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Marlon Troy Riggs, a filmmaker, educator, poet, and gay rights activist, was born on this day in 1957. His documentary, Ethnic Notions, which deals with anti-Black stereotypes in American history and culture, won an Emmy in 1988.

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Autherine Lucy was the first Black person to be accepted at the University of Alabama after a court order. On this day in 1956, she enrolled for classes. Three days later, on February 6, the school suspended her saying that she was responsible for riots engaged in by a white mob of over 1000 people.

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Blanche Kelso Bruce was elected as a United States Senator from Mississippi on this day in 1874, the first Black person to serve a full term in the Senate.