Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. was born in New Haven, Connecticut, November 29, 1908. Born into privilege, Powell was the son of a prominent Baptist minister and a doting mother. Adam, Sr. pastored the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York. His congregation grew into one of the largest in the US. under his leadership.

Powell chose to follow in his father's footsteps and went into the ministry. As a young minister in the 1930's, he led picket lines and held mass meetings to make changes at Harlem Hospital, which had no Black doctors. He also started a relief program through the church, providing food, clothing and temporary jobs for thousands of Harlem's homeless and unemployed.

In 1941, Powell ran for a seat on the New York City Council. This was the start of one of Harlem's Black political legends. In 1961, Powell became chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor and began the most productive period of his congressional career. He worked to increase the minimum wage, provide education for the deaf, and institute student loans and standards for wages and work hours.

Powell was very vocal about the rights of the poor and desenfrancised . He was very flamboyant in his lifestyle and had to fight many battles to stay in congress.

In 1970, after 24 years of representing Harlem in congress, he was defeated by newcomer Charles Rangel by a 150 vote margin. He died in 1972 after complications from prostate surgery.

Alex Haley, the most notable Black storyteller of this century, was born in Ithaca, New York and grew up in Henning, Tennessee. His writing came from growing up listening to his family's stories and oral history.

Haley served 20 years with the coast guard. It was in the coast guard that he started to write. His first big success was The Autobiography of Malcolm X. After he completed Malcolm X, he started what would become one of the century's great masterpieces of Black fiction. Roots: The Saga of an American Family took him 12 years to complete.

Roots sold over 8 million copies and millions of people saw the television mini-series. Alex Haley brought the realities of slavery to the forefront of the public consciousness.

Arthur was born in Richmond, Virginia. His mother died when he was only six years old. He hardly remembered his mother, but he always felt her presence watching and loving him.

Ashe started playing tennis at an early age. During his rise, he found himself the only Black player in a sport dominated by Whites. By 1963, Ashe was the first African American on the Davis Cup Team. Between 1968 and 1975, he became the first African American man to win a US men's national singles championship, the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

On and off the tennis court, Ashe always displayed good sportsmanship. Ashe took his game to inner city kids, by starting the National Junior Tennis League.

Elizabeth Ann Boomer was born in Chicago on April 8, 1918. Called Betty by friends and family. Betty grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, she graduated high school there and went on to Bennington College in Vermont and studied modern dance, and then went on to study with Martha Graham's dance group in New York. She was fortunate enough to support herself as a model.

Betty grew up in a tight-knit family. At 24 she married and later devorced after five years of marriage. It was not long after that that she met Gerald Ford. They were married in 1948 and proceeded to have a family of four children and the following 10 years

Mrs Ford was very active, she was a mother and a young politicians's wife. Her life was filled with dinners receptions, and campaigns. With a full social calendar and loving family it seems she had everything all together. However, there was a dark secret. A hurddle that she would have to have to fight hard to come back from.

what Mrs. Ford overcame was her alcoholism and addiction to pills. Her family all gathered close to her and helped her all the way back. When she went public, this helped a lot of people who like her were lost in their deseases.

After a family intervention Mrs. Ford went into treatment and learned how to live with the desease. Mrs. Ford knew that there were a lot of people out there who suffered with her desease and she wanted to help others. With a lot of hard work, she created a center for just that purpose. The Betty Ford Center opened in October 1982 and since then has treated over 35,000 patients. Mrs. Ford fought a couragous fight.

After being first lady she went on to become a spokesperson for many causes helping people with addictions.

Born in Yuma, Arizona in 1927, Chavez was the second of six children. His father prospered as a farmer and owner of a general store. The Great Depression forced the Chavez family to join the migrant farm population in California in 1938.

After returning from his tour of duty with the Navy in 1948, Chavez joined the local Community Service Organization to increase voter registration among migrant workers. He worked during the daytime as an apricot picker.

In 1962, feeling that voter registration was not enough, Chavez split with the CSO and formed the United Farm Workers Union. In 1965, their first strike against grape growers was waged.

By the late 60's, Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union had gained national prominence. Religious and political figures such as Robert F. Kennedy joined Chavez in his protests, which culminated in the 1975 California Labor Relations Act.

Mr. Chavez died in 1993. He not only brought the plight of farm workers to the forefront of national politics, but his actions helped set the stage for future generations of Latinos.

