Black - African American History Facts

Robert Brown Elliot, reconstructionalist and South Carolina legislative assemblyman, died on this date in 1884. Elliot was one of the most brilliant black politicians of his era. He was born to West Indian immigrants on August 11, 1842.

Robert Nelson C. Nix, Sr., the first black Congressman from Pennsylvania, was born in Orangeburg, SC, on this date in 1905.

Jesse Owens won his fourth Olympic Gold Medal in Berlin on this date in 1936. Owens captured the Gold in the broad jump and the 100, 200, and 400-meter dashes.

James Benton Parsons, an appointee of President John F. Kennedy, became the first black person to receive a lifetime appointment as a U.S. District Court Judge on this date in 1961.

The TLC Group, headed by Reginald Lewis, purchased Beatrice Foods International on this date in 1987-the largest business acquisition ever obtained by blacks.

Abner Louima, a 30-year-old Haitian immigrant, was savagely beaten, tortured, and sexually assaulted by New York City police officers on this date in 1997.