Toni Morrison publishes Tar Baby. Within one month, it will be on the best-seller list for the New York Times. She will go on to win a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.

Grant Fuhr, goalie for the world champion Edmunton Oilers, is picked in the first round of the NHL draft to become the first black player in the league.

Joe Louis, heavywieght boxing champion, dies at the age of 66. He held the world title for a record 12 years and won 68 of his 71 professional fights.

Founded by Dr. Louis Sullivan, the Morehouse Medical School is chartered by the State of Georgia and becomes independent of Morehouse College.

Edward Marlow McIntyre was elected mayor of Augusta, Georgia on this date. McIntyre became Augusta's first Black mayor.

Thirman L. Milner became New England's first Black mayor when he was elected mayor of Hartford, Connecticut on this date.

Pam Johnson was named publisher of New York's Ithaca Journal on this date. Johnson became the first Black woman to be head of a general circulation newspaper.

The Marva Collins Story airs on CBS, a made-for-television movie about the legendary educator who started her own school in the inner-city of Chicago, Illinois.

Boxer Sugar Ray Leonard is named by Sports Illustrated magazine as the Sportsman of the Year, describing him as filling the void that Muhammad Ali left when he retired.