Today’s Afro Birthdays, ! Singer, Brian McKnight ! Olympic Medalist, John Carlos ! NFL player, Marques Colston ! NBA player, Marcus Thornton !

Brian McKnight appears to be singing the national anthem at the start of a Cleveland Cavaliers home game at the Quicken Loans Arena as they host the Washington Wizards. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Athlete speaking at the Northwest African American Museum, Seattle, Washington, USA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Today in Afro History ! Jerry Rawlings takes power in Ghana after a military coup in 1979 !
Today’s Afro Birthdays ! Actor, Keith David ! Navy Admiral, Samuel L. Gravely Jr. ! NBA player, Xavier McDaniel ! Singer, El DeBarge !
Today in Afro History ! Barack Obama is nominated by the Democratic Party to run for President of the United States in 2008 !

Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama (born 4 August 1961; assumed office 20 January 2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With his family by his side, Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States by Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts, Jr. in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2009. More than 5,000 men and women in uniform are providing military ceremonial support to the presidential inauguration, a tradition dating back to George Washington’s 1789 inauguration. VIRIN: 090120-F-3961R-919 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Today’s Afro Birthdays ! Singer/Actress, Josephine Baker ! Singer, Curtis Mayfield ! Singer, Denise Williams ! NBA player, Al Horford ! NBA player, Otto Porter ! Dr, Charles R. Drew !

English: Curtis Mayfield performing for Dutch televisie in 1972 Nederlands: Curtis Mayfield tijdens een televisieoptreden in Nederland in 1972 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Josephine Baker dancing the Charleston at the Folies Bergère, Paris — Revue Nègre Dance (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Today in Afro History ! Harriet Tubman leads over 100 Union Solders in the Combahee River Raid, which freed over 700 slaves in 1863 !

Harriet Tubman, full-length portrait, seated in chair, facing front, probably at her home in Auburn, New York (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Notice published in the Cambridge Democrat (1849), offering a reward for the return of Harriet Tubman and her two brothers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Today’s Afro Birthdays ! Educator/Activist, Cornel West ! Actor, Dennis Haysbert ! Soccer player, Freddy Adu ! Comedian, Wayne Brady ! Singer, Leela James !

English: Cornel West, keynote speaker at the Martin Luther King Jr. Week. University of Utah. Contrast enhanced, sensor noise filtered, saturation adjusted (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Freddy Adu representing the US soccer team at the 2011 Gold Cup semi-final match in Houston Texas on June 22, 2011. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Wayne Brady at World of Color Premiere at Disney California Adventure Park in June 2010 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Today in Afro History ! Rhodesia ( Zimbabwe ) ends 90 years of white minority rule in 1979 !
Today’s Afro Birthdays ! Actor, Morgan Freeman ! Actor, Cleavon Little ! Actor Mark Curry ! NFL player, Santana Moss ! NBA player, Nick Young !
Today in Afro History ! The Tulsa Race riot of 1921, where whites burned down the affluent Afro community nicknamed “The Black Wall Street” !

Little Africa on Fire. Tulsa Race Riot, June 1st, 1921 Apparently taken from the roof of the Hotel Tulsa on 3rd St. between Boston Ave. and Cincinnati Ave.. The first row of buildings is along 2nd St. The smoke cloud on the left (Cincinnati Ave. and the Frisco Tracks) is identified in the Tulsa Tribune version of this photo as being where the fire started. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Little Africa on fire. Tulsa Race Riot, June 1st, 1921 This photo was taken from on top of the Santa Fe Freight office at 1st St. and Elgin Ave., showing the fires on Archer towards Greenwood. The Goodner-Malone company (1 N. Frankfurt) building is in the center of the photo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
By Undetermined. – This image is from a postcard in the collection of McFarlin Library, University of Tulsa
Today’s Afro Birthdays ! NBA player, Nate Robinson ! Rapper, Darryl ” D.M.C.” McDaniels !
Today in Afro History ! The southeastern region of Nigeria declares independence as the Republic of Biafra, which started a 2 1/2 year civil war in 1967.
Map showing the location of the secessionist Republic of Biafra within Nigeria. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)