President Andrew Johnson moved to reverse policy of distributing abandoned land to freedmen.

Martin Luther King Jr. stoned during Chicago march.

John Lawson, a Black gunner on flagship of Admiral David Farragut, exhibited marked courage in Battle of Mobile Bay and won a Congressional Medal of Honor.

James Cone, theologian, born

Hazel Johnson was the first African American woman to become a general in the U.S. Army. She was appointed the Chief of the Army Nurse Corps in 1979. Johnson held a doctorate in education administration from Catholic University (1978) and had honorary degrees from Morgan State University, Villanova University, and the University of Maryland.  

Johnson first became interested in nursing while growing up on a farm in Westchester, Pennsylvania.  Her career began when we she received her nursing degree from the Harlem Hospital in New York City, New York in 1950.  She then attended Villanova University where she received her bachelor’s and soon afterwards joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1955.  

Johnson served in Japan at a U.S. Army Evacuation Hospital.  She served at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 1960 where she was a staff and operating room nurse.  Between 1963 and 1967, she was an operating room instructor and supervisor while on a tour of three different hospitals.  Johnson reached the rank of major in 1967.  

From 1969 to 1973, she helped develop new sterilizing methods for the Army’s Field Hospital Systems as a staff member of the Army Medical Research and Development Command.  In 1974, Johnson was promoted to Colonel and appointed the director of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Nursing, an extension of the University of Maryland’s nursing school.  

In 1978, Johnson was sent to South Korea where she was the chief of the department of nursing at the largest U.S. Army hospital in that country.  In May 1979, she returned to Washington D.C. where she was appointed General.  A military ceremony was held in her honor at the Pentagon, where  U.S. Army Surgeon General Julius Richmond pinned on her the brigadier general star.  Johnson was also sworn in as the sixteenth Chief of the Army Nurse Corps.  

Hazel Johnson retired from the U.S. Army in 1984.  In her post-Army career she has served as an advisor to a number of surgeons general.  In 1997 Johnson was appointed adjunct professor of nursing at Georgetown

Nelson Mandela was arrested near Howick, South Africa, and charged with incitement; he received a five-year sentence later in the year.

Death of James Augustine Healy (70), Black Roman Catholic bishop, Portland, Maine.

BillRichmond, a.k.a. The Black Terror, the first black boxer to gaininternational recognition, was born in Cuckolds Town (now Richmondtown), on Staten Island, NewYork, on August 5, 1763. In 1777 when the Englishtroops held New Yorkduring the revolutionary war, he served their General Earl Percy, afterward theDuke of Northumberland. When Percy returned to Englandhe took young Bill with him and sent him to school in Yorkshire.He also served as an apprentice to a cabinet maker.

The firstglimpse of the talent he possessed with his fists came into view against DockyMoore, a soldier who insulted Richmond,and was promptly challenged to fight. Although considerably outweighed, Richmond thrashed the soldierand soon enjoyed similar success against others who attempted to insult him inensuing years.

Richmond had his first professional fight in Januaryof 1804, when he was 36 year old. He witnessed veteran boxer George Maddox inaction and declared he could defeat him. Given the opportunity he failedmiserably.  Maddox stopped him in threerounds. Undeterred, Richmondentered the ring in May of 1805 and defeated a Jewish boxer known as FightingYoussep. This contest gave him a reputation as a pugilist, and he was soonmatched with boxer Jack Holmes, who was credited with giving Tom Cribb, one ofthe leading pugilists in England,one of his toughest fights. The win over Holmes after 26 grueling rounds setthe stage for a match with Cribb in October 1805.

Now 42 yearsof age, Richmonddemonstrated excellent footwork and sound defense against Cribb before enduringwithering punishment from his 24 year old foe and succumbing to defeat in the25th round. It was Richmondssecond and last defeat.  In 1808 Richmondfaced and defeated Jack Carter at Epsom Downs near London.  In 1809 he had a rematch with George Maddoxat Wimbledon Common and won after 52 rounds. Richmond married after this fight and with his winnings bought a pub,the Horse and Dolphin in Leicester Square, London.  Richmond also opened a boxing academy and onoccasion he

Dr. Tulinabo S. Mushingi is currently the U.S. Ambassador to the West African nation of Burkina Faso.  After nomination by President Barack Obama and his confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Mushingi arrived in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, and began serving as ambassador on August 5, 2013.  He is a career officer of the Senior Foreign Service and the first African-born, naturalized U.S. citizen to return to that continent as a U.S. ambassador.

Born 1957, Mushingi earned B.A. and M.A. degrees from the Institut Superieur Pedagogique in Bukavu, the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Soon after, he moved to the United States and earned an M.A. degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C.  He continued his studies at Georgetown University and received a Ph.D. in Linguistics in 1989.  His dissertation was titled Vehicular languages as media of instruction: The case of Swahili in Zaire.

