JANUARY 15 1908—Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first Black Greek letter sorority, is founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C., by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle of St. Louis, Mo. The sorority gradually branched out to other campuses and became one of the leading organizational vehicles for college-trained Black women to make their mark on Amer­ican society. 1929—Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the man who was to become America’s greatest civil rights hero, was born on this day in 1929. Ac­tually, his original given name was “Michael,” but it was later changed to Martin. He first rose to national prominence as the country’s premier civil rights leader when he success­fully led the 1955-1956 Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott by Blacks angered by the arrest of Rosa Parks for her refusal to give up her seat on a city bus to a White man. In 1957, King was elected to head the Southern Chris­tian Leadership Conference, which became the leading organization of the civil rights era. Between 1957 and 1968, he traveled more than six million miles, gave more than 2,500 speeches, was arrested more than 20 times, and physically assaulted at least four times—all on behalf of civil rights for American Blacks. Perhaps his most famous speech was the “I Have A Dream” speech given be­fore a crowd of 250,000 during the March on Washington Aug. 28, 1963. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and the nation now celebrates his birth as a national holiday on the third Monday of each January. But during his life, King also became the target of a massive FBI operation that some feel indirectly paved the way for his assassination in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968. During his “I Have A Dream” speech, King summarized the purpose of the march and the Civil Rights Move­ment: “But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sad­ly crippled by the manacles of seg­regation and the chains of discrim­ination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still lan­guished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.” 1961—One of the original super groups—The Supremes—signed with Black record company Motown on this day in 1961. The name was later changed to Diana Ross and the Supremes and the R&B singers rock­eted to international fame. JANUARY 16 1901—Hiram R. Revels, the first African-American elected to the United States Senate, died on this day in Aberdeen, Miss. Revels, a pol­itician, minister and educator was of Black and Cherokee descent. 1920—Zeta Phi Beta sorority was founded on the campus of How­ard University in Washington, D.C., by five socially conscious Black women. It became one of the na­tion’s leading Black sororities. It was founded as a sister organization to Phi Beta Sigma fraternity. 1950—Dancer-producer Debbie Allen is born on this day in Houston, Texas. She is perhaps best known for her work on the 1982 musical-dra­ma television series “Fame,” where she portrayed dance teacher Lyd­ia Grant, and served as the series’ principal choreographer. She is the younger sister of actress/director/ singer Phylicia Rashad. JANUARY 17   1759—Paul Cuffee is born near Dartmouth, Mass. He was one of the most prominent Blacks of the 1700s. Born of a Black father and an Indian mother, Cuffee grew wealthy as a whaling captain, ship builder and merchant. He was an ardent fighter for Black rights and built the first integrated school in the state. But in his later years he became frustrated with the slow progress for Black freedom and began to support a program calling for free Blacks to return to Africa and build a nation of their own. He actually financed and helped a small group of Blacks establish a base in the West African nation of Sierra Leone in 1815. His program ended with his death in 1818. 1874—Armed and racist Whites violently seize control of the Texas state government, bringing an end to Reconstruction and to post-Civ­il War Black rights and gains in the state. Actually, when it became clear that President Andrew John­son was a friend of the old South and had no intention of enforcing rights for Blacks, Texas-style armed revolts took place in several South­ern states in which integrated gov­ernments violently and illegally driven from office. 1927—Multi-lingual singer, dancer and actress Eartha Kitt is born in a small plantation town called North, S.C. But when abandoned by her mother because her second hus­band did not want to raise a mixed-race child, she was raised by an aunt in New York City. Kitt became a star of stage and screen, including playing the role of Cat Woman in the Batman television series. The U.S. entertainment industry would not touch her for nearly 10 years after a 1968 White House luncheon during which she angered President Lyn­don Johnson’s wife by criticizing the war in Vietnam. Kitt died in Decem­ber 2008 at the age of 81. 1931—Stage and screen actor James Earl Jones is born on this day in Tate County, Miss. Ironically, you cannot tell from his deep baritone voice today that he had a stuttering problem as a child. 1942—Boxing legend Muhammad Ali is born on this day in Louisville, Ky. JANUARY 18 1856—Daniel Hale Williams is born in Hollidaysburg, Pa. He became a pioneering surgeon and is general­ly credited with performing the first open heart surgery. He was a strong advocate of the emerging antiseptic and sterilization procedures of his day. He believed that many patients died or became ill in the hospital because of a lack of cleanliness. Williams’ open heart surgery which occurred July 10, 1893 when he re­paired a knife wound to the chest of James Cornish. The operation was a success and Cornish lived another 20 years. JANUARY 19 1918—The founder of Ebony and Jet magazines, John H. Johnson, is born on this day in Arkansas City, Ark. Shortly after the death of his fa­ther, Johnson’s mother moved the family to Chicago where Johnson attended high school during the day and read self-help books at night, laying the intellectual and motiva­tional foundation for the eventual building of his publishing empire. In­terestingly, among Johnson’s class­mates at Chicago’s DuSable High School were Nate King Cole, Redd Foxx and future businessman, Wil­liam Abernathy. 1944—Boxer Joe Frazier is born in Beauford, S.C. His fights with the legendary Muhammad Ali have be­come boxing classics. 1960—Basketball great Jacques Dominique Wilkins is born in Paris, France. 1971—The Congressional Black Caucus is first organized on this day in 1971. JANUARY 20 1900—Black North Carolina Con­gressman George H. White intro­duced legislation to make lynching any American a federal crime. But opponents allowed the bill to die in committee and it never came up for a vote. It is estimated that 105 Blacks were lynched that year. This 1942 photo provided by the Carnegie Museum of Art shows Homestead Grays baseball catcher Josh Gibson crouched on Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Gibson is featured in an opera about his life called “The Summer King.” It has its world premiere April 29, 2017 in Pittsburgh. (Charles “Teenie” Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art via AP)   1947—Josh Gibson, perhaps the most famous and outstanding ath­lete to play in the old Negro Base­ball League, dies on this day in 1947. 1986—The first national holiday in honor of civil rights legend Dr. Mar­tin Luther King Jr. is celebrated. JANUARY 21 1773—Poet Phyllis Wheatley, born in 1753, was freed on this day in 1773. Kidnapped in Africa and sold as a slave when she was only seven years old, Wheatley would become Black America’s first poet. She grew up in a prosperous Boston family that allowed her to learn to read. She not only mastered English but also excelled in Greek and Latin. Her first book of poetry received rave re­views in the United States and Eu­rope. 1906—Pioneer Black aviator Wil­la Brown Chappell is born. 1941—Singer and political activist Richie Havens is born. 1942—Big Band leader Count Basie and his Orchestra recorded their famous “One O’clock Jump” for Okeh Records in New York City. 1950—R&B performer Billy Ocean is born. 1963—Former professional bas­ketball great Hakeem Olajuwon is born in the West African nation of Nigeria. 1971—Twelve members of the Congressional Black Caucus boy­cotted President Richard Nixon’s State of the Union Address to pro­test his refusal to meet with them or address issues of concern to African Americans. 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