1. Tuskegee Airman Harold A. Brown was born on July 23, 1924, in Springfield, Ohio but grew up in Knoxville, Alabama. He was part of the first group of African-American pilots in the United States Armed Forces during World War II, and he received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007.

2. On July 23, 1864, during the American Civil War, Union forces under General William T. Sherman skirmished with Confederate forces near Decatur, Alabama. The skirmish resulted in a Union victory, allowing them to continue their march towards Atlanta.

3. On July 23, 1967, civil rights activist and Black Panther Party member Fred Hampton spoke at St. Jude Educational Institute in Montgomery, Alabama. His speech focused on the importance of unity and solidarity in the fight for racial justice.

4. On July 23, 1968, John Herbert Orr, an American serial killer known as the "Baton Rouge Serial Killer," was born in Wetumpka, Alabama. Orr was convicted of killing five women in Louisiana and sentenced to death in 1994.

5. On July 23, 1997, James "Jim" Knight, an American football coach and former player, died in Florence, Alabama. Knight played for the University of Alabama in the 1950s and later went on to coach at various high schools and universities, including the University of Tennessee and the University of Alabama. He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.