Teacher and minister, Henry Adams was born, 1802

Johnson was born on December 17, 1934, in Lagos, Nigeria.

Sculptor, Marion Perkins, died on 12/17/61. During the Depression of the thirties, Marion Perkins sold papers at a newsstand on Chicago"s South Side. In his free moments at the stand he busied himself whittling on bars of soap. Peter Pollack, then director of the Community Art Center Division of the Illinois Art Project introduced Perkins to Si Gordon, a sculptor, who at the time was teaching at the South Side Community Art Center. Perkins work earned the recognition of the Rosenwald Foundation, and won the Art Institute of Chicago sculpture purchase prize of 1951.

Michael Jordan is named 1991 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year

Noble Sissle died on this day in his home in Tampa, Florida. Prior to his death he teamed up with Eubie Blake. Sissle wrote the lyrics and sang the songs while Blake composed and played the music.

Eddie Kendricks is born in Union Springs, Alabama. He will become

one of the original members of the Motown group, "The Temptations".

He will begin a solo career in 1971 and will have many successful

hits such as "Keep on Truckin" and "Boogie Down." In 1982, he will

rejoin the Temptations for a reunion tour and again in 1989, when

the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He

will succumb to cancer in 1992.

Before his death on this day, James P. Thomas opened a barbershop in his Tennessee home; over his lifetime he accumulated almost $100,000 in assests and property.

Spingarn Medal presented to Henry ("Hank") Aaron "for his memorable home-run record which stands as a landmark" and for his sportsmanship.

George and Noble Johnson founded the Lincoln Motion Picture Company in 1916. It was the first black-owned production company, it produced films exclusively for African Americans.

Lincoln goal was to offer audiences positive African American images.

Their first production was titled, "The Realization of a Negro Ambition," produced in 1916.

Queen Nzingha, amazon queen of matamba west africa, joins the ancestors on this day. Nzingha was a warrior queen who waged war again Europeans. Her formation of strategic alliances and fighting prowess urged other great african leaders totake a stand against the colonialism/imperialistic regimes of Europeans.

Deborah Sampson Gannett, who disguised herself as a man in order to fight in the Revolutionary War, is born in Plymouth, VA

U.S. Senator from South Carolina, Timothy Eugene Scott is the first black Republican elected to the Senate from the South since Senator Blanche Kelso Bruce served in that body representing Mississippi from 1876 to 1881. He is also the first Republican Senator elected since Edward Brooke represented Massachusetts in that body in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Before his appointment to the Senate post on December 17, 2012, Scott was a Congressman representing South Carolina"s 1st Congressional District.  Elected during the 2010 midterm elections, he was also the first black Republican elected to the House of Representatives from South Carolina since George Washington Murray, who served in Congress from 1896 to 1897.  

Senator Scott was born on September 19, 1965 in North Charleston and grew up in this impoverished neighborhood.  His parents divorced when he was seven.  In order to make ends meet, his mother, Frances, worked sixteen hour days as a nurse’s assistant, a profession which she still holds.  Scott’s older brother is a U.S. Army officer, stationed in Germany.        

Tim Scott graduated from Charleston Southern University with a B.S. degree in Political Science in 1988.  He began his professional life selling insurance door-to-door.  Over the years, the business, Tim Scott Allstate Insurance, developed into a highly successful company.  Scott is also a partner in the Pathway Real Estate Group.

In 1995, Scott was elected to the Charleston County Council, becoming the first black Republican to hold a countywide elected office since Reconstruction.  He served on the Council for thirteen years, rising to the position of Council Chair in 2008.  

In 2010 Scott won the vacated seat of Republican Congressman Henry Brown, Jr. When Scott decided to enter the race for Congress, he raised $725,000, far more than the $20,000 of his closest challenger. He subsequently won a resounding victory in the nine-candidate Republican primary.  Among his opponents was Carroll Campbell III, the son of the late governor.  In the

South Africa mandates League of Nations mandate over Southwest Africa

Art Neville is born. He will become a member of the popular

singing group, "The Neville Brothers."

Congressman Charles Diggs, Jr. resigns from the U.S. Delegation to the UN in protest of the Nixon Administration"s African policies.

On December 17, 1663 Queen Nzingha of Angola died at the age of 81. Belonging to the ethnic group known as the Jugas, Nzingha led the stiffest opposition to European dominaion in Africa"s interior, winning battle after battle against the Portuguese.