#OTD Educator Mary McLeod Bethune opened the Daytona Literary and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls, now known as Bethune-Cookman University.

#OTD Activist James Meredith became the first African American student to enroll at the University of Mississippi.

#OTD Chuck Cooper, the first African American to be drafted by an NBA team, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

#OTD The music world lost an icon. Jazz musician Miles Davis passed away at the age of 65. Actress Reagan Gomez narrates.

#OTD Soul Train founder and longtime host, Don Cornelius, was born in Chicago, Illinois.

#OTD Whitney Houston's "Didn't We Almost Have it All" began a two week run on top of the Billboard Hot 100 becoming her fifth consecutive number one single.

#OTD Legendary singer and songwriter Ray Charles was born in Albany, Georgia. The multi-Grammy Award winning recording artist would have been 92 today.

#OTD President Abraham Lincoln announced that the Emancipation Proclamation would take effect on January 1, 1863.

#OTD The world mourned the loss of Olympic gold medalist and global fashionista Florence Griffith-Joyner. Arizona philanthropist Lloyd Hopkins celebrates her life and legacy.

#OTD A group of free black men in Philadelphia gathered and organized a boycott of products made by slaves. This gathering is considered to be the first meeting of the Colored Conventions Movement.