May 21 - BlackFacts.com Black History Minute

BlackFacts.com: Learn/Teach/Create Black History

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for May 21.

Lowell Perry was confirmed as chairman of the Equal Opportunity Commission.

He was an American football player and coach, government official, businessman, and broadcaster.

Perry was the first African-American assistant coach in the National Football League (NFL), the first African American to broadcast an NFL game to a national audience, and Chrysler's first African-American plant manager.

Perry attended the University of Michigan where he studied history. He played at the end position for the Michigan Wolverines football team from 1950 to 1952.

In 1963, Perry began a 17-year career with Chrysler. He started as a personnel specialist.

In April 1966, Perry was hired as a color analyst for CBS Television to broadcast Steelers games alongside play-by-play man Joe Tucker. He was the first African-American to broadcast an NFL game to a national audience.

He returned to Chrysler where he became a personnel manager in 1970. In 1973, he was appointed the plant manager of Chrysler's Eldon Avenue Axle Plant in Detroit. He was the first African American to hold the plant manager position at a U.S. automobile company.

In 1975, Perry was appointed by President Gerald Ford to be commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Learn black history, teach black history at blackfacts.com