More of the Timeline: 1980 - 1989 / 2000 -
• Sharon Pratt Kelly elected mayor of Washington, DC, the first African-American mayor of a major American city
• Roselyn Payne Epps became the first woman president of the American Medical Association
• Sarah Vaughan died (singer)
• Clarence Thomas nominated for a seat on the US Supreme Court; Anita Hill, who had worked for Thomas in the federal government, testified about repeated sexual harassment, bringing the issue of sexual harassment to public attention (Thomas was confirmed as Justice)
• (August 3) Jackie Joyner-Kersee became the first woman to win two Olympic heptathlons
• (September 12) Mae Jemison, astronaut, became the first African-American woman in space
• (November 3) Carol Moseley Braun elected to the US Senate, the first African-American woman to hold that office
• (November 17) Audre Lorde died (poet, essayist, educator)
• Rita Dove named the US Poet Laureate.
• Rita Dove became the first African American poet laureate
• Toni Morrison became the first African-American winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
• (April 8) Marian Anderson died (singer)
• (June 12) Supreme Court, in Adarand v. Pena, called for strict scrutiny before establishing any federal affirmative action requirements
• Ruth J. Simmons installed as president of Smith College in 1995. becoming the first African-American president of one of the Seven Sisters
• (June 23) Betty Shabazz, widow of Malcolm X, died of burns sustained in a June 1 fire in her home
• DNA evidence was used to test the theory that Thomas Jefferson fathered the children of a woman he enslaved, Sally Hemings -- most concluded that the DNA and other evidence confirmed the theory
• (September 21) track and field great Florence Griffith-Joyner died (athlete; first African-American to win four medals in one Olympics; sister-in-law of Jackie Joyner-Kersee)
• (September 26) Betty Carter died (jazz singer)
• (November 4) Daisy Bates died (civil rights activist)
More of the Timeline: 1980 - 1989 / 2000 -
