Rodney Slater is named Secretary of Transportation by President Bill Clinton. Slater had previously served as director of the Federal Highway Administration and as an advisor to Bill Clinton while he was serving as governor of Arkansas.

Congressman, labor activist and civil rights leader Charles Hayes dies in Chicago.

The Museum of African American History Opens in Detroit, Michigan. It is the largest museum in the world devoted to African American history.

Tiger Woods wins his first Masters Golf Tournament on this date. He won by a record margin and was the youngest player to ever win.

President Bill Clinton gave a formal apology to the Tuskegee study patients and their families for the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment on this date.

Lawyer and civil rights activist Jewel Lafontant MANkarious dies of breast cancer in Chicago.

Betty Shabazz, widow of civil rights leader Malcolm X, died on this date in Yonkers, New York from burn injuries suffered in a house fire three weeks earlier. Shabazz was a mother of six daughters who worked as a nurse and teacher. After Malcolm's assassination, she went on to earn a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts. She traveled around the country giving speeches about racial equality and spoke at the Million Man March.

The funeral for Betty Shabazz was held on this date.

Composer Regina Harris Baiocchi wrote the libretto for Dreamhoppers, a one-act musical drama in 1997. Dreamhoppers is set in Chicago during the spring of 1988 at a group therapy session. As the drama progresses, the stories of four female characters each of whom has attempted suicide begin to unfold in this widely performed work.

Audrey Forbes Manley begins her term as the president of Spelman College. She is the first alumnus of Spelman to hold this post.

Michael Powell becomes a commissioner for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on this date. In 2001, President George W. Bush appoints Powell to become chairman of the FCC.

The Million Woman March was held on this date in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The march called for all women of African descent to come together and repent, resurrect, and restore themselves and the Black community as a whole.

Ray Charles' hit Hit the Road Jack reached the top spot on the R&B charts on this date after being re-released along with several other Ray Charles tunes.