January 17, 1942 Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. (Muhammad Ali), hall of fame boxer, was born in Louisville, Kentucky. Ali began boxing at the age of 12 and went on to win six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, and the Light Heavyweight Gold medal at the 1960 Rome Summer Olympic Games. Ali […]
Archive | January RSS feed for this section
Archibald John Motley, Jr. – January 16th in African American History
January 16, 1981 Archibald John Motley, Jr., African-American painter, ceramist, and sculptor, died. Motley was born October 7, 1891 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He studied painting at the School of Art Institute of Chicago and graduated in 1918. His painting “Mending Socks” was voted the most popular work in a 1927 exhibit of works by […]
Oscar Palmer Austin – January 15th in African American History
January 15, 1949 Oscar Palmer Austin, Medal of Honor recipient, was born in Nacogdoches, Texas. Austin joined the United States Marine Corps in April, 1968. He was promoted to private first class in October, 1968 and deployed to the Republic of Vietnam where he served as ammunitions man with Company E, 2nd Battalion 7th Marines, […]
Horace Julian Bond – January 14th in African American History
January 14, 1940 Horace Julian Bond, social activist, politician, professor, and writer, was born in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1960, Bond was a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and served as communications director from 1961 to 1966. In 1965, Bond was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives where he served four terms […]
Sterling Allen Brown – January 13th in African American History
January 13, 1989 Sterling Allen Brown, professor, poet, and literary critic, died. Brown was born May 1, 1901 in Washington D.C. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree, Phi Beta Kappa, from Williams College in 1922 and his Master of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1923. Brown began his teaching career at several universities […]
Walter Ellis Mosley – January 12th in African American History
January 12, 1952 Walter Ellis Mosley, novelist, was born in Los Angeles, California. Mosley earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Johnson State College in 1977 and moved to New York City in 1981. While working at Mobil Oil, he took a writing course at City College. Mosley started writing at the […]
Madeline Manning – January 11th in African American History
January 11, 1948 Madeline Manning, hall of fame track and field athlete, author, and speaker, was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Manning ran track at Tennessee State University where she won ten national titles, set a number of American records, and graduated in 1972. She participated in the 1968, 1972, and 1976 Summer Olympic Games. At […]