Ellis Wilson, painter, dies

Sharon Pratt Dixon was sworn in as mayor of the District of Columbia. Dixon succeeded Marion Barry who was convicted of cocaine possession in the summer of 1990.

United States population: 293,200,000. Black population: 22,600,000 (11.1 per cent). Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, President-Emeritus, Morehouse College, named president of Atlanta Board of Education.

Historian John Hope Franklin was born, 1915

Pernell Whitaker is a retired professional boxer and former world champion. He was born on January 2, 1964 and started his boxing career at the age of 9. During his amateur days he had 214 fights, of which he won 201. Roughly a little less than half of these victories were by knockout. In the final of the 1982 World Championships, he lost to then Olympic gold medalist Angel Herrera , but managed to defeat him later on in his career. In 1984, he won the Olympic Gold Medal. Soon he ventured into professional boxing, gaining his first major victory over Alfredo Layne in December 1986 and a few months later, over World Boxing Association featherweight champion Roger Mayweather in March 1987.

In March 1988, he challenged the WBC Lightweight champion José Luis Ramírez for his title. The fight took place in France, and the match was a close call, with Ramírez emerging as the victor. Many fans and critics challenged the decision and felt that Whitaker was the deserving winner. He fought Ramírez again in August the following year, and was able to emerge victorious this time. He also won the IBF Lightweight title in February of the same year by defeating Greg Haugen. In 1990, he became the undisputed lightweight champion by defeating Juan Nazario in just one round.

In 1992, he won the IBF light welterweight title by defeating a Columbian boxer named Rafael Pineda. The following year, he became the WBC Welterweight Champion. One of the biggest fights of his career was against Julio César Chávez in September 1993. The fight took place in San Antonio, Texas. In a controversial decision, the fight was labeled a majority draw, much to the chagrin of fans and critics. Many popular sports and boxing magazines such as Boxing Illustrated and Sports Illustrated criticized the decision. Whitaker was finally able to defeat Chávez and win the WBA light-middleweight title in March 1995.

He successfully managed to defend his WBC title against Gary Jacobs in 1995. In 1997, Pernell Whitaker fought an aggressive Cuban fighter named

Voter registration drive, led by Martin Luther King Jr., started in Selma, Alabama.

Cuba Gooding Jr, actor born , Bronx NY, January 2, 1968

In January 1809 the African American community of New York celebrated the first anniversary of the passage of the Slave Importation Ban passed by Congress. That celebration, however, would be the last. By the following year it was clear that the law prohibiting the “foreign” slave trade was being ignored and the federal government seemed unlikely to enforce it. Yet, on January 2, 1809, William Hamilton (1773-1836), a carpenter by trade and the President and cofounder of the New York Society for Mutual Relief, used the occasion to give a stirring address at the Universalist Church in New York City. His talk marks the anniversary and explains the aims of the New York Society for Mutual Relief. Hamilton even manages to praise young Rev. Peter Williams, Jr. who gave an address the year before at the New York African Church. However he also uses the occasion to critique claims of black inferiority. The address appears below.

My Brethren and Fellow Members of the New York African Society, for Mutual Relief, I congratulate you on this first anniversary of a day which has produced an event that, for its importance to Africans and descendants, stands unrivaled; an event that long and arduous have been the exertions of many philanthropic characters to bring forth; an event that every benevolent mind rejoices to see. This day we are met with hearts big with gratitude, to celebrate an act of congress of the United States of America, which for its justice and humanity, outstrips any that have ever passed that honorable body; by an act bearing date March the second, eighteen hundred and seven, and which became an effectual law, January the first, eighteen hundred and eight, that species of commerce designated the slave trade was abolished.

This abominable traffic, the most execrable and inhuman that ever was practiced, had been carried on for olympiads and centuries, and the tide of misery flowing through this channel had arisen to an incalculable height. The wretched victims of the trade were not only deprived of lifes

Paul Douglas Freeman has conducted outstanding classical orchestras in many countries during his long career. One of the few African American conductors in the field of classical music, he is best known for his founding of the Chicago Sinfonietta, a classical orchestra widely recognized during the past 25 years for both its ethnic and racial diversity and its attempt to broaden the appeal of classical music to “non-traditional” audiences.  

Born January 2, 1936, in Richmond, Virginia, to a music-loving family of modest means, Freeman and his 11 siblings enjoyed symphony and opera radio broadcasts. Even though his father ran a small produce store, he and most of his siblings were given instruments early in their childhoods to encourage the study of classical music. Paul began piano at five, then moved on to the clarinet and cello. When his high school band conductor became ill, he directed the performance at age 17, obtaining his first experience with conducting.  

Freeman entered the Eastman School of Music on a scholarship in 1952. There he met his wife Cornelia, a piano and organ major. His BA degree in 1956 was followed a year later by an MA degree.  He then received a Fulbright Fellowship to study operatic and orchestral conducting at the Höchschule für Music in Berlin, Germany. Freeman returned to Eastman for a doctorate in music in 1963.

The conducting future in the United States looked uncertain in 1963: he was both black and an American where most major orchestras throughout the nation were led by European-born conductors. Gradually his career and reputation flourished. Eventually he was associated with over a hundred orchestras in 28 countries in North America, Europe, and Latin America.

By 1987 Freeman had returned to the United States and founded Chicago Sinfonietta.  He also served as its first director and conductor. When he retired 24 years later in 2011, the Sinfonietta had achieved its primary goal: to promote diversity and inclusiveness throughout its organization, its musicians’ roster, its

Erroll Garner, pianist and composer, dies. He was considered the best selling jazz pianist in the world, most famous for the jazz standard Misty.

