Jacob Lawrence was the first artist to recieve the Spingarn Medal in 1970 for emience among American painter

Bayard Rustin isn’t a household name, but his contributions to the civil rights movement rival those of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Rustin organized the March on Washington, where King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. A confidante and advisor to King, he introduced the civil rights leader to the principles of pacifism. While Rustin’s race, sexual orientation and radical politics marginalized him during the civil rights movement, in death he’s emerged as an icon to blacks, gays and progressives.

A Young Activist

Bayard Rustin was born to Florence Rustin, a teen mother of Caribbean ancestry, and an absentee father on March 17, 1912, in West Chester, Penn. His grandparents, Janifer and Julia Rustin, helped raise him. They taught him the importance of equality, in part, by teaching him the Quaker faith, according to the book Bayard Rustin: Troubles I’ve Seen. Even as a young man, Rustin exhibited a strong sense of self, coming out as gay and engaging in activism. A high school football player, he reportedly demonstrated against the local restaurant that served food to his white teammates but refused to serve him.

When he moved to New York in his mid-twenties, Rustin had already studied at the historically black colleges Wilberforce University and Cheney State Teachers College. In the Empire State, he enrolled at City College of New York and joined the Young Communist League, ultimately dropping out when the party asked him not to push for racial desegregation in the military.

His activism made him an FBI target.

Undeterred, Rustin joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation, which spawned the Congress of Racial Equality in 1942. As an activist with the group, he spoke about civil rights issues nationwide and served more than two years in prison for being a “draft dodger” during World War II.

After his stint in prison, Rustin participated in CORE’s 1947 Journey of Reconciliation, described as a predecessor to the Freedom Rides, because it challenged racial segregation in interstate travel. The move led to

Jazz pianist and popular singer Nathaniel Adams Coles was born into a musical family in Montgomery, Alabama on March 17, 1919.

Aaron Anderson wins the Navys Medal of Honor for his heroic actions aboard the USS Wyandank during the Civil War.

Clayton lived his final years in California and died on March 17, 1917 from chronic pulmonary tuberculosis.

Homer Harris died in Seattle on March 17, 2007, at age 90 from Alzheimer's disease.

Nathaniel Adams Coles was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 17, 1919.

Nathaniel Adams Cole was a world renowned Jazz musician, born on March 17, 1919 in Montgomery, Alabama.

Norbert Rillieux, chemical engineer, inventor and Egyptologist, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. The son of an inventor and engineer, Rillieux was educated in Paris schools and, at 24, became an instructor at LEcole Centrale and published papers on steam economy. Rillieux is best known for inventing the multiple evaporation process used to refine sugar and manufacture paper. The process was widely used in France. In 1934, the sugar industry honored Rillieux with a plaque in the Louisiana State Museum.

Norbert Rillieux can certainly be seen to have achieved all of these goals

Norbert Rillieux was born on March 17, 1806 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Cynthia Ann McKinney was born on March 17, 1955 in Atlanta, Georgia to parents Billy McKinney, who was a police officer and to a mother, Leola Christion McKinney, who was a nurse.

Maurice Ashley, an immigrant from Jamaica, was 14 and living in Brooklyn, when he feel in love with the game of chess after reading a book about Paul Morphy, a 19th-century Louisianian who was Americas first great chess player.

Ever since, Ashley has focused his life on the game. As a student at Brooklyn Technical High School, he joined the Black Bear School of Chess. From 1991 to 1997, Ashley was the chess director of the Harlem Educational Activities Fund, at which he led teams to three national championships.

On March 17, 1999 he became the latest of the worlds 470 grandmasters, and the first black person to reach the games highest rank as a result of his play in a tournament sponsored by the Manhattan Chess Club. The rank is conferred by the International Chess Federation to players who amass a set number of points in 24 official games played within a seven-year period. Of the federations 85,000 members, 45 are grandmasters, including 10 in the New York City area. Before winning his last points, Ashleys rank was international master, one step below grandmaster.

