Singer Donna Summer, known as “Queen of Disco,” is born on this day in Boston, Massachusetts.
On this date in 1984, The first nationally broadcast telethon for the United Negro College fund is held and raises 14.1 million.
On this date in 1953, Hulan Jack sworn in a Manhattan Borough president.
On this date in 1953, the Spingarn Medal was presented to Paul R. Williams for his achievements as an architect.
On this date in 1935, Marian Anderson made her Town Hall debut in New York. Her performance was described by Howard Taubman, the New York Times reviewer, as “music making that probed too deep for words.”
On this date in 1930, Odetta Felious Gordon, the folk singer and activist known as “Odetta” is born on this day in Birmingham, Alabama.
On this date in 1900, Sculptor and educator Selma Burke was born on this day in Mooresville, North Carolina. She is commissioned to create a profile of President Franklin D. Roosevelt after a national competition sponsored by the Fine Arts Commission in Washington, D.C.; the completed project, a plaque, is unveiled and installed.
On this date in 1871, Annie Wealthy Holland was born, as an educator she founded the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) in North Carolina.
On this date in 1862, Residents of Rochester, N.Y., joined Frederick Douglass in a vigil in anticipation of the Emancipation Proclamation, which went into effect at midnight.
ON this date in 1775, alarmed by impact of the Dunmore proclamation, Washington reversed himself and authorized the enlistment of free Blacks.
