Publisher and entrepreneur Ken Smikle is born on this date in Harlem, New York. Smikle is the publisher and founder of Target Market News, considered the leading authority on marketing, advertising and media directed to the African American market.

Manager and director of marketing for the Black Media Group Melvin Hart was born on this date in Saint Matthews, South Carolina.

Author Ralph Ellison is presented with the National Book Award for his novel Invisible Man.

Journalist & Magazine Editor 1813">Lynn Norment is born.

Singer, Songwriter & Musician James Ingram is born.

Federal District Court Judge Denise Page Hood is born in Columbus, Ohio.

Investment banker Napoleon Brandford III is born in East Chicago, Indiana.

Foundation Executive Maxine Baker is born

Singleton Mcallister is born in Baltimore, Maryland. She will go on to a successful career as an attorney and advisor on Capitol Hill.

Entrepreneur Steven C. Roberts is born.

Medical pioneer Dr. Louis T. Wright was honored by the American Cancer Society on this date. Dr. Wright conducted research on treating cancer with chemotherapy. Dr. Wright was also the first Black to be appointed to a position in a municipal hospital in New York City. He also introduced an intradermal vaccination for small pox during his time in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army in World War I.

Actor of stage and screen Canada Lee died on this date in New York. Lee gained fame playing the role of Bigger Thomas in the theatrical adaptation of Richard Wright's Native Son. Lee also had a successful film career. Some of his films include Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat and Cry, The Beloved Country.

World Middleweight Champion "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler was born on this date in Newark, New Jersey. Hagler successfully defended his title 12 times. Out of 67 career bouts, Hagler won 62 of them, 52 by knockout.

Author and award-winning news producer A'Lelia Bundles is born in Chicago, Illinois.

Douglas Alan Mann, actor, producer and director, is born in Chicago, Illinois.

Radio executive Barry Mayo is born in Bronx, New York.

Drummer & Vocalist, Blind Boys of Alabama Eric McKinnie is born

Comedian George Wallace is born in Atlanta, Georgia.

Co-founder of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company Charles Clinton Spaulding died on this date in Durham, North Carolina.

Mayor, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 1883">Melvin L. "Kip" Holden is born.

Business executive, entrepreneur and founder and CEO of the Comfort Cake Company, 1915">Amy S. Hilliard, is born on this date in Detroit, Michigan.

Civic Leader & Educator 1870">Forrest C. Crawford is born.

Journalist Brenda Payton is born on this date in Omaha, Nebraska.

Pulitzer prize winning poet Rita Dove was born on this date in Akron, Ohio. Dove served as U.S. Poet Laureate from 1993 to 1995. Some of her books of poetry include American Smooth, Thomas and Beulah, and On the Bus with Rosa Parks.

Author, Poet & Educator Rita Dove is born.

William Warfield marries opera diva, Leontyne Price, his co-star in George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

Television News Reporter 1802">Roshell "Mike" Anderson is born.

Dentist 1920">Dr. St. Elmo W. Crawford, Jr. is born.

Charisse Lillie, corporate attorney, is born in Houston, Texas.

Philadelphia Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown is born in Sumter, South Carolina.

Production Sound Mixer & Sound Recordist Russell Williams, II is born.

Professional Storyteller 1960">Opalanga D. Pugh is born.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a pass decision of a lower court to end segregated interstate railway travel on this date.

Retired Insurance Executive Ronald D. McNeil is born.

Historian and educator Lonnie Bunch is born in Newark, New Jersey.

Honorable Thurbert Baker, the Attorney General of the State of Georgia, is born this day in Rocky Mounty, North Carolina.

On December 30, 1952, the Tuskegee Institute reports, that for the first time since it began keeping records more than seventy years before, no lynchings occurred in 1952.

Civil rights attorney and law school professor Charles Ogletree, Jr. is born in Merced, California.