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Timeline:
1991-present: The Spirit of the Millennium

 1991
The Senate votes 52-48 to confirm the nomination of Justice Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court following charges of sexual harassment by former aide Anita Hill during confirmation hearings.
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 1991
With much fanfare, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is appointed W.E.B. Du Bois professor of humanities at Harvard University, where he proceeds to build the university's Department of Afro-American Studies.
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 1991
Most of the social legislation that provided the legal basis for apartheid is repealed, though segregation remains deeply entrenched in South African society.
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 1992
Riots break out in Los Angeles, sparked by the acquittal of four white police officers caught on videotape beating Rodney King, a black motorist. The riots cause at least 55 deaths and $1 billion in damage.
 
 
 1992
West Indian poet and playwright Derek Walcott receives the Nobel Prize for Literature.
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 1992
Author Terry McMillan publishes Waiting to Exhale, which follows four middle-class women, each of whom is looking for the love of a worthy man. The book's wild popularity leads to a film adaptation.
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 1992
Mae Jemison becomes the first African American woman astronaut, spending more than a week orbiting Earth in the space shuttle Endeavour.
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 1992
Carol Moseley Braun becomes the first African American woman elected to the U.S. Senate, representing the state of Illinois.
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 1993
Poet Maya Angelou, author of the autobiographical work I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970), composes and delivers a poem for the inauguration of President Bill Clinton.
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 1993
Cornel West, progressive postmodern philosopher, finds a mainstream audience with the publication of his text Race Matters, which closely examines the black community around the time of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
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 1993
Poet Rita Dove, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Thomas and Beulah, is chosen as poet laureate of the United States.
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1993
Writer Toni Morrison, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for Beloved, receives the Nobel Prize for Literature.
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 1993
Joycelyn Elders becomes the first African American woman to serve as the U.S. surgeon general.
 
 
 1994
With his defeat of Michael Moore, 26, in Las Vegas, Nevada, George Foreman at 45 becomes the world's oldest heavyweight boxing champion.
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 1995
In one of the most celebrated criminal trials in American history, former running back O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.
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 1995
Minister Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, rises to the height of his influence as the most prominent organizer of the "Million Man March" of African American men in Washington, D.C.
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 1996
At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, sprinter Michael Johnson becomes the first man to win gold medals in the 200 metres and the 400 metres, setting a 200-metre world record of 19.32 seconds.
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 1996
The subject of Ebonics (or Black English Vernacular) is debated throughout the United States.
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1997
Tiger Woods becomes the first African American golfer to win the Masters Tournament.
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 1997
Many African American women join the Million Woman March in Philadelphia.
 
 
1998
Michael Jordan, often considered the greatest all-around player in the history of basketball, leads the Chicago Bulls to their sixth championship.
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 1998
The "Little Rock Nine"—nine black students who were prevented from attending a formerly all-white public school and whose case became a test of power between federal and state governments—are awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
 
 
 1999
Rosa Parks is awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
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 1999
The mistaken shooting and killing of an African immigrant, Amadou Diallo, by New York City policemen causes a national outcry.
 
 
 2000
Tennis player Venus Williams becomes the first African American woman since Althea Gibson (1958) to win the singles championship at Wimbledon.
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 2000
In response to widespread protest and a boycott by the NAACP, the South Carolina Senate passes a bill to remove the Confederate flag from the statehouse.
 
 
 2000
Venus Williams becomes the first African American woman to win a gold medal in singles and doubles tennis at the same Olympic Games.
 
 
 2001
General Colin Powell becomes the first African American U.S. secretary of state, after having been nominated in 1989 the first African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by President George H.W. Bush.
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 2001
Roderick Paige becomes the first African American to hold the position of secretary of education.
 
 
2001
Bishop Wilton Gregory becomes the first African American to be elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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 2002
Athlete Vonetta Flowers wins a gold medal in the women's bobsled event, becoming the first African American to win at the Winter Olympics.
 
 
 2002
Suzan-Lori Parks, with her play Topdog/Underdog, becomes the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
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2002
Halle Berry becomes the first African American woman to win the Academy Award for best actress.
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 2003
The U.S. Supreme Court issues a ruling on affirmative action in education, which upholds the use of race in collegiate admissions policies.
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 2003
1st Lt. Vernice Armour becomes the first African American female combat pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. military history.
 
 
2004
Barack Obama becomes the third African American to be elected to the U.S. Senate after Reconstruction.
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 2004
Outfielder Barry Bonds hits his 700th home run.
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 2005
Condoleezza Rice is named secretary of state, becoming the first African American woman to hold the post.
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 2005
Publisher John Johnson, publisher of several notable books and magazines geared toward an African American audience, dies.
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