This Day In Quiztory

#OTD Willie Mays tallied his first career hit in Major League Baseball, a home run, three days after his debut with the New York Giants

#OTD Doris Miller was awarded a Navy Cross for his heroic actions during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was the first African American to receive that honor.

#OTD Tennis player Althea Gibson became the first African American to win a Grand Slam title with her victory at the French Championships

#OTD Entertainer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was born in Richmond, Virginia

#OTD Anthony Burns, an escaped slave from Virginia, was arrested by U.S.Marshals under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

#OTD Jazz pianist Fats Waller, widely known for his compositions Ain't Misbehavin' and Honeysuckle Rose, was born in New York, NY.

#OTD The United States Navy expanded the roles for African American enlistees permitting them to serve in non-servant roles

#OTD Blanche Kelso Bruce was appointed Register of the United States Treasury

#OTD President Richard Nixon rejected recommendations presented to him by the newly named Congressional Black Caucus.

#OTD Hall of fame baseball player James "Cool Papa" Bell was born in Starkville, MS

#OTD Tennis champion Arthur Ashe was chosen as the first African American to play Davis Cup for the United States

Happy 70th birthday to Sharon Sayles Belton, the first female and first African American mayor of Minneapolis, MN.

#OTD Literary and music critic Albert Murray was born in Nokomis, AL

#OTD William Grant Still, known as the "Dean of African American composers," was born in Woodville, MS.

#OTD The Apollo Theater unveiled its Walk of Fame in front of the famed theater on 125th Street in Harlem, NY.

#OTD The SS George Washington Carver, the second Liberty Ship named for an African American, was launched in Richmond, CA.

Happy 38th birthday to Academy Award nominated actress, Gabourey Sidibe!

#OTD Black-owned weekly periodical, The Chicago Defender, was founded by Robert Sengstacke Abbott

#OTD Provident Hospital and Training School, the first black owned hospital in the United States, opened on the south side of Chicago. Actor/director Ted Lange narrates.

#OTD The United States Supreme Court rendered a decision in the case Shelley v Kraemer that struck down racially restrictive housing covenants.