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On October 25, 1997, The Million Woman March was held in Philadelphia, PA. The event was one of the largest gatherings of women globally. Although the focus was on women in the Black community, women of all backgrounds supported and attended the rally. It was one of the largest demonstrations in US History, bringing together between 500,000 and 2 million people. The platform for the march was to address and bring to light several issues, including demands for the release of political prisoners, demands to end homelessness, and improvements in healthcare and education. Speakers included Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Maxine Waters, Sistah Souljah, and a message read by exiled American political activist Assata Shakur.

Black History was made on May 16, 1997, when US President Bill Clinton formally apologized to survivors of the unethical and racist Tuskegee Syphilis Study in a White House Ceremony. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study targeted African Americans from rural Alabama and was conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) from 1932 to 1972. Researchers did not obtain informed consent from participants and deliberately withheld available treatment from the participants diagnosed with syphilis so that they could study the progression of the disease, leading to widespread distrust of medical research within the Black community. The formal public apology from President Clinton in 1997 aimed at repairing trust within the African American community and it also led to the creation of the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care at Tuskegee University to further address issues of medical ethics.

# BlackHistoryMonth2025

Black History was made in 1997 when Guion "Guy" Bluford Jr. was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame. Bluford grew up in Philadelphia, PA, and is recognized as the first African American to travel to space when he flew aboard a mission on the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983. Guy Bluford, a retired colonel in the US Air Force, flew aboard four space shuttle missions during his career as a NASA astronaut.

Black History was made on April 13, 1997, when Tiger Woods, then 21, won his first of five Masters Tournaments, becoming the tournament's youngest winner. Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is a professional golfer of African American heritage from Orange County, California. He is regarded as one of the greatest professional golfers ever and is a 2021 inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame.