Black - African American History Facts

Coretta Scott King, activist and wife of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was born in Marion, AL, on this date in 1927.

The African nation of Togo gained its independence on this date in 1960.

The African nation of Sierra Leone gained its independence on this date in 1961. Dr. Milton Margai served as its first Prime Minister.

Kwame Nkrumah, African statesman and the first President of Ghana, died in exile at age 62 in Conarky, Guinea, on this date in 1972.

Charles Alston, a painter who is famous for illustrating black contributions to medicine through a mural in the Harlem Hospital in New York, died in New York on this date in 1972.