May 25 - BlackFacts.com Black History Minute

BlackFacts.com: Learn/Teach/Create Black History

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for May 25.

30 million people worldwide joined "Race against time" to raise money for starving in Africa.

The event was organized by chairman and founder Chris Long, Bob Geldof (Band Aid and Live Aid) and John Anderson (Head of Global Special Events, UNICEF).

A central event was the lighting of a symbolic torch at the United Nations by Omar Khalifa, a champion Sudanese 1500m runner, to signal the start of the 10K races around the world.

Khalifa then ran through 12 European capitals, and was greeted by leaders such as Margaret Thatcher, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, François Mitterrand, Helmut Kohl and Pope John Paul II.

274 cities held official events, allowing over 19.8 million participants to follow designated courses, with television coverage worldwide.

The New York Times reported, "With 200,000 Londoners setting the pace, more than 20 million runners in 76 countries ran today in Sport Aid, a global benefit to raise money for the starving in Africa."

$100 million was raised for famine relief in Africa.

$45 million was brought in from the global broadcast of a two-hour television special that reached 750 million people.

Learn black history, teach black history at blackfacts.com