"I lost money, coaching jobs, a shot at the Hall Of Fame. But when you weigh that against all the things that are really and truly important, things that are deep inside you, then I think I've succeeded. People try to make a Greek tragedy of my life, and they can't do it. I'm too happy. Remember when I told you about the American dream? That if you worked hard enough and tried hard enough and kicked yourself in the butt, you'd succeed? Well, I think I did, I think I did."

Curtis Charles Flood was born in January 18, 1939 in Houston, Texas. The last of six children. Curt's family moved to Oakland, California when he was two years old. Curt started playing baseball when he was six years old, he also excelled as an artist.

Flood landed a professional baseball contract with the St. Louis Cardinals, there he played for 12 years. In 1969, he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. Players were bound by contract with their original team and had no choice about being traded. Flood wanted to be a 'free agent.' Curt Flood refused to be a part of baseball's ('plantation system') the reserve clause.

Flood was a high profile player, he was a two time world champion, seven time gold glove winner and played 226 consecutive games without an error. Flood did not feel good about the trade. Once a team signed you, you were apart of that organization for life.

In January 1970 Flood filed a suit against major League Baseball and it's reserve clause. Flood gave up his $100.000 contract. His case went all the way to the Supreme Court and he lost.

Flood lost in court, but him taking a stand changed major league sports. It would be a few years, but the seed had been planted. Flood sacrificed his career in baseball so that he would not feel like a piece of property to be bought and sold.

Where he was born, educated, even what his real name was, we don't know, and most likely never will. "D. B. Cooper" was the name the media hung on him, since he had identified himself as "Dan Cooper" at one point, but no one knows if that was or is indeed his real name.

On November 24, 1971, a 40-something man, approximately 5'11" with an olive complexion, paid $20 in cash for a one-way ticket on a midafternoon flight from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington. Neither he nor his carry-on luggage was searched, since that was not the policy at the time. When the plane was in the air, he passed a note to the stewardess, who, thinking it was a proposition, put it in her pocket. "Miss, you'd better look at that note. I have a bomb," the man told her. He opened his briefcase and showed her the contents, revealing several red cylindrical objects and a mass of wiring.

The plane landed at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport three hours later, with the other passengers still unaware that there was a problem. Cooper had demanded $200,000 and four parachutes, and told the flight team to empty the plane. The FBI had given him the ransom money in 10,000 $20 bills, all of which had been photocopied. Once the plane was emptied and refueled, Cooper instructed the pilot to fly toward Mexico, giving him specific instructions as to how to fly low and slow to make parachuting easier.

Cooper sent the stewardess forward to the cockpit and about 30 minutes after takeoff, began opening the plane's rear stairway. The pilot asked him on the intercom if there was trouble and if the flight crew could do anything, but Cooper shouted back, "No!" That was the last anyone ever saw or heard from him again.

Parachuting into a night storm, with air temperatures around 7 degrees below zero, strong winds and freezing rain, dressed in a business suit and loafers, makes it seem unlikely that the skyjacker survived, although the investigation by the FBI is still open and nearly thirty years later, the agency is still receiving periodic tips. In the aftermath of the skyjacking, a modification in the manufacture of commercial aircraft that prevents the rear stairway from opening while the plane is in the air, called the "Cooper Vane" was invented and is still used to this day.

D. B. Cooper became a cult hero in the anti-establishment political climate of the 70s, particularly since he was seen as someone who beat the establishment and didn't hurt anyone. Songs, cartoons, and even a movie have fostered the legend of the skyjacker. A 1981 movie, THE PURSUIT OF D.B. COOPER starred Robert Duvall and Treat Williams, and portrayed the skyjacker as following a plan to disappear into anonymity, despite pursuit by a determined cop.

Speculation as to his personality and motivations during the subsequent investigation ranged from casting him as an embittered ex-Vietnam veteran to a con man who was on the run. In 1980, nine years after the skyjacking, a young boy digging along the banks of the Columbia River found an eroded package containing $5,800 of the ransom money. The eruption of Mount St. Helen's has since blanketed the jump area with ash and makes it even more unlikely that any clues to the disappearance will surface, although many people have searched, some making it a years-long project to find something, anything, about the mystery man.

Elijah Muhammad was born Elijah Poole on or about October 7, 1897, in Rual, Georgia. He was one of 13 children, and was forced to quit school in the third grade to help feed his family.

