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The Cosby Show, starring African American comedian Bill Cosby, premieres on television. It will become one of the most popular sit-coms in history. It also departs from what had been the usual negative stereotyping of African Americans on TV by showing an upper-middle-class, professional, well-educated family.
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The Philadelphia State Police bomb a house in Philadelphia occupied by an African American activist organization, MOVE. The bombing kills 11 occupants of the house and triggers a fire that destroys a neighborhood and leaves over 300 people homeless.
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Spike Lee's film She's Gotta Have It wins him the best new director award at the ultra-prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
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Ronald McNair, a mission specialist with NASA, dies on board the space shuttle Challenger, which explodes 73 seconds after liftoff.
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Reginald Lewis becomes the first African American to own a business with sales over $1 billion, by taking over Beatrice International Food Company.
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Earvin "Magic" Johnson is named the National Basketball Association's Most Valuable Player. He retires from the L.A. Lakers when he learns that he has contracted the HIV virus.
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Pope John Paul II appoints Eugene A. Marino, S.S.J. as archbishop of Atlanta. Archbishop Marino becomes the first African American Catholic archbishop in the United States.
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General Colin L. Powell is the first African American to be named chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. military.
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Oprah Winfrey, the first African American woman to host a nationally syndicated (and wildly popular) talk show, founds Harpo Productions to produce her own movies and TV shows. In 2000, Forbes magazine will estimate Winfrey's earnings at $150 million.
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Ron Brown becomes the first African American person to head a major national political party, as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. President Bill Clinton will later make him Secretary of Commerce. Brown will be killed in a plane crash in 1996.
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David Dinkins becomes the first African American mayor of New York City, and Douglas Wilder becomes the first African American state governor since Reconstruction by being elected in Virginia.
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Sculptor Martin Puryear is the sole artist from the United States chosen for the Sao Paulo Bienal in Brazil and is awarded the exhibition's grand prize.
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August Wilson wins a Pulitzer Prize for his play The Piano Lesson. He won his first Pulitzer in 1987 for Fences.
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The U.S. Census reveals an increase in the African American population to 12 percent of the total U.S. population, with over 50 percent of all African Americans still residing in southern states.
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