ED DANAHUE

Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.)
(January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)

CAMILLE BOHANNON

Charles Robert Redford Jr. is a actor, director and producer
and the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy
Award from four nominations, a British Academy Film Award,
Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2014, two Golden Globe
Awards, the Cecil B. DeMille Award and Time named him one
of the 100 most influential people in the world. He’s 36 today.

Appearing on stage in the late 1950s, Redford’s television
career began in 1960, including an appearance on The
Twilight Zone in 1962 (below).

The Twilight Zone episode: "Nothing in the Dark."

1969

Nichelle Nichols (Grace Dell Nichols)
(December 28, 1932 – July 30, 2022)

Actress, singer and dancer Nichelle Nichols is best
known for her portrayal of Nyota Uhura in Star Trek:
The Original Series, and its film sequels. Nichols’
portrayal was ground-breaking for African American
actresses on American television. From 1977 until
2015, Nichols volunteered her time to promote
NASA‘s programs, and to recruit diverse astronauts,
including women and ethnic minorities. Nichols died
of natural causes.

Singer, actress, and fashion designer Vanessa Williams
turned 59 in March.

On July 23, 1984, 21-year-old Vanessa Williams gave up her
Miss America title, the first resignation in the pageant’s history,
after Penthouse magazine announces plans to publish nude
photos of the beauty queen in its September issue. Williams
originally made history on September 17, 1983, when she
became the first Black woman to win the Miss America crown.

Miss New Jersey, Suzette Charles (below), the first runner-up
and also African American, assumed Williams’ tiara for the two
months that remained of her reign. 

   

Suzette Charles

Deeply in debt and relegated to a shabby theater, the musical
Shuffle Along debuted at the Sixty-Third Street Music Hall on
May 23, 1921. The odds were stacked against the revue-style
show, written and performed by African Americans, but it ran
for over a year, making it the first major Black American musical
on the Great White Way.

Shuffle Along was written by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake,
shown below,vaudeville veterans who worked together for
over six decades.