Patricia Stephens Due, whose belief that, as she put it, “ordinary people can do extraordinary things” propelled her to leadership in the civil rights movement — but at a price, including 49 days in a stark Florida jail — died on Tuesday in Smyrna, Ga. She was 72.

The cause was thyroid cancer, her daughter Johnita Due said. She had moved to Smyrna, an Atlanta suburb, to be near her family after living in Miami.

At 13, Patricia Stephens challenged Jim Crow orthodoxy by trying to use the “whites only” window at a Dairy Queen. As a college student, she led demonstrations to integrate lunch counters, theaters and swimming pools and was repeatedly arrested. Read more

Founded of necessity due to damage caused largely by the American Civil War, the Peabody Education Fund was established by George Peabody in 1867 for the purpose of promoting "intellectual, moral, and industrial education in the most destitute portion of the Southern States." The gift of foundation consisted of securities to the value of $2,100,000, of which $1,100,000 were in Read more

The first man to successfully transport Black Americans to Africa was Paul Cuffee (1759-1817), a Black ship owner. He appealed to the federal government and free Blacks to support his plan, and he successfully transported 38 African Americans to Freetown, Sierra Leone. "1001 Things Everyone Should Know About African American History"

In 1816 the American Colonization Society was founded by White philanthropists, slave owners, and Henry Clay. Its goal was to find an outlet for free Blacks who were being manumitted by slave owners in the upper South after the turn of the century. The society transported 86 Blacks to Africa in 1820 and established the settlement of Liberia in 1822. By the end of the decade, the society had relocated 1,162 people to Africa at a cost of $100,000. By 1850 the society had spent $1,800,000 to ship 10,000 African Americans to Liberia.

Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley (February 6, 1945 ? May 11, 1981) was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for the ska, rocksteady and reggae bands The Wailers (1964?1974) and Bob Marley & The Wailers (1974?1981). Marley remains the most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited for helping spread both Jamaican music and the Rastafari movement to a worldwide audience.