This Day in History: 2017-05-15
1963 – “First African-American Woman to Hold a Cabinet Position and Serve as a U.S. Ambassador” Advocate of women’s rights, Patricia Roberts Harris was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to co-chair the National Women’s Committee for Civil Rights. In 1965, one year after the civil rights act, Patricia R. Harris made history under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the first black female U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg. She broke another barrier two years later as the first Dean of Law at her alma mater, Howard University; she became the first black woman to head a law school in the U.S.
April 12, 1847 - "First Asians Arrive in the United States" - A group of three Chinese students arrived in New York City and became the first Asians to officially enter the United States.
However, Chinese records show that Chinese Buddhist priests
traveled along the West Coast and present-day British Columbia
down to Baja California in 450 A.D. Also, Spanish records show the
existence of Chinese shipbuilders in present-day Southern California
between 1541 and 1746 and Chinese shopkeepers were already in
present-day Los Angeles when the first Anglo Americans arrived.
Though conventionally thought to have played a pivotal role in
American history only from the 19th century forward, Asians have
been in what's now considered the U.S. longer than Europeans."