This Day in History: 0000-08-05
August 1, 1952- “Major Sammy Lee Wins Olympic Gold” “Major Sammy Lee, a 31-year-old Korean American doctory in the U.S. Army, became the first Asian American to win an Olympic medal for the 10-meter high dive. Prior to that, he served in two wars. He was nicknamed the The Oriental from Occidental, a nod to his time as a student-athlete at Occidental College. Later in life, he coached Greg Louganis, who went on to win several diving gold medals at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.”
1773 - “Phillis Wheatley's 'Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral' Published” "Phillis Wheatley, the first professional African-American woman poet, became the first African-American woman whose writings were published with the printing of this volume. The book was published by Archibald Bell, the leading bookseller and printer London at the time, who required proof that Wheatley had written the poems herself. The volume of poems, 39 in all, broke barriers for African-American writers, as it was illegal in several of the states in the U.S. for a slave to learn how to read or write."