January 1977

Patricia Roberts Harris is confirmed as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Carter, becoming the first Black woman to serve in any U.S. Cabinet, and later the first to head two separate Cabinet departments.

Patricia Roberts Harris is confirmed as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Carter, becoming the first Black woman to serve in any U.S. Cabinet.

Andrew Young is confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under President Carter, becoming the first Black American to hold that cabinet-level position and bringing a focus on African affairs and human rights.

Grandmaster Flash develops and codifies turntable techniques including the Quick Mix Theory, the Punch Phase, and backspinning, creating the technical vocabulary of DJing that underpins all subsequent hip-hop music.

Donna Summer releases I Feel Love, a pioneering electronic dance track that Brian Eno famously declared would change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years.

Grandmaster Flash develops and codifies turntable techniques including the Quick Mix Theory, backspinning, and the Punch Phase, creating the technical vocabulary of DJing that underpins all subsequent hip-hop music.

ABC's Roots miniseries airs over eight consecutive nights to an estimated 130 million viewers for the finale, the largest audience in American television history at the time, transforming national conversations about slavery.

ABC's Roots miniseries, based on Alex Haley's novel, airs over eight consecutive nights to an estimated 130 million viewers for the finale, the largest audience in American television history at the time, transforming national conversations about slavery.

President Jimmy Carter appointed Andrew Young as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in 1977, making him the first Black American to hold that Cabinet-level position. Young used the role to champion African liberation movements and reshape U.S. policy toward the developing world, before later serving as mayor of Atlanta and helping bring the 1996 Olympics to the city.

Jordan's selected poems established her as one of the most versatile and politically engaged poets of the twentieth century, addressing race, gender, sexuality, and global justice simultaneously. Her later founding of Poetry for the People at UC Berkeley trained hundreds of young poets in activist craft.

June Jordan publishes her selected poems, cementing her reputation as one of the most politically engaged and technically innovative poets of the era, with work addressing race, gender, sexuality, and global justice.

President Jimmy Carter appointed Patricia Roberts Harris as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 1977, making her the first Black woman to serve in a presidential Cabinet. When a senator questioned whether she could represent the poor, Harris's electrifying response — 'I am one of them' — became a defining moment in American political history. She later served as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Becomes the first Black woman ordained an Episcopal priest.

Alex Haley's saga becomes one of the most-watched programs in US history.