On this day in 1944: Motown Records legend Diana Ross is born 

On March 26, 1944, Motown Records legend Diana Ross was born in Detroit. 

She turns 80 on Tuesday. 

Ross grew up on Detroit’s North End and in the Brewster-Douglass federal public housing community, the first in America dedicated to the nation’s African-American community. In 1935, then-first lady Eleanor Roosevelt attended the groundbreaking of the Brewster site. 

By 1961, Ross had become a member of the award-winning vocal trio known as The Supremes. The recording act scored 12 No. 1 hits during the 1960s. Ross later had a highly successful music career as a solo artist. 

In 1974, she was photographed congratulating Coleman A. Young, Detroit’s first Black mayor. Young had previously been a member of the Michigan Senate. 

Ross collaborated in 1985 with other music icons, including fellow Michiganders Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder, to record the single “We Are the World,” which brought awareness to famine in Africa. As children, Robinson and Ross grew up on Belmont Street on the city’s North End, less than 500 feet from each other. Another musical legend, Aretha Franklin, lived around the block from them. 

Ross was a recipient of the 2007 Kennedy Center Honors. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Nov. 22, 2016, at the White House from recognized by then-President Barack Obama. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is considered the nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. 

Others who have been awarded the honor include philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates, actress Cicely Tyson, rock star Bruce Springsteen, actors Robert DeNiro and Richard Redford as well as basketball legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan. 

“The Presidential Medal of Freedom is not just our nation’s highest civilian honor — it’s a tribute to the idea that all of us, no matter where we come from, have the opportunity to change this country for the better,” Obama said at the time. 

In 2018, Ross’ younger sister, Rita Ross, narrowly lost a Democratic primary in the Michigan House of Representatives to Cynthia Johnson, who was later elected to the lower chamber. Through social media, Diana encouraged people to support her sister’s effort. 

“My sister, a really dedicated Detroiter,” Ross posted on X (formerly Twitter) that year.