Today In Black History February 8th 1986: Debi Thomas became the first African-American Women's Singles of the U.S. Figure Skating Champion
On Feb. 8, 1986, figure skater Debi Thomas became the first African-American to win the Women's Singles of the U.S. National Figure Skating Championship competition while studying as a pre-med student at Stanford University. She was the first Black woman to win a national figure skating title.
Thomas also earned the distinction of becoming the first African-American to win a medal in any Winter Olympic sport when she won a bronze medal in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.
Thomas was born on March 25, 1967, in Poughkeepsie, New York, and began skating at the age of five. Dedicated to both sport and study, Thomas maintained her schedule as a university student throughout her skating career, earning her bachelor's degree in engineering in 1991. She retired from skating the following year and began medical school at Northwestern University, graduating in 1997.
She is currently a practicing physician in Virginia.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential figures in American history. As the face of the civil rights movement, his leadership and commitment to nonviolent protest reshaped the national dialogue around race, equality, and justice. His assassination on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, shocked the nation and the world.