Barry Gaither, founder of the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, is born in Great Falls, South Carolina.

Businessman and author1991"> Glegg Watson is born in Kingston, Jamaica.

Richard McKinney is named the first African American president of Storer College in Harpers Ferry, West1991"> Virginia.

The United States Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, orders that all naval vessels be integrated. However, full integration of the Armed Forces would not be achieved until 1949.

Religious leader and social activist1991"> Reverend T.L. Barrett is born in Jamaica, Long Island, New York.

Singer and original member of1991"> R&B group, The Marvelettes, Katherine Anderson Schaffner is born on this date in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Educator, newspaper columnist and activist1991"> 1987">Robert T. Starks is born on this date in Grenada, Mississippi.

Activist and educator1991"> Angela Davis is born in Birmingham, Alabama.

Former Washington, D.C. Mayor1991"> Sharon Pratt is born.

Insurance Executive1991"> 1973">Louis Dodd is born.

Radio broadcasting entrepreneur1991"> John Henry Heidelberg is born on this date in Shubuta, Mississippi.

Sculptor, Art Educator1991"> & Gallery Owner Preston Jackson is born

Attorney1991"> & Energy Executive Robert L. Harris is born.

Musician and educator William R. Hayes is born in Carbondale, Illinois.

Curator, Lecturer1991"> & Writer 1974">Carolyn Armenta Davis is born.

Documentary Film Producer1991"> & Former SNCC Activist Judy Richardson is born.

Former Educator1991"> & Illinois Commerce Commissioner 1821">Lula M. Ford is born.

Journalist1991"> & Educator 1908">Leon Dash is born.

Urologist1991"> Dr. Walter Ivey Delph is born.

Singer1991"> Diana Ross is born Diane Ross in Detroit, Michigan. She will go on to success with the Supremes and as a solo artist, having more number one records than any other female artist and earning a Tony Award for her Broadway show, An Evening With Diana Ross.

In1991"> Smith v. Allwright, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that blacks cannot be excluded from voting in primaries in the South. The decision means that southern blacks are fully enfranchised for the first time since Reconstruction.

Corporate general counsel Solomon Brown Watson, IV is born on this date in Salem, New Jersey.

University president Dorothy Cowser-Yancy is born on this date in Cherokee, Alabama.

University President1991"> Dorothy Cowser Yancy is born.

Hollywood Hairstylist1991"> Robert L. Stevenson is born.

The1991"> United Negro College Fund is founded, largely due to the influence of Dr. Frederick D. Patterson, president of Tuskegee Institute and an impassioned advocate of the right to education.

Psychologist and Professor1991"> Na'im Akbar is born in Tallahassee, Florida.

Kent Amos, founder of the Community Academy Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., is born in the nation's capital.

Community activist1991"> Carrie Davis is born in Chicago, Illinois.

Miledgeville Mayor1991"> Floyd Griffin is born in Miledgeville, Georgia.

R&B singer Patti LaBelle was born on this date in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. LaBelle became well-known with her girl group LaBelle. She went solo and scored hits with songs like1991"> Stir It Up, New Attitude, and On My Own.

R&B singer Gladys Knight was born on this date in1991"> Atlanta, Georgia. Knight started her professional music career with the Pips. They scored hits like I Heard It Through the Grapevine, Midnight Train to Georgia, and Love Overboard. Gladys Knight and the Pips were inducted into the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

Attorney1991"> Algernon Johnson Cooper, Jr. was born on this date in Mobile, Alabama.

Attorney1991"> David Baker Lewis is born on this date in Detroit, Michigan.

Attorney1991"> David Baker Lewis is born.

Administrator, City of Houston, Texas Maxie L. Patterson is born.

Cardiac surgeon1991"> Dr. Levi Watkins is born on this date in Parsons, Kansas.

Economist1991"> & Educator William D. Bradford is born.

Boys Choir of1991"> Harlem founder and director Walter J. Turnbull is born on this date in Greenville, Mississippi.

Management and investment consultant1991"> Barry Williams is born on this date in Mt. Vernon, New York.

Radio personality1991"> Richard Pegue is born in Chicago, Illinois.

African American sailors are accused of mutiny against the United States when they refuse to handle a dangerous type of ammunition. One month earlier, the same unit was loading the same type of ammunition onto a ship when it exploded, killing 320 men. With the charges of mutiny, the 50 men who would not go back to work are imprisoned and threatened with the death penalty. Thurgood Marshall, then serving as special counsel for the1991"> NAACP Legal Defense Fund, takes their case. In 1999, President Clinton pardoned one of the sailors.

Adam Clayton Powell Jr. is elected U.S. Representative from1991"> Harlem, New York. Powell goes on to chair the House Education and Labor Committee, where he gains celebrity for proposing legislation that would deny federal funds to racially segregated schools.

Artist, Historian, Curator1991"> & Educator Leslie King-Hammond is born.

Consultant1991"> James E. Clingman, Jr. is born

College educator and author1991"> Charles P. Henry is born on this date in Newark, Ohio.

Corporate Media Executive1991"> 1826">H. Melvin Ming is born.

Comedian and entertainer1991"> Carl Ray is born in Butler, Alabama.

Therapist1991"> & Educational Administrator Jacqueline Finney Brown is born.

Insurance Executive1991"> & Educator 1972">Alma Dodd is born.

Physicist1991"> Carl Spight is born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He will become a highly sought-after scientist and professor of physics.

Insurace Company Executive1991"> & CEO Thomas McLeary is born

Attorney1991"> Anthony W. Hall, Jr. is born.

Corporate lawyer1991"> Karen Hastie Williams is born on this date in Washington, D.C.

Arts administrator and educator1991"> Bennetta Nelson-West is born in Memphis, Tennessee.

Clark1991"> Atlanta University president Walter Broadnax was born on this date in Starr City, Arkansas.

Newspaper publisher1991"> Dorothy R. Leavell is born in Pine Bluffs, Arkansas.

Economist1991"> Dennis Terry is born.

Educator and literacy advocate1991"> Julius Wayne Dudley is born in Atlanta, Georgia.

Car dealership owner1991"> Mel Farr is born in Beaumont, Texas.

Singer and songwriter1991"> Scherrie Payne was born on this date in Detroit, Michigan.

Business Executive1991"> Marvin Early Perry is born.

Television producer1991"> 1947">Linda Torrence is born on this date in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Education Consultant1991"> 1953">Adrienne Y. Bailey is born.

Attorney1991"> & Foundation Executive Sanford Cloud is born

Salon Owner1991"> Leigh Jones is born.