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The Ledger
On this day

January 7th

2 events recorded on The Ledger.

  1. 1891
    The Rise

    Zora Neale Hurston born

    Zora Neale Hurston is born in Notasulga, Alabama, and raised in Eatonville, Florida, one of the first incorporated Black townships. She trains as an anthropologist under Franz Boas at Barnard and writes Their Eyes Were Watching God in 1937.

  2. 2023
    The Record

    Tyre Nichols beaten by Memphis police

    Memphis police officers from the department's SCORPION unit stop twenty-nine-year-old Tyre Deandre Nichols in his Nissan Sentra a few minutes from his mother's home. The beating that follows leaves him unresponsive; he dies three days later. All five officers charged are Black, complicating the narrative without changing the outcome. The city disbands the SCORPION unit within weeks.

Timeline data: 159 events across The Ledger. See the full 400-year timeline →