1983

Thomas Beasley and Doctor Crants found Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) in Nashville, Tennessee, pioneering the for-profit private prison industry. CCA wins its first contract to manage a facility in Hamilton County, Tennessee. The company's profit model depends on high incarceration rates that fall disproportionately on Black Americans.

Michael Stewart, a 25-year-old Black graffiti artist and model, is stopped by New York City Transit Police for writing graffiti in the First Avenue subway station. Officers beat and restrain him; he arrives at Bellevue Hospital in a coma and dies thirteen days later. A grand jury indicts eleven officers; all are acquitted in 1985.

After years of opposition and with Congress passing the bill 338–90 in the House and 78–22 in the Senate, Reagan signs the King Holiday bill creating a federal holiday on the third Monday in January. Reagan had privately endorsed Sen. Jesse Helms's baseless claim that King had Communist associations. The first official observance is January 20, 1986.

Congress passes the King Holiday bill 338-90 in the House and 78-22 in the Senate, forcing Reagan to sign. Reagan had privately endorsed Sen. Jesse Helms's baseless claim that King had Communist ties. The first official observance is January 20, 1986.

The National Urban League's annual State of Black America report for 1983 documents catastrophic economic conditions: Black unemployment at 20%, Black child poverty at 47%, and median Black family income at 56% of white family income. John Jacob, Urban League president, attributes the crisis directly to Reagan's budget cuts and the recession.

The National Urban League's State of Black America 1983 reports Black unemployment at 20%, Black child poverty at 47%, and median Black family income at 56% of white family income. President John Jacob attributes the crisis directly to Reagan's budget cuts and the recession.

Guion S. Bluford Jr., an Air Force colonel from Philadelphia, becomes the first Black American in space aboard Space Shuttle Challenger mission STS-8. His flight, achieved 16 years after the Civil Rights Act, is celebrated widely in Black American communities as a milestone in representation and achievement.

Guion S. Bluford Jr., a mission specialist from Philadelphia, becomes the first Black American to travel to space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-8. Bluford, an Air Force colonel and aerospace engineer, performs experiments during the six-day mission. His flight, achieved 16 years after the Civil Rights Act, is celebrated as a milestone in Black American achievement.

Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress and the first Black candidate to seek a major party presidential nomination (1972), retires from the House of Representatives after seven terms representing Brooklyn's 12th Congressional District. Her retirement reduces Black women's representation in a Congress that at the time contains only a handful of Black women members.

A federal holiday honoring Dr. King is established after years of campaigning.