*                  Today in Black History - July 2              *

1777 - Vermont, not one of the original 13 states, becomes the first
        U.S. territory to abolish slavery.

1822 - Denmark Vesey, slave insurrectionist leader, and 5 aides are
        hanged in Blake's Landing, Charleston, South Carolina.

1908 - Thurgood Marshall is born in Baltimore, Maryland.  He will
        have the most distinguished legal career of any African
        American as the NAACP's national counsel, director-counsel
        of the  organization's Legal Defense and Educational Fund,
        and leader of some of the most important legal challenges
        for African Americans' constitutional rights, including
        "Brown v. Board of Education" in 1954.  In addition to
        sitting as a circuit judge for the Second Circuit, Marshall
        will be named U.S. Solicitor General in 1965 and associate
        justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967, where he will
        serve for 24 years.

1925 - Patrice Lumumba, revolutionary and first prime minister of the
        Republic of the Congo, is born in Stanleyville, Belgian Congo.

1927 - Brock Peters, actor/singer (Carmen Jones, To Kill a
        Mockingbird), is born.

1930 - Fritz "Ahmad Jamal" Jones, jazz pianist, is born.

1932 - Sammy Turner, vocalist (Lavender Blue) is born in Paterson,
        New Jersey.

1943 - Lt.  Charles Hall, of Brazil, Indiana, becomes the first
        African American pilot in World War II to shoot down a Nazi
        plane.

1946 - Anthony Overton, publisher, cosmetics manufacturer and banker,
        dies in Chicago, Illinois at the age of 81.

1964 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Bill, which
        includes public accommodation and fair employment sections.
        The Civil Rights Act prohibits segregation in employment,
        education, and public accommodation on the basis of race, sex,
        age, national origin or religion.

1986 - The U.S. Supreme Court upholds affirmative action in two
        rulings.

1990 - "Devil in a Blue Dress", a mystery novel by Walter Moseley set
        in South-Central Los Angeles, is published.  Its realism and
        strong African American characters will earn its author
        enthusiastic praise and a nomination for best novel by the
        Mystery Writers of America.

        *********************************************************
        The source for these facts are "Encyclopedia Britannica,
        "InfoBeat," "I, Too, Sing America - The African American
        Book of Days," "Before the Mayflower", "Black Firsts" and
        independent research by the Information Man.
        *********************************************************

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