Facts

On February 21, 1965, former Nation of Islam leader and influential Black Human Rights leader Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City.

1984: Musician  and entertainer Michael Jackson wins 8 Grammy Awards. His album,  “Thriller” remains one of the top-grossing albums of all time.

1869: Congress adopted the 15th Amendment, making it illegal for the US to deny the right to vote based on “race, color or previous condition of servitude.”

1928: Singer “Fats” Domino was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.

1964: Cassius Clay, widely known as Muhammad Ali, becomes World Heavyweight boxing champion after defeating Sonny Liston.

1864: After graduating from New England Female Medical College, Rebecca Lee Crumpler becomes the first black woman to receive an M.D.

1965: Constance Baker Motley is elected Manhattan Borough president, the highest elective office held by a Black woman in a major American city.

1989: DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince win the first Rap Grammy for the hit single “Parents Just Don’t Understand.”

1927: Sidney Poitier is born in Miami, FL and raised in the Bahamas. In 1963, he was the 1st African American to win the Oscar for Best Actor.

1940: Soul singer William “Smokey” Robinson born in Detroit, Michigan. Smokey was an original member of Motown’s first vocal group, The Miracles.

On this day, Toni Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio in 1931. She went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for her novel “Beloved.”

Today is the birthdate of wildly successful Basketball player and lucrative business man, Michael Jeffrey Jordan. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1963.