Clifton Reginald Wharton becomes the new president of Michigan State University, 1970

Aaron Dixon was born in Chicago on January 2, 1949.  He moved with his family to Seattle at a young age and grew up in the city’s historically black Central District. Influenced by his parents’ commitment to social justice, Dixon became one of the leading activists in the Seattle area and a founding member of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party.

While a student at the University of Washington, Dixon played a key role in the formation of the first Black Students’ Union (BSU), as well as the Seattle chapter of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Through the BSU, Dixon worked to organize BSU chapters and protests at Garfield, Franklin and Rainier Beach High Schools.

In the spring of 1968, while attending the funeral of teenager Bobby Hutton in Oakland, California, Dixon met Bobby Seale who along with Huey P. Newton co-founded the Black Panther Party for Self Defense (BPP).  The Panther leadership was impressed by 19 year-old Dixon and he was given instructions to form the Seattle Chapter.   With his appointment as Captain of the Seattle Chapter, he formed the first branch of the BPP outside of California. 

Dixon and his fellow Panthers were able to turn their Panther chapter into a thriving center of militant Black activism and community service in Seattle’s Central District.

From the Party’s headquarters on Yesler Way, Dixon and the Panthers created a free medical clinic (still in operation today as the Carolyn Downs Clinic), five breakfast programs for schoolchildren, the first free food bank in Seattle, a prisoner visitation program, and free legal services for poor people.  The Party also responded to calls from the community regarding police brutality and harassment. 

By the 1970s, the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party had forged ties with other groups in Seattle’s activist community including the organizations leading the anti-Vietnam War Movement.  In 1972, Dixon, along with other Panther Chapter leaders from across the nation, moved to the Black Panther Party

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander

becomes the first African American to earn a Ph.D in

economics is born in Philadelphia ,PA.

Taye Diggs was born on January 2, 1971 in Newark, New Jersey. He is the oldest of five children born to Marcia and Andre Young. Diggs grew up in Rochester, New York where he attended Allendale Columbia School. He later transferred to School of the Arts. He also received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Syracuse University. Diggs participated in many theatre productions as a child and also made his Broadway debut with the Tony award winning musical “Carousel”. His first major career role was in the musical “Rent” which won a Tony Award as well as a Pulitzer Prize. It was on the set of “Rent” that he met his future wife, Idina Menzel. He also starred in the movie version of the play, which was made in 2005. Diggs and Menzel have one son named Walker Nathaniel Diggs, born in September 2009. The couple divorced in 2014 after more than ten years of marriage.

His next role was in the “The Wild Party” where he starred opposite Idina. Diggs had a small appearance in the Broadway production “Wicked” as well. After this, Diggs accepted a role on the television soap opera “Guiding Light”. He made his big-screen debut with the film “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” which cast him into the Hollywood spotlight. His other films include “Go”, “AWOL Groom”, “The Wood” and “The House on Haunted Hill”. He also featured on an episode of “America’s Next Top Model”. He made a guest appearance on the television drama “Ally McBeal”. Diggs was cast in the film version of “Chicago” to play the character of the Bandleader. He also appeared in the Broadway version, but played a different character, Billy Flynn.

Taye Diggs next got the lead role on a television show called “Kevin Hill” which only ran for one season, despite excellent ratings with viewers and critics. He then made an appearance on an episode of “Punk’d” which was hosted by actor Ashton Kutcher. He also appeared on the final season of the popular television sitcom “Will and Grace” on which he played Will’s love interest. He then starred in an ABC drama called “Daybreak” on which

Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. was the first African American Attorney General of the United States. He was born on January 2, 1951, to Eric and Miriam Holder in New York City. Eric and Miriam had both migrated from Barbados. Eric worked as a real estate agent and Miriam worked as a telephone operator. Holder initially attended a public school in Queens, but later got selected to attend a school for intellectually advanced children. This was mainly a white majority school, which was very different from what Holder had been used to. He then qualified to attend an elite private school called Stuyvesant High School, which was an hour and a half away from his neighborhood in Queens.

Not only was Holder academically gifted, he was also an active sportsman, serving as the captain of the basketball team at school. He graduated from high school in 1969, after which he received a Regents Scholarship. He chose to attend Columbia University. He was very active in college, where he played basketball, was interested in theatre and drama, and also coached youth programs. He graduated from Columbia in 1973 with a degree in American History, and then attended Columbia Law School. During law school, Holder also served as a clerk at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Legal Defense Fund, as well as the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice. He graduated from Columbia Law School in 1976.

As part of the Honors program, Eric Holder was offered a job at the attorney general’s office. He was placed in the Public Integrity Section, which was a division set up to prosecute criminal activity at official levels. In 1988, he was nominated to be an associate judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by then U.S. President Ronald Reagan. He tried hundreds of criminal and civil cases in that capacity. In 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated him for the post of U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., making him the first African American to hold that position. In that capacity, he worked to reduce

The first National Negro Catholic Congress is held in Washington. D. C.

Antislavery petition from free Blacks of Philadelphia presented to Congress.

David Norman Dinkins began his first working day as mayor

of New York City with a 7:00 a.m. appearance on NBC-TVs

Today show. After defeating former mayor Edward Koch

in the September Democratic primaries and then, by a small

margin, beating Republican Rudolph Guiliani in the general

election, Dinkins had become the first African-American mayor

of Americas largest City.

Mississippi legislature met. John R Lynch was elected Speaker of the house at the age of twenty-four.

Franklin was born in Rentiesville, Oklahoma on January 2, 1915 to parents Buck, a Tulsa attorney, and Mollie Franklin.