Mushingi began his career as a language and cultural trainer for the Peace Corps, working successively in Papua New Guinea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, and the Central African Republic.  He joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1993 and served in various roles: General Services Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique from 1994 to 1996; Counseling and Assignment Officer in the U.S. State Department Bureau of Human Resources in Washington, D.C. from 1999 to 2001; and Management Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Casablanca, Morocco from 2001 to 2003.

From 2003 to 2006, Mushingi was a Supervisory General Services Officer for U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. He next accepted two posts in Africa. From 2006 to 2009, he was Counselor for Management Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.  From 2009 to 2011, he was Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  Then, immediately prior to being named ambassador, Mushingi was Deputy Executive Secretary in the Executive Secretariat and Executive Director of the Executive of the Secretary of State from 2011 to 2013.

Mushingi has

The shooting of John Crawford III occurred on August 5, 2014. Crawford was a 22-year-old African-American man shot to death by Beavercreek police officer Sean Williams, in a Walmart store in Beavercreek, Ohio, near Dayton, while holding a toy BB gun.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

A grand jury declined to indict the two officers on criminal charges. Crawfords death led to protests, including some organized by the Black Lives Matter movement.

John Crawford III was born on July 29, 1992.

Crawford picked up an un-packaged BB/pellet air rifle inside the stores sporting goods section and continued shopping in the store. Another customer, Ronald Ritchie, called 911. According to Ritchie at the time, Crawford was pointing the gun at people and at children walking by, and messing with the gun.[6] Ritchie has since stated “At no point did he shoulder the rifle and point it at somebody”, while maintaining that Crawford was waving it around.[7] Two officers of the Beavercreek Police arrived at the Walmart shortly after their dispatcher informed them of a subject with a gun in the pet supplies area of the store and Crawford was shot. He was later pronounced dead at Daytons Miami Valley Hospital.[8]

A second person, Angela Williams, died after suffering a heart attack while fleeing from the shooting. Her death was ruled a homicide.[9]

According to initial accounts from the officers, Crawford did not respond to verbal commands to drop the BB gun/air rifle and lie on the ground, and eventually began to move as if trying to escape. Believing the air-rifle was a real firearm, one of the officers fired two shots into Crawfords torso and arm. He died of his injuries shortly afterwards.[10] [11]

Though after the grand jury did not indict the officers involved, a press conference was held where Special Prosecutor Mark Piepmeier presented the fact that the police officer shot Crawford on sight, as was consistent with their recent training.[12]

The shooting was captured by the stores security video camera.[13] Crawford was talking

Senator Edward Brooke named temporary chairman of Republican National Convention, Miami, Florida.

Birthday of basketball great, Patrick Ewing.

Evelyn Ashford wins a gold medal in the 100-meter race and Edwin Moses wins a gold medal in the 400 meter hurdles in the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Duke died August 5, 2013 in Los Angeles from chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

William Bill Pinkney is the first African American, and only the fourth person in the world to circumnavigate the globe alone by boat. Pinkney was born on September 15, 1935, in Chicago, Illinois to Marion Henderson Pinkney and William Pinkney, Sr.  He attended Tilden Tech High School in Chicago, and after graduating received training as an x-ray technician.

After high school Pinkney had a variety of different jobs. He was on active duty in the Navy from 1956 to 1960 as a hospital corpsman.  He decided to move to Puerto Rico after leaving the Navy and while there held a series of jobs including one as a professional limbo dancer.  Eventually he hired on to work as a crewman on sailboats.  Pinkney then moved to New York, trained to become a make-up artist and eventually landed a job at Revlon, the cosmetics company.  From there he moved back to his hometown of Chicago to work for the Johnson and Johnson Company.   By 1980, however, Pinkney was an employee of the city of Chicago.   

Despite the variety of jobs, Pinkney continued his interest in sailing that he had developed in Puerto Rico and became particularly adept at sailing alone. At the age of 50, after thinking about the legacy he would leave behind for his two grandchildren, April and Brian Walton, Pinkney decided he would attempt to sail around the world alone to encourage them to think and do the impossible. After receiving funding from the industrialist Armand Hammer and a Boston law firm, Aldrich, Eastman, and Waltch, he began to plan his solo voyage.   

At the age of 55 Pinkney began his odyssey on August 5, 1990, setting sail from Boston Harbor. He sailed on a 47-foot boat called The Commitment, which had been specially rigged so one man could operate it. Out of all the possible routes, Pinkney chose the most difficult one, which would take him around the five capes. He made stops in Bermuda, Brazil, South Africa, Tasmania, and finally around Cape Horn (the most difficult part of the voyage). His voyage took him 22 months, including a six month