*                 Today in Black History - August 2              *

1847 - William A. Leidesdorff,  born in the Danish West Indies to a
        Danish father and a Black native mother, opens the first
        commercial steamship service on San Francisco Bay.

1920 - Marcus Garvey presents his "Back To Africa" program in New
        York City.

1924 - James Baldwin is born in New York City.  He will become one
        of the most prolific and influential African American authors
        of fiction ("Go Tell it on the Mountain", "Another Country",
        "Giovanni's Room"), drama ("Blues for Mr. Charlie", "Amen
        Corner"), and essay collections ("Notes of a Native Son",
        "The Fire Next Time").

1945 - Jewell Jackson (later McCabe) is born in Washington, DC.  She
        will become president of the Coalition of 100 Black Women,
        whose mission is to develop a forum for African American
        women leaders.

1946 - Bob Beamon, long jumper (will win Olympic gold in 1968 for a
        long jump of 29' 2" (8.9m)), is born.

1951 - While manning his machine gun during a surprise attack on his
        platoon on this day, private first class William Henry
        Thompson of Company M, Twenty-fourth Infantry Regiment,
        becomes the first African American to earn the Medal of Honor
        in the Korean conflict.

1964 - A race riot begins in Jersey City, New Jersey.

1966 - The Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School, later Charles
        R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, is chartered in
        Los Angeles, California.  It is the only African American-
        focused medical school west of the Mississippi.

1967 - "In the Heat of the Night", starring Sidney Portier and Rod
        Steiger, premieres.

1967 - Claude A Barnett, who founded the Associated Negro Press, dies
        at the age of 78.

1980 - Thomas "Hit Man" Hearns wins the WBA Welterweight title. This
        is one of five weight classes in which he has won a boxing
        title, making him the first African American to win boxing
        titles in five different weight classes.

1982 - Jackie Robinson, the first African American to break the color
        barrier in major league baseball, is honored by a commemorative
        stamp issued by the Postal Service, the fifth in its Black
        Heritage USA series.

1986 - Jackie Joyner-Kersee (United States) sets record for the
        heptathlon (7161 pts).

        *********************************************************
        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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