March 23, 1974 James “Jimmy” Winkfield, jockey, horse trainer and the last African American to ride a winner in the Kentucky Derby, died. Winkfield was born April 12, 1882 in Chilesburg, Kentucky and began his career as a jockey in 1898. He rode in the Kentucky Derby for the first time in 1900, finishing third. […]
Archive | March 23, 2011
March 23rd in African American History – Patricia Roberts Harris
March 23, 1985 Patricia Roberts Harris, the first African American woman to serve as a United States Ambassador, died. Harris was born May 31, 1924 in Mattoon, Illinois. She graduated summa cum laude from Howard University in 1945 and in 1960 graduated from the George Washington University National Law Center. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson […]