January 1971

Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff found Philadelphia International Records, which becomes one of the most successful independent Black-owned record labels of the era, producing the Philadelphia Soul sound with artists including the O'Jays and Harold Melvin.

Ernest Gaines publishes The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, a fictional oral history spanning a century of Black life in Louisiana from slavery through the Civil Rights Movement, which becomes a widely taught American classic.

Funkadelic releases Maggot Brain, led by George Clinton, featuring Eddie Hazel's extended guitar solo on the title track. The album becomes a cornerstone of funk and psychedelic soul.

Romare Bearden exhibits his Mecklenburg County series of photomontages, among the most celebrated works of his career, evoking his North Carolina childhood and cementing his reputation as a master of the collage form.

Percy Sutton, former Manhattan Borough President and civil rights attorney, founded Inner City Broadcasting Corporation in 1971 and acquired WLIB, one of the first Black-owned radio stations in New York City. He later added WBLS, which became the number-one radio station in New York, and built a media company that was a forerunner of Black ownership in major-market broadcasting.

Miles Davis releases A Tribute to Jack Johnson, a hard-funk electric jazz album honoring the first Black heavyweight boxing champion, featuring John McLaughlin on guitar and cited as one of the most ferocious recordings of Davis's career.

NASA scientist Emmett Chappelle discovered that a bioluminescent reaction could detect the presence of bacteria and plant life in remote environments, with applications in food safety testing, cancer detection, and the search for extraterrestrial life. He holds 14 patents and received NASA's Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal.