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 -

BlackFacts Details

Spingarn Award: Ken B. Clark

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Alveda King on Race Relations and MLK

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