In the early 20's, Poole started a family with Clara Evans, also from Georgia. In 1923 he moved his young family from Macon, Georgia to Detroit, Michigan. He was part of the great migration north, when thousands of Negroes left the South in hopes of finding a better future.

In 1930, Elijah Poole first heard Master W. Fard Muhammad speak. He preached that it was time for the Black man to return to the religion of his ancestors, Islam. Poole became a Muslim. He became deeply involved in the Temple of Islam, and was promoted to "Supreme Minister" and given the name Muhammad.

His teacher Master Fard left Detroit, leaving Muhammad to build and lead this new flock. Muhammad led the Nation of Islam until his death in 1975.

Josephine Baker was born in the slums of St. Louis, Missouri. By age 13 she had left home and found a job working in a restaurant. At a young age she married, only to divorce later.

There was something very special about Josephine. She found she had a gift for song and dance, and joined a group of performers, the Jones Family Band. Her stage debut was at the Booker T. Washington Theater in St. Louis.

She came into her own in France, where she became a beloved icon of the French people. With her exotic looks, Baker was a classic, way ahead of her time. Although she was most famous in France, she also had a loyal following in the US.

Born July 14, 1934 in Dallas, Texas, Lee Elder turned to golf at the young age of nine to help feed his family after both parents died. Turning Pro in 1959, he won his first tournament in 1974, the Monsanto Open, which secured him a spot in the prestigious Augusta, Georgia Masters tournament, the first Black man in history to appear on the course.

But if it hadn't been for another pro, Tex-Mex Lee Trevino, Elder would have never been allowed to play. Trevino, fed up with second-class treatment at Augusta and angered by the rules that prevented Blacks from being invited to play in the Masters, refused to play in the 1970 and 1971 Masters. Trevino went on to win the U.S., British and Canadian Open championships after passing on the Masters, which embarrassed the Master's invitational committee so much that in 1972 they announced that the tournament would now be open to anyone who qualified.

Elder reported later that he had received first-class treatment at Augusta, although he did say that he had gotten nasty letters and phone calls while there. He failed to make the second-round cut, but enjoyed seeing the black caddies and groundskeepers cheering him on from the sidelines.

He has returned to the Masters five more times, finishing in a tie for 17th in 1979. In his career he has had 12 victories on the PGA and Senior Tours, earning more than $1million on each tour. In 1979 he was the first African American to play on a Ryder Cup team, as well as having played in the first integrated tournament in South Africa in 1972.

Loretta Lynn was born, April 14, 1935 in Butcher Holler, Kentucky. She was the second of eight children. Her parents Melvin "Ted" and Clara raised them in Butcher Holler until the mine was closed. Loretta was 13 when she met and married her husband," Oliver Vanetta Lynn", who she fondly called Doo, short for Dolittle and all his friends called him Mooney because he had once sold moonshine.

Lynn was the mother of four children by the time she was 17 years old. Her career started because Doo liked her singing. She would always sing to her babies while she worked around the house and cared for them.

For her 18th birthday, Doo bought her a guitar and she learned to play and sing along. It was then that she also started writing her own songs. Again, it was Doo that got her out in the public singing. Loretta was much too shy to do it on her own. Doo was the driving force behind Loretta's career.

Loretta Lynn did not happen over night, there were a lot of hard work that went into her becoming a star. "Honky Tonk Girl" was what put her on the charts and she never stopped after that. She went on to become the first female country star to make a million dollars. Loretta credits Kitty Wells and Patsy Cline for paving the way for women country singers. There many people who kind to her along the way and she has never forgotten them either. Her fans are very special to her, and one thing she tries never to do and that is give her fans less than they what paid for when they see her perform.

Loretta's songs seem to always have message and many of her fans being women identify with what she sings about. This country girl has grown and became a icon in the country music industry. Her music has come from the heart and soul of this talented women. Her once simple life she has shared with whoever would listen through her music.

Loretta is proof again what the human spirit can accomplish and what would country music would be without brave women like her, she really is the 'First Lady of Country Music".

Mahalia Jackson was born in New Orleans. She was the third of six children. She was five years old when her mother died. She and her brother had to go and live with her aunt. Jackson's aunt was very abusive and Jackson never forgot the beatings she and her brother had to endure.

In 1935 Jackson was 23 years old and living in Chicago. At a church social she met the man she would marry, Isaac Hockenhull. They were married in 1938. Jackson opened a beauty shop and a flower shop, and her husband worked at the post office. Ike encouraged Jackson to take some voice training. He believed his wife had the most beautiful voice he had ever heard.

