Black - African American History Facts

Matthew A. Henson, explorer and the first person to reach the North Pole, was born in Culver City, MD, on this date in 1866.

Clement G. Morgan was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar on this date in 1893. Morgan holds the distinction of being the first black person to hold two degrees from Harvard University. He earned both a Baccalaureate and Master's in Law.

William Augustus Hinton, developer of the "Hinton Test" for diagnosing syphilis, died in Canton, MA, on this date in 1959.

Forty-six-year-old Julian "Cannonball" Adderly, jazz saxophonist and bandleader, died in Gary, IN, on this date in 1975.

Minister and civil rights activist, A. W. Wilson, died in Montgomery, AL, on this date in 1989. Wilson's church was a rallying point for the 1955 bus boycott.

Robert L. Curbeam, astronaut, began an 11-day mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on this date in 1997. During the flight (STS-85), the astronauts studied the Earth's ozone layer.