1981

hooks' first book, written while she was an undergraduate, challenged the white mainstream feminist movement's erasure of Black women and laid groundwork for intersectional analysis before the term was coined. Her subsequent 30-plus books made her the most widely read Black feminist thinker of the late twentieth century.

Computer scientist Mark Dean co-invented the IBM Personal Computer and holds three of the original nine patents on the machine, including the Industry Standard Architecture bus that allowed devices to connect to PCs. He later led the team that built the first gigahertz chip and became the first Black IBM Fellow.

Toni Morrison's fourth novel, Tar Baby, is published and becomes an immediate bestseller, reaching number one on the New York Times bestseller list and cementing her status as a major American literary figure.

Luther Vandross releases his debut solo album 'Never Too Much,' which reaches number one on the R&B charts and establishes him as the defining voice of contemporary soul music in the 1980s.

Toni Morrison publishes 'Tar Baby,' her fourth novel, which immediately reaches the New York Times bestseller list — a rare achievement for a Black literary author — and cements her position as one of America's foremost novelists.

Grandmaster Flash, already renowned in the Bronx for his cutting, backspinning, and punch-phrasing DJ techniques, achieves broader recognition as his crew Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five record 'Adventures on the Wheels of Steel' — considered the first great DJ showcase record.

Sugar Ray Leonard stops Thomas Hearns in the 14th round in a fight many consider the greatest welterweight championship bout in history, unifying the WBC and WBA titles. The era of Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, and Duran defines boxing's golden age.

Sugar Ray Leonard defeated Thomas Hearns to unify the WBA and WBC welterweight titles in one of the greatest fights of the era, knocking Hearns down twice in a dramatic 14th-round stoppage. Leonard's career, which also featured victories over Duran and Hagler, defined a golden age of boxing in the 1980s.

August Wilson's play 'Jitney,' the first installment of his Pittsburgh Cycle chronicling Black American life decade by decade, receives its initial production at the Allegheny Repertory Theatre in Pittsburgh.

Black churches across the South and urban North launch intensive voter registration drives in response to Ronald Reagan's election and his administration's civil rights rollbacks. Black church-based political mobilization lays the grassroots foundation for Jesse Jackson's 1984 presidential campaign.

The Congressional Black Caucus publishes its first alternative federal budget in response to the Reagan administration's fiscal year 1982 budget, proposing to protect social programs and challenge supply-side economics. The practice becomes an annual tradition establishing the CBC as a policy force.