August 3, 1937 Roland Wallace Burris, the first African American elected to statewide office in Illinois, was born in Centralia, Illinois. Burris earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Southern Illinois University in 1959 and a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Howard University School of Law in 1963. After graduating from law […]
Archive | August 3, 2011
August 3rd in African American History – Naomi Ruth Sims
August 3, 2009 Naomi Ruth Sims, the first African American supermodel, died. Sims was born March 30, 1948 in Oxford, Mississippi. Sims’ early attempts to get modeling work through established agencies were frustrated by racial prejudice with some telling her that her skin was too dark. Her first break came in August, 1967 when she […]