This Day In Quiztory

Today we commemorate abolitionist John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry in an attempt to start a slave revolt in the southern states

Today we shine a spotlight on blues singer and songwriter "Queen" Victoria Spivey

Today we celebrate Motown recording artists the Jackson 5

Today we celebrate basketball pioneer Nathaniel "Sweetwater" Clifton, the first African American to sign a contract with the NBA.

Today we shine a spotlight on playwright Charles Gordone, the first African American to win the annual Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Today we remember the life and legacy of author and inventor Benjamin Banneker, a self-taught mathematician and astronomer who played an integral role in surveying the nation's capital.

#OTD Pioneering rap group Run-DMC called for a day of peace in response to gang violence in Los Angeles

Today we shine a spotlight on poet and author Amiri Baraka

Today we shine a spotlight on women's rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer

Happy 88th birthday to politician Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, the first African American woman to represent the west coast in Congress

Today we celebrate the first African American Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall

Today we commemorate the Jerry Rescue, an event where abolitionist freed an escaped slave who had been arrested in Syracuse, NY under the Fugitive Slave Law

Today we celebrate activist James Meredith, the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi

Today we celebrate Chuck Cooper, the first African American to be drafted by an NBA team

Today we celebrate the life and legacy of jazz musician Miles Davis

#OTD in 1861, the Union Navy admitted the first African American sailors to serve during the Civil War

Today we shine a spotlight on the Little Rock Nine. Nine black students who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas

Today we wish a happy heavenly birthday to Grammy Award winning singer and songwriter Ray Charles

#OTD in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation that would eventually free slaves within the rebellious states

Today we salute the fastest woman of all time, Florence Griffith-Joyner.