Real estate executive1991"> Richmond McCoy is born in upstate New York.

Hematologist1991"> & Education Administrator Joan Marie Prince is born.

W. Leonard Evans founds the National Negro Network, the fist African American-owned radio network. Programming is broadcast on forty stations.

Oprah Winfrey is born on this day in Kosciusko, Mississippi. She later goes on to become one of America's most popular television talk show hosts, and the first black woman billionaire.

Public health educator1991"> Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith is born on this date in Marshall, Texas.

Foundation executive, museum chief executive and philanthropist1991"> 1988">Amina J. Dickerson is born on this date in Washington, D.C.

Former president of the Interdenominational Theological Center1991"> Robert Franklin is born in Chicago, Illinois.

Newspaper managing editor1991"> Gayle Horton Gay is born on this date in Brooklyn, New York.

In1991"> Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court unanimously decides that racial discrimination in public schools is unconstitutional. The monumental decision overturns the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling and its "separate but equal" doctrine, by asserting that segregated public institutions are by nature unequal.

Artist1991"> Brenda Singletary is born on this date in Detroit, Michigan. Some of Singletary's artwork is a part of the White House's permanent art collection.

Fashion designer1991"> Brian Lane is born on this date in Brooklyn, New York.

The first African American Rhodes Scholar, Alain Locke was also a major driving force behind the1991"> Harlem Renaissance. He dies in New York City on this day.

President, TransAfrica Forum1991"> William Gerald Fletcher, Jr. is born

Former Mayor of Dallas1991"> Ron Kirk is born.

Non-Profit Executive1991"> Fannie Brown is born

Anesthesiologist1991"> Dr. Heloise Westbrook is born in Buffalo, New York.

Former St. Louis Mayor1991"> Freeman Bosley, Jr. is born.

Mary Church Terrell, black feminist and founder of the National Association of Colored Women, dies.

Media consultant, writer, and lawyer Michele Clark Jenkins was born on this date in Pennington, New Jersey.

Ralph J. Bunche, diplomat and the first black winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, is named undersecretary to the United Nations.

Corporate Executive1991"> Andrew Ingraham is born.

In compliance with the recent1991"> Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision, schools in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland are desegregated.

Singer1991"> Robert DeBlanc is born.

Clinical psychologist and educator1991"> Beverly Daniel Tatum is born on this date in Tallahassee, Florida.

Rev. Al Sharpton, minister and activist, is born in Brooklyn, New York.

Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. became the first Black general in the U.S. Air Force on this date when he was appointed1991"> brigadier general. Davis retired in 1970 with the rank of lieutenant general.

The U.S. Department of Defense abolished all-Black units in the armed forces on this date.

Charles C. Diggs became1991"> Michigan's first Black Congressman on this date when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Diggs went on to help found the Congressional Black Caucus and acted as its first chairman.

Academy Award winning actor1991"> Denzel Washington was born on this date in Mount Vernon, New York. Washington won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Glory, and later won one for Best Lead Actor for his role as Detective Alonzo Harris in Training Day. Washington's other film and television credits include St. Elsewhere, Malcolm X, The Hurricane, and Devil in a Blue Dress. He made his directorial debut in 2002 with Antwone Fisher.