Ruth J. Simmons named president of Smith College, becoming the first African-American woman to become the head of a major college or university.

William A. Hinton, first African-American member of the Harvard Medical School faculty and developer of the Hinton test to detect syphilis, born.

Singer Dinah Washington, “Queen of the Blues,” dies in Detroit.

John Mercer Langston, congressman and founder of Howard University Law Department, born in Louisa County, Virginia.

Former light-heavyweight boxing champion Archie Moore dies at eighty-four in San Diego.

Daniel A. Chapman becomes Ghana’s first ambassador to the United States.

First African American servicewomen sworn into the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) during World War II.

President Bill Clinton appoints five black men and one black woman to his White House Cabinet.

Willie Brown becomes first African- American mayor of San Francisco.

Jesse Leroy Brown becomes first African- American naval officer to die in combat.