Topics: Crack Epidemic, Michael Jackson - Bad, Hollywood Shuffle, Eyes on the Prize (Bonus Artist: Luck Pacheco) Snapshots 1. Ronald Reagan President – (Should have been impeached) 2. January 3. The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, became the very first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 4. March 5. U.S. President Ronald Reagan addresses the American people on the Iran-Contra Affair, acknowledging that his overtures to Iran had 'deteriorated' into an arms-for-hostages deal. 6. Jim Bakker, head of PTL Ministries, resigns after admitting an affair with church secretary Jessica Hahn. 7. April 8. Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of English rock band Queen, is diagnosed with AIDS. He dies four years later after making his diagnosis public. 9. Matt Groening's The Simpsons debuts as a series of short animated segments as part of The Tracey Ullman Show on Fox. 10. May 11. U.S. Senator Gary Hart drops out of the running for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination, amid allegations of an extramarital affair with Donna Rice. 12. June 13. During a visit to Berlin, Germany, U.S. President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. 14. Teddy Seymour is officially designated the first black man to sail around the world, when he completes his solo sailing circumnavigation in Frederiksted, St. Croix, of the United States Virgin Islands. 15. Edwards v. Aguillard: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that a Louisiana law requiring that creation science be taught in public schools whenever evolution is taught is unconstitutional. 16. July 17. Ronald Reagan nominates former Solicitor General Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. The nomination is later rejected by the Senate, the first and only nominee rejection to date. 18. October 19. Jesse Jackson launches his second campaign for U.S. President. 20. The United States is caught up in a drama that unfolds on television as a young child, Jessica McClure, falls down a well in Midland, Texas, and is later rescued. 21. December 22. Prozac makes its debut in the United States. 23. Open Comments 24. Black Snapshots 25. Mar - The first ever Soul Train Music Awards 26. Apr - Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Al Campanis makes racially insensitive comments when 27. asked about the scarcity of black field or general managers in MLB. Campanis, who had played alongside Robinson and was known for being close to him, was being interviewed about the subject on Nightline. Anchorman Ted Koppel asked him why, at the time, there had been few black managers and no black general managers in Major League Baseball. Campanis' reply was that blacks "may not have some of the necessities to be, let's say, a field manager, or, perhaps, a general manager" for these positions. Elsewhere in the interview, he said that blacks are often poor swimmers "because they don't have the buoyancy." Koppel says he gave Campanis several opportunities to clarify, ("Do you really believe that?") or back down from his remarks, but Campanis confirmed his views with his replies. Campanis was fired less than 48 hours later. 28. Literature – Rita Dove wins a Pulitzer for Thomas and Beulah and Toni Morrison publishes Beloved; it will win a Pulitzer and become a movie. Terri McMillan's first book, Mama, was published in 1987, later works include Disappearing Acts, Waiting To Exhale, and How Stella got Her Groove Back. James Baldwin, author of If Beale Street Could Talk, passed away. 29. John H. Johnson is named the first BE Entrepreneur of the Decade, having built Johnson Publishing Co. Inc., producers of Ebony, Jet, and Fashion Fair cosmetics into an international powerhouse. Born and raised in Arkansas, Johnson's family moved to Chicago when he was a teen. He excelled in school, received a scholarship to the University of Chicago, and began working at an insurance company. He got his start when his mother used her furniture as collateral for a $500 loan to start his first public