|
| Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
 |
|
 |
|
Following the retirement of Thurgood Marshall, Judge Clarence Thomas is nominated by President George Bush to the Supreme Court. His nomination is highly contested, after former employee Anita Hill, a law professor at the University of Oklahoma, testifies that Thomas had repeatedly sexually harassed her. Despite the charges, aired during nationally televised hearings,the Senate confirms Thomas's appointment.
|
|
|
|
|
The Civil Rights Act of 1991 makes it easier for employees to sue their employers for job discrimination.
|
|
|
|
|
Black Entertainment Television (BET) Holdings, Inc., founded by Robert L. Johnson, becomes the first African American company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
|
|
|
 |
|
Rioting in Los Angeles follows the acquittal of four white policemen caught on videotape beating African American motorist Rodney King.
|
|
|
|
|
Carol Mosely-Braun (D-IL) becomes the first female African American U.S. senator.
|
|
|
|
|
John Singleton is the first African American, and the youngest director ever, to be nominated for a best new director Oscar, for his film Boyz N the Hood.
|
|
|
|
|
W. Lincoln Hawkins, Ph.D., wins the National Medal of Technology. During his lifetime, he secured over 140 patents. He helped make universal telephone service available through his work as the first African American scientist at Bell Labs.
|
|
|
 |
|
Mae Jemison becomes the first African American woman in space as part of the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour.
|
|
|
|
|
Poet Rita Dove becomes the first African American poet laureate of the United States.
|
|
|
|
|
Author Toni Morrison is the first African American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
|
|
|
|
|
Dr. Jocelyn Elders becomes the first African American woman to serve as Surgeon General.
|
|
|
 |
|
Former football player O.J. Simpson is charged with the murder of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman. He will be acquitted in 1995 after a hugely controversial trial.
|
|
|
|
|
The Florida legislature agrees to compensate survivors of a 1923 incident in which a white mob destroyed the African American town of Rosewood, located on the Gulf Coast.
|
|
|
 |
|
AIDS is found to be the leading cause of death among African American women aged 25-44.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