Jackson gained quite a following around Chicago. It wasn't long before she was traveling around to different cities. Jackson took the same pure gospel she had learned as a child to each place she sang. She brought the Gospel to mainstream America.

Maya's first book, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, placed her among a group of African American firsts. Her book hit the bestseller list. It is one of the most revealing autobiographies ever written. This amazing woman tells of her humble beginnings, southern roots, her various life styles and always her faith in God.

An actress, dancer, singer, poet, speaker, and writer, Maya has become a phenomenon in literary circles. Maya was the first poet since Robert Frost to read at a presidential inauguration. She read "On the Pulse of Morning" for President Clinton. Some of the most beautiful and memorable poetry has come from her hand. She has become a renaissance woman whose words and thoughtfulness command attention.

Michael Milken is either a consciousless crook who bilked investors and companies of billions of dollars -- or he's a white-knight philanthropist who revolutionized the modern capital marketplace and funds enormous research and charitable programs.

The Real Michael Milken is most likely to be found somewhere in between the two extremes of those characterizations. Born in California on July 4, 1946, Milken helped his accountant father to prepare clients' tax returns. Marrying his high school girlfriend in 1968 after graduating summa cum laude from the University of California in Berkeley, Milken joined Drexel, Burnham, Lambert in 1970, becoming head of Drexel's bond trading department in 1971. He received an MBA from Wharton School of Finance while at Drexel.

At Drexel, Milken was largely responsible for bringing the firm into the computer age, creating a computer network that allowed traders to link customers and sales in a fashion then unprecedented in the securities field. Milken used the network to channel $26 billion of investor's money into such companies as MCI, Viacom, TCI, Time Warner, Turner, CablevisionSystems, News Corp. and other cable, telecom, wireless, publishing and entertainment companies. These companies had previously been unable to raise such substantial funds due to their lack of collateral acceptable to bank financing.

Using high-risk, high-yield bonds, which came to be known as "junk bonds" due to their lack of security, Milken funded corporate takeovers and helped fuel the 1980's "merger mania," growing Drexel's to a leading position in the $150 billion bond market by the end of the 80's. Milken became the highest paid executive in the US in 1987, accounting for nearly half of Drexel's profits and receiving a salary of $550 million.

However, the Securities and Exchange Commission didn't find Milken's activities nearly so praise-worthy, and when Drexel client Ivan Boesky was convicted in 1987 of insider trading, implicating Milken and Drexel in the deal, the SEC moved to charge both Drexel and Milken with securities fraud. Drexel settled with the government in 1988, paying over $650 million in fines, and Milken was forced to leave the company in 1989. On his departure, the junk-bond market collapsed, and Drexel was forced to file bankruptcy in 1990.

Milken was charged with securities fraud, insider trading and racketeering, eventually pleading guilty in 1990 to six counts of securities fraud and receiving a sentence of 10 years after the government dropped the other charges. He was also required to pay over $1 billion in fines and was permanently barred from the securities business. Milken served only two years in jail at the Pleasanton Federal Correctional Facility near San Francisco, and left prison in 1993 with his reputation and business destroyed.

A further blow in 1993 was the discovery that he suffered from prostate cancer and that doctors felt he had only eighteen months to live. Using funding from philanthropic ventures such as the Milken Family Foundation, which Milken co-founded in 1982, Milken began CaP CURE (the Association for the Cure of Cancer of the Prostate) to help fund research into finding a cure. The association has become the world's larges private source of prostate cancer research.

In 1998 Milken again faced trouble with the securities industry, charged with violating his permanent ban from the business by taking a consultancy role in MCI's acquisition of News Corp. as well as another undisclosed transaction. Milken eventually agreed to pay $47 million in fines without admitting wrongdoing in the case. Analysts pointed out at the time that Milken's probation for the 1990 conviction had been extended a number of times while the SEC investigated him for violations of probation in regards to his consultancy work. The probation could not be extended after March 1, 1998, and analysts felt that the timing of the new charges was set to allow the government to hold the threat of prison over Milken. The government agreed to accept the $47 million in lieu of seeking a new prison term for Milken.

In 1996 Milken co-founded with computer tycoon Larry Ellison Knowledge Universe, an incubator of Internet technology. He now divides his time between CaP CURE, Knowledge Universe and the Milken Institute, an economic think tank founded as a non-profit organization in 1991.

