Black - African American History Facts

Harriet Tubman, abolitionist, author, and engineer of the "Underground Railroad," died in Auburn, NY, on this date in 1913.

In a Memphis, TN, court, on this date in 1969, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to killing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ray was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Maya Angelou, esteemed poet and activist, premiered Georgia, Georgia on this date in 1972 and became the first black woman to have a motion picture produced.

The Senate confirmed Louis Wade Sullivan Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) on this date in 1989. Sullivan was President of the Morehouse School of Medicine and was succeeded in that position by James A. Goodman.