions.

On this date in 1864, The first African American daily newspaper, the New Orleans Tribune is published in both French and English.

On this date in 1834, Harry Blair patents his corn-planting machine. The planter resembled a wheelbarrow, with a compartment to hold the seed and rakes dragging behind to cover them. This device enabled farmers to plant their crops more efficiently and enable a greater total yield. Patent #8,447X