This week in Black history

Air Force Maj. Robert H. Lawrence Jr. became the first Black astronaut on this day. Lawrence, born and reared in Chicago, graduated from Englewood High School at the age of 16, and he earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Bradley University in 1956. Lawrence entered the Air Force through ROTC. He took flight training and later served in Germany, where he trained German pilots. After he returned to the United States, he earned his Ph.D. in physical chemistry at Ohio State University in 1965. While in training to become one of the pilots in America's Manned Orbiting Laboratory Program, he was killed during the landing of an F104 Starfighter jet, on Dec. 8, 1967. He was 32.

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July 4, 1991--

The National Civil Rights Museum was dedicated on this day at the Lorraine Motel in downtown Memphis, TN, the site of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The museum exists to assist the public in understanding the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement and its impact on the human rights movement worldwide through its collections, exhibitions, research and educational programs. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Foundation purchased the foreclosed property of the Lorraine Motel for $144,000 in 1982. The museum occupies four acres of land, encompasses 40,000 square feet and chronicles the more than 300-year history of the Civil Rights Movement. The facility includes a library, a gallery, an auditorium and numerous exhibit halls and multipurpose rooms.

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