Ashley M. Jones

Ashley M. Jones, a Birmingham native, is Poet Laureate of the state of Alabama (2022-2026). She is the first African American, and at 31, the youngest person to have the title in the 91 years Alabama has named a poet laureate.

JANUARY 1, 1863

President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation.

JANUARY 7, 1891

Zora Neale Hurston, author and playright
was born in Notasulga, Alabama.

JANUARY 13, 1990

Douglas Wilder, becomes first African American U.S. governor (Virginia) since Reconstruction.

JANUARY 20, 2001

Colin Luther Powell, became the first African American U.S. Secretary of State.

JANUARY 26, 1944

Angela Yvonne Davis, political activist and educator, was born in Birmingham, Alabama.