Black - African American History Facts

Howard Thurman, theologian who founded San Francisco's Church for the Fellowship of All People, was born in Daytona Beach, FL, on this date in 1900.

Robert E. Chambliss, white supremacist, was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL, on this date in 1977. Addie Mae Collins, Carol Robertson, Denise McNair, and Cynthia Wesley were killed in the racist attack.

The Jonestown massacre occurred on this date in 1978. Over 900 people, mostly U.S. blacks, were killed in a mass suicide/murder in Jonestown, Guyana. They were followers of Jim Jones, a white cult leader, who claimed he was God.

Filmmaker Spike Lee's motion picture, Malcolm X, a film about the life of Malcolm X, opened to a nationwide audience on this date in 1992.