1814
African American troops are cited for bravery in the Battle of New Orleans.
1872
John Henry Conyers of South Carolina became the first African-American student at the U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis). He will later resign.
1905
The Atlanta Life Insurance Company was founded by Alonzo F. Herndon.
1909
Kwame Nkrumah is born in Nkroful, Ghana. A leader in African colonial liberation, Nkrumah was the first prime minister of Ghana (1958-1966) but was forced into exile following a coup. An influential 20th-century advocate of Pan-Africanism, he was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity and the winner of the Lenin Peace Prize in 1962. He will join the ancestors on April 27, 1972.
1932
Melvin Van Peebles is born in Chicago. Illinois. He will become a playwright and director. He will be best known for creating the acclaimed film, “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song,” heralding a new era of African American-focused films. He will be the father of actor and director Mario Van Peebles.
1948 – Artis Gilmore is born in Chipley, Florida. A star center during his two collegiate years at Jacksonville University, in Jacksonville, Florida, he led the Dolphins to the NCAA Division I championship game in 1970, where his team lost 80-69 to the UCLA Bruins. He will remain the top player in rebounds per game in the history of NCAA Division I basketball. He will then become a professional basketball player. He will follow five All-Star seasons with the Kentucky Colonels of the ABA by becoming the first overall pick of the 1976 NBA dispersal draft, held after the ABA was disbanded, as four teams transferred to the NBA. In his complete pro basketball career, he will be an eleven-time All-Star, the ABA Rookie of the Year, and an ABA MVP, and he remains the NBA career leader for field goal percentage. Nicknamed “The A-Train”, he will once play in 670 consecutive games. He will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on August 12, 2011. In May 2012, he will be inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
1967 – Walter Washington is nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson as the first mayor of the newly reorganized municipal government of Washington, DC. In 1974, he was elected to the post, another first for an African American.
1970 – The Oakland Athletics’s Vida Blue pitches a no-hitter against the Minneapolis Twins, 6-0.
1971 – Alfonso Ribeiro is born in the Bronx, New York. He will become an actor/pianist and is best known for his roles as Alfonso on the television program “Silver Spoons” and Carlton Banks on the program “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”
1981 – Belize gains independence from Great Britain.
1985 – Michael Spinks becomes the first light heavyweight to defeat the reigning heavyweight champion when he defeats Larry Holmes.
1989 – Army General Colin Powell receives Senate confirmation as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military position in the United States, thereby becoming the military’s highest-ranking African American.
1990 – Pittsburgh Pirate Barry Bonds is the second person to hit 30 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season.
2009 – The Rev. John “Bootsie” Wilson, a former lead singer and last surviving member of the soul group The Silhouettes, joins the ancestors, at his home in Spartanburg, South Carolina.