"On August 1, 1945, Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and jazz pianist Hazel Scott became husband and wife in New York, creating one of America's most glamorous power couples. The bride wore knee-length white lace and satin, arriving seven minutes late, while the groom showed up 21 minutes after that due to a flat tire. They made a dazzling pair, featured on magazine covers and in gossip columns, becoming the toasts of high-end parties in New York and Washington. Scott was earning today

“Black is beautiful. Black Power means dignity...” On this date, November 29th, 1908, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., the first African American to represent New York in Congress, was born. Powell used his position as pastor of the Abyssinian Church and his strong record of community activism in Harlem to win election to a newly-created, majority-black congressional seat in New York City in 1944. He served for nearly three decades. During that time Powell vowed to “represent the negro people first.” D