Activist and educator Angela Davis runs for Vice President of the United States on the Communist Party ticket. She will run again in 1984.

Robert L. Johnson launches Black Entertainment Television on cable. The network begins airing in the Washington, D.C. area.

Olympic track and field gold medalist Jesse Owens died on this date. He was the first American track and field athlete to win four gold medals in a single Olympics in 1936. He won the gold in both the 100 and 200 meter dash, the broad jump, and the 400 meter relay.

Wife of the only Black to perish on the Titanic, Juliette Laroche, died on this date in Paris, France. Her husband was named Joseph Phillippe Lemercier Laroche. He made sure that his wife and two children made it to a lifeboat.

The worst rioting since the late 1960s erupts in Miami following the controversial acquittal of 4 white deputy sheriffs accused of beating to death a black insurance executive. At least 15 people die in the riots and more than 216 are wounded.

Vernon Jordan, president of the National Urban League, is seriously injured in an assassination attempt in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He will step down from the organization following his successful recovery.

The first annual Black College Day is held in Washington, D.C. More than 18,000 students attend the conference. Today, Black College Day is held annually on the last Monday of September as per a United States Congressional Decree.

Gus Savage is elected to the United States House of Representatives in the 2nd Congressional District. He will serve until 1993.

WHMM-TV in Washington, D.C. becomes the first African American-owned public-broadcasting station in the United States.

The first Black-operated public radio station, WHHM, went on the air at Howard University on this date in Washington, D.C.