Congressman William Gray elected Democratic Whip of the House of Representatives, the highest ranking position ever held by a African American in Congress.
Cheryl Adrienne Brown wins Miss Iowa pageant and becomes the first African American to compete in the Miss America beauty pageant.
On this day in 1971, Justice Department filed suit against the St. Louis suburb of Black Jack, charging the community with illegally using municipal procedures to block an integrated housing development.
On this day in 1952, Dr. Harold D. West is named President of Meharry Medical College
On this day in 1946, Marla Gibbs, television personality, born
On this day in 1941, John Edgar Wideman, Rhodes scholar, writer, born
On this day in 1939, The Ethel Waters Show, a variety special appears on NBC. It is the first time an African American appears on television
