1860*
Birthday of Ralph Waldo Tyler, journalist, Auditor-General of the Navy and World War I foreign correspondent. Te oldest of 12 children, Tyler is believed to have been born in Ohio. He attended elementary and high schools in Columbus, Ohio, studied a year in Baldwin,Missouri, and began teaching school at age 19. Tyler taught himself shorthand while working as a janitor at the "Columbus Evening Dispatch." He later was given an opportunity to prove his reporting ability. Tyler worked in circulation, business and news departments of the paper and as an assistant to the manager and secretary to the owner. He became successful as a society reporter. He was the first African American foreign war correspondent and the only accredited African American correspondent in World War I. Both African American and White newspapers carried Tyler's stories. He died in 1921.
1877*
President Hayes appointed Frederick Douglass marshal of District of Columbia.
1909*
President Roosevelt appointed a committee, including Emmet J. Scott, to investigate disturbances in Liberia.
1933*
Unita Blackwell was born this day in Lula, Mississippi. She became the first black woman mayor elected in Mississippi.
1938*
Country and western singer Charlie Pride was born in Sledge, Mississippi.
1947 *
R&B singer Wilson Pickett is born in Prattville, Alabama.
1959*
Actress-singer-songwriter Irene Cara is born in New York City
1963*
Actress-singer and the first black Miss America Vanessa L. Williams is born in Millwood, New York.
1972*
The USS Jesse L. Brown, the first U.S. naval ship to be named after an African American naval officer is launched.
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