Paul Robeson was born in Princeton, New Jersey, April 9, 1898. His father had been a slave. Paul excelled in school as a scholar and athlete and graduated from Rutgers University. Robeson became known for his singing voice, performing beautiful interpretations of spirituals. Robeson lived and performed in Europe during the 20's and 30's.

Robeson was a political activist for over 50 years. He deplored racism and class difference. He got his socialist ideals from his friend George Bernard Shaw, and during this period he became interested in the Soviet Union. He admired the Soviet Union's lack of racial prejudice and even became personal friends with Premier Krushchev. His passport was revoked and he was blacklisted from 1950 to 1958.

During all of this he still fought for dignity and equality for all humans. In the 60's he retired because of illness. He was a rare talent who was not allowed to enjoy his fame because of his beliefs.

Born on August 18, 1934 in Carolina, Puerto Rico, Mr. Clemente truly felt that God had meant for him to play baseball. Originally signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers, his contract was claimed by the Pittsburgh Pirates for $4,000 in 1954.

He not only brought the city of Pittsburgh championship baseball, but also pride and dignity in the way he carried himself and worked to expand baseball�s appeal overseas.

Mr. Clemente�s crowning moment came in the 1971 World Series against the Baltimore Orioles when he batted .414 with two homeruns, two doubles, and a triple. This performance earned him the Most Valuable Player award.

Sadly, Mr. Clemente died in a plane crash while trying to deliver humanitarian aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

On August 29, 1970, Ruben Salazar attended an anti-war rally called by the National Chicano Moratorium. The rally attracted over 30,000 people to Laguna Park in East Los Angeles.

Salazar, a journalist for the Los Angeles Times and news director for the Spanish television station KMEX, was covering the event and was killed by a tear gas projectile fired by police.

To this day many people believe that Salazar was targeted by the FBI and LAPD for uncovering police abuses against Chicanos. Because no criminal investigation was carried out by the D.A.�s office and no charges were brought against the Sheriff�s deputy who fired the tear gas, Salazar�s death serves as a powerful symbol of police abuses against the Latino community.

This history-making mayor was born in Calvert, Texas, December 27, 1917. His parents were sharecroppers. In 1924, the family moved to Los Angeles. His father worked as a porter for the railroad and also as a crew member on an ocean liner. His mother worked as a domestic. The family was rich in moral and Christian values. His mother was a believer in the Golden Rule and taught her children to live by it.

Bradley learned about racism early. At 10 years old a playmate said that he could no longer play with him because he was colored. Racism was something he would meet with again and again. It only made him stronger and more determined to succeed.

Bradley excelled in sports and academics. His gift as a mediator set him apart from others. He was a police officer for 20 years. Tom Bradley became the 1st Black Mayor of a major metropolitan city when he was elected in the 1970's. Bradley spent four terms as mayor of Los Angeles. He served Los Angeles with great pride and dignity.

Tom Bradley became a "World Citizen" traveling the world to bring business to LA. Bradley changed the skyline of Los Angeles and brought the 1984 Olympics to LA without spending any of the city's revenues. The Olympic Games turned a profit for the city.

Bradley the grandson of slaves, was a first in many things. He paved ways for many people to follow. Bradley was the first black man to become a Los Angeles Police lieutenant, he was the first black man to be a member of the city council and then became major for an un- precedented 20 years. The Black community knew him personally, he was approachable.

For 20 years he built a city for all people. This gentle-giant gave 51 years of service to the "City of Angels".

Zora Neale Hurston was born in Eatonville, Florida on January 7, 1891. She was the fifth of eight children. Zora said growing up in Eatonville, an all-Negro town, gave her a certain kind of strength that most Negroes during that period did not experience. Zora was free.

Zora received her undergraduate degree from Barnard College, where she studied under anthropologist Franz Boas. She was part of the Harlem Renaissance, and traveled all over the south collecting Negro folklore. She received the Guggenheim Fellowship, joined the Federal Writers project in Florida, published four novels and an autobiography and worked as a story consultant for Paramount Pictures. She was most active between 1930 and 1940.

In 1959 she suffered a stroke and entered a nursing home. On January 28, 1960 she died and was buried in an unmarked grave in a segregated cemetery in Fort Pierce, Florida.

Although Zora died in 1960, her work was rediscovered in the 70s by a new generation of writers led by Alice Walker. Zora once wrote " I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it...No I do not weep at the world--I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife."