This Week in History: January 2

This Week in History, January 2-8:
Contributions of African-Americans

Note: Here, learn about some of the African-Americans who have influenced history and contributed to the culture we now enjoy. To learn more about each individual, click on that person's name. Information for "This Week in History" is taken from the African American Registry.

January 2
On this day in 1898, African-American lawyer and activist Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander was born. One of the first African-Americans to receive a doctorate in economics, she was elected secretary of the National Bar Association, the first woman to hold any office in the organization. As a member of President Truman's Commission on Civil Rights, she helped prepare the report that was influential in the foundation of the civil rights policy in the United States.

January 3
On this day in 1834, African-American politician Alonzo Jacob Ransier was born. After being elected to Congress from South Carolina and responding to attacks from Democrats, Ransier defended the record of Black soldiers who fought for the Union during the Civil War. Also on this date in 1624, the first recorded African-American was born in the United States.

January 4
On this date in 1908, African-American mathematician and educator William Claytor was born. Only the third African-American to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics, he won the most prestigious award offered at the University of Pennsylvania, a Harrison Fellowship in Mathematics. He later became chairman of the Department of Mathematics at Howard University.

January 5
On this day in 1931, African-American dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey was born. He is founding director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and many of his works are based on African-American spirituals, expressing universal themes of faith and humanity. In 1979, he received the Capezio Award for his lifetime contribution to dance.

January 6
On this day in 1916, African-American diplomat and educator Jerome Holland was born. He was the U.S. ambassador to Sweden; sat on the boards of nine major United States companies, including AT&T and General Motors; and was the first African-American to sit on the board of the New York Stock Exchange. The first Black man to play football at Cornell University, he became a member of the College Football’s Hall of Fame in 1965.

January 7
On this day in 1919, African-American physician and legislator Dorothy Lavinia Brown was born. After growing up in an orphanage, she was elected to the Tennessee State Legislature and became the first Black female surgeon in the South.

January 8
On this day in 1912, the African National Congress was founded as a nonviolent civil rights organization that worked to promote the interests of Black Africans. Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, and Walter Sisulu helped found the ANC’s Youth League in 1944 and soon became the organization's leading members. Partly as a result of the ANC, millions of South Africans of all races participated in the country's first democratic elections in 1994. On May 2, after the ANC's victory, Mandela led the country’s first multiracial government.