At just 20 years old, Dwight “Doc” Gooden, pitcher for the New York Mets, won the Cy Young Award, becoming the youngest pitcher in Major League Baseball history to earn the honor.

In the 1985 season, Gooden dominated with a 24-4 record, a 1.53 ERA, and 268 strikeouts, solidifying one of the greatest single-season performances ever by a pitcher. His achievement marked a major moment for African Americans in professional baseball.

Carl B. Stokes made history by becoming the first African American elected mayor of a major U.S. city when he won the Cleveland mayoral election on November 7, 1967. He officially began his tenure as the 51st mayor of Cleveland on January 1, 1968. ?NPS.govWikipedia

During his two terms, Stokes implemented significant reforms, including opening city hall jobs to African Americans and women, and initiating urban revitalization programs. His leadership during events like the 1969 Cuyahoga River fire brought national attention to environmental issues. ?

Stokes’ groundbreaking election paved the way for greater African American political representation in major U.S. cities.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision declaring segregation on Montgomery, Alabama city buses unconstitutional. This landmark decision followed the historic Montgomery Bus Boycott, sparked by Rosa Parks’ arrest in December 1955.

? Federal injunctions enforcing desegregation were served on December 20, 1965, officially ending the year-long boycott. That same day, Montgomery’s Black community held mass meetings to call off the boycott, marking a major victory in the Civil Rights Movement.

Caryn Elaine Johnson, later known as Whoopi Goldberg, was born in New York City on this day. She began performing at the age of eight with New York’s Helena Rubinstein Children’s Theater. With a distinctive look, sharp wit, and an empathic yet no-nonsense persona, Goldberg rose to become one of the most versatile and celebrated entertainers in history.

She is one of the few performers to achieve EGOT status—winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award. Goldberg has also been a passionate advocate for civil rights and social justice throughout her career.

On this day, Janet Collins made history by becoming the first African American prima ballerina to perform with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York City. Her debut role was in Aida, breaking racial barriers in a world that had long excluded Black dancers from classical ballet’s highest stages.

Despite facing discrimination earlier in her career — including being asked to paint her skin white to perform — Collins persevered and became a symbol of excellence, dignity, and change in the performing arts.

In a pivotal civil rights decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Hansberry v. Lee, a case involving racially restrictive housing covenants in Chicago. The Court unanimously reversed a lower court’s enforcement of a covenant that barred Black families from buying homes in certain neighborhoods.

The case was brought by Carl Hansberry, the father of playwright Lorraine Hansberry (A Raisin in the Sun), after he purchased a home in a white neighborhood in defiance of such covenants. While the ruling focused on due process violations rather than racial discrimination per se, it opened the door for future legal challenges against housing segregation and discriminatory practices in real estate.

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, a pioneering African American surgeon, became the first Black physician elected as a charter member of the American College of Surgeons on this day. He is also famously known for performing one of the first successful open-heart surgeries in 1893—decades before such procedures became standard.

Dr. Williams founded Provident Hospital in Chicago in 1891, the first interracial hospital and nursing school in the United States, providing critical care and training for African Americans at a time when segregation barred them from most medical institutions.

A.C. Richardson, an African American inventor, was granted U.S. Patent No. 529,311 for a casket lowering device. This innovation provided a safer and more dignified way to lower caskets into graves during funerals. Richardson’s invention helped standardize burial practices and is a foundational design that’s still reflected in funeral equipment used today.

On this day in Warsaw, New York, the Liberty Party—the first political party in the United States founded explicitly to oppose slavery—was officially organized. It marked a critical shift from moral persuasion to political action in the abolitionist movement.

Early Black abolitionists like Samuel Ringgold Ward and Henry Highland Garnet were among its earliest supporters, helping to shape the party’s vision of racial equality and justice. The Liberty Party laid the groundwork for future political action against slavery, eventually influencing the formation of the Free Soil and Republican parties.