Alice H Parker patents the gas heating furnace.

Madame C.J. Walker, born Sarah Breedlove on this day, starts a Black hair-care business in Denver, CO; she alters curling irons that were popularized by the French to suit the texture of Black women’s hair. She is arguably the first woman millionaire in the U.S.

On this date in 1863, Robert Blake, powder boy aboard the USS Marbelhead, was the first Black awarded the Naval Medal of Honor “for conspicuous gallantry, extraordinary heroism, and intrepidity at the risk of his own life.” The heroic action occurred during a victorious battle off the coast of South Carolina on this day.

On this date in 1815, Henry Highland Garnet, minister, abolitionist and diplomat, born a slave in Kent County, Maryland.