Minister, writer, and educator Richard Allen was born on February 14, 1760, in the Colony of Delaware. He went on to found the first independent black church in the United States, the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
James Mercer Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1901, in Joplin, Missouri.
Jerome David Kern was born on January 27, 1885, in New York City, New York.
Actor, director, race car driver, and philanthropist Paul Leonard Newman was born on January 26, 1925, in Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Artist Ruth Aiko Asawa was born on January 24, 1926, in Norwalk, California.
Opera singer Rosa (Ponzillo) Ponselle was born on January 22, 1897, in Meridan, Connecticut.
On January 20, 1986, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was first observed as a federal holiday after a decades-long battle.
Oveta Culp Hobby was born on January 19, 1905, in Killeen, Texas.
On January 12, 1932, Hattie Caraway became the first women elected to serve in the United States Senate.