Samuel Johnson was the son of Michael Johnson, a bookseller, and his wife, Sarah. From childhood he suffered from a number of physical afflictions. By his own account, he was born “almost dead,” and he early contracted scrofula (tuberculosis of the lymphatic glands). Because of a popular belief that the sovereign’s touch was able to cure scrofula (which, for that reason, was also called the king’s evil), he was taken to London at the age of 30 months and touched by the queen, whose gold “touch piece” he kept about him for the rest of his life. This was succeeded by various medical treatments that left him with disfiguring scars on his face and neck. He was nearly blind in his left eye and suffered from highly noticeable tics that may have been indications of Tourette syndrome. Johnson was also strong, vigorous, and, after a fashion, athletic. He liked to ride, walk, and swim, even in later life. He was tall and became huge. A few accounts bear witness to his physical strength—as well as his character—such as his hurling an insolent theatregoer together with his seat from the stage into the pit or his holding off would-be robbers until the arrival of the watch.

From his earliest years Johnson was recognized not only for his remarkable intelligence but also for his pride and indolence. In 1717 he entered grammar school in Lichfield. The master of the school, John Hunter, was a learned though brutal man who “never taught a boy in his life—he whipped and they learned.” This regime instilled such terror in the young boy that even years later the resemblance of the poet Anna Seward to her grandfather Hunter caused him to tremble. At school he made two lifelong friends: Edmund Hector, later a surgeon, and John Taylor, future prebendary of Westminster and justice of the peace for Ashbourne. In 1726 Johnson visited his cousin, the urbane Reverend Cornelius Ford in Stourbridge, Worcestershire, who may have provided a model for him, though it was Ford’s conviviality and scholarship rather than his dissipation (he is

West Virginia State College is founded in Institute.

David A. Paterson, sworn in as Governor on March 17, 2008, is the first legally blind American Governor, the first black Governor of New York State, and only the fourth black Governor of any state.

Paterson has been serving as Lieutenant Governor of New York, elected in 2006 after serving in the state Senate since 1985, representing Harlem. He became the first non-white legislative leader in New York State history when he became minority leader of the Senate in 2002. In 2004 in Boston, he was the first visually impaired person to address the Democratic National Convention. Paterson has a reputation of being open, affable, and able to work across party lines. His priorities as Lt. Governor have been reducing domestic violence, funding stem cell research, development of minority and women owned businesses, and the use of renewable energy sources. He is a member of the Democratic National Committee and is considered politically liberal.

David Paterson was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 20, 1954 to Portia and Basil Paterson. His father was the first non-white Secretary of State for New York, who had represented the same Harlem district that his son did later. Growing up in a household with powerful political connections, the younger Paterson met many of the elected leaders of the African American community. He grew up legally blind, after an eye infection as an infant left him without sight in his left eye and with limited vision in his right eye. His family moved to a school district that would educate him in regular classrooms, and he went on to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in History from Columbia University in 1977.  He obtained his Juris Doctor (law degree) from Hofstra University Law School in 1982.

Paterson, an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School for International and Public Affairs, lives in Harlem with his wife Michelle Paige Paterson, their son Alex, and Ashley, Mrs. Paterson’s daughter from a prior marriage. Paterson completed the New York City Marathon in 1999. He is a member of

Benjamin Sterling Turner, a member of the United States House of Representatives from Alabama during the Reconstruction period, was born on March 17, 1825 in Weldon, North Carolina.

Jackie Roosevelt Robinson made his professional debut as a member of the Montreal Royals in the

Daytona Beach ballpark that now bears his name. One year

later, Robinson would break Major League Baseballs color

barrier and earn the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award as a

member of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Robinson batted .311 in ten Major League seasons and was

named the National Leagues Most Valuable Player.

Robinson was elected into the National Baseball Hall of

Fame in 1962, 16 years after his historic debut in Daytona

Beach.