Black History on March 26th

1831 - Richard Allen joins the ancestors at the age of 71. He had been nominated by author Vernon Loggins for the title, "Father of the Negro."

1872 - Thomas J. Martin is awarded a patent for the fire extinguisher.

1910 - William H. Lewis is appointed assistant attorney general of the United States.

1937 - William Hastie is appointed to a federal judgeship in the Virgin Islands. With the appointment, Hastie becomes the first African American to serve on the federal bench in the U.S. or its territories. Judge Hastie will serve on the bench for two years then become dean and professor of law at Howard University in Washington DC.

1944 - Diana Ross is born in Detroit, Michigan. Ross, with Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard, will form the Supremes in 1961 and have 15 consecutive smash-hit singles with the group. Ross will also pursue an acting career in such movies as "Lady Sings the Blues" and receive a Tony Award for her Broadway show, "An Evening with Diana Ross." Both with the Supremes and as a solo artist, she will have more number-one records than any other artist in the history of the charts.

1950 - Theodore Pendergrass is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He will become a lead singer for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes in 1970 and will pursue an active solo career in 1976. His solo career will later be temporarily interrupted by an auto accident that will leave him paralyzed from the chest down. His debut album, "Teddy Pendergrass (1977)," struck Platinum, as did the next four albums - "Life Is A Song Worth Singing," "Teddy," "Teddy Live" and "T.P." Other releases include "Love Language," "Working It Back" and "Joy." He will be nominated for a Grammy more than three times and be the holder of a 1980 "Best Rhythm & Blues Artist" award from Billboard Magazine. The Philadelphia Music Foundation will honor him with a Philadelphia Music Award for "Best Urban Album" in 1989.

1984 - Ahmed Sekou Toure' joins the ancestors in a hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. He was the country of Guinea's first president and a well-known political figure throughout Africa.

1991 - The Reverend Emanuel Cleaver becomes the first African American mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. At this time, Kansas City is seventy percent white, but he will win the election with 53 percent of the vote, while his opponent receives forty-seven percent.

1992 - A judge in Indianapolis sentences former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson to six years in prison for raping a Miss Black America contestant.

1995 - Former diplomat-turned-radio talk show host Alan Keyes enters the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

1998 - President Clinton stands with President Nelson Mandela in a racially integrated South African parliament to salute a country that was "truly free and democratic at last."

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