TODAY IN BLACK HISTORY Each day of the month (Feb, 2009) will profile a significant event on Black History in America.

Detroit Red-Malcolm Little

Marian Anderson

Feb 27th-28th Feb 28th In 1708, Slave revolt in Long Island New York. In 1977, Comic actor Eddie Anderson died. Feb 27th In 1897, Singer Marian Anderson was born. In 1923, Jazz musician Dexter Gordon was born. In 1960, Lunch counter sit-in participants in NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE were attacked by white teenagers. In 1965, Malcolm X was buried in Hartsdale, New York.

Feb 25th-Feb 26th Feb 26th In 1928, Fats Domino was born. Feb 25th In 1870, Hiram Revels was sworn into the U.S. Senate. He became the first African American U.S. senator. In 1948, Martin Luther King Jr. was appointed to serve as the assistant pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. In 1975, Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad died.

Elijah Muhammad & Martin Luther King Jr.

W.E.B. DuBois

Feb 22nd-Feb 24th Feb 24th In 1811, Bishop Daniel A. Payne was born. Feb 23rd In 1868, W.E.B. Du Bois was born. In 1925, Politician Louis Stokes was born. In 1937, Writer Claude Brown was born. Feb 22nd In 1870, Thomas Elkins patented a combined ironing table, quilting frame, and dining table. In 1911, Writer Frances E. Watkins Harper died. In 1950, Basketball player Julius Erving was born.

Feb 18th-21st Feb 21st: On this day in 1936, Politician Barbara Jordan was born. On this day in 1961, Otis Boykin patented an electrical resistor. On this day in 1965, Malcolm X was killed. He was assassinated by three gunmen while on stage at the Manhattan Audubon Ballroom. Feb 20: On this day in 1895, Frederick Douglass died. On this day in 1927, Actor Sidney Poitier was born. Feb 19: On this day in 1871, Social reformer Lugenia Burns Hope was born. On this day in 1902, Entertainer John W. Bubbles was born. Feb 18: On this day in 1924, Writer Audre Lorde was born. On this day in 1931, Writer Toni Morrison was born.

Toni Morrison

Jim Brown

Feb 15th-17th Feb. 17: 1936: Football player Jim Brown was born. 1942: Huey Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, was born. 1963: Basketball player Michael Jordan was born. 1982: Pianist and composer Thelonious Monk died. Feb. 16: The burial chamber of King Tutankhamen's recently unearthed tomb was unsealed in Kemet (Egypt) in 1923. Actor LeVar Burton was born in 1957. Feb 15: Benjamin L. Hooks announced plans to retire as executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1992. Muhammad Ali lost the heavyweight title to Leon Spinks in 1978.

Feb 11th-14th February 14 Frederick Douglass, Abolitionist was born in 1817 on this day. Morehouse College was founded in Atlanta on this day, 1867. What Up Kev! February 13 First Black pro Basketball team named "The Renaissance" was organized on this day in 1923. February 12 Abraham Lincoln's was born on this day. The NAACP wasfounded after riot in Springfield, Ill. on this day in 1909. PEACE 2 the Crib Revolutionaries! CHANGE! February 11 Nelson Mandela, leader of movement for democracy in South Africa was released from prison after 27 years on this day in 1990. Clifford Alexander, Jr. was the first Black Secretary of State on this day in 1977.

Nelson Mandela

LeRoy Satchel Paige

Feb 8th-10th February 10 Southern Christian Leadership Conference founded, 1957. Andrew Brimmer was the first Black person to serve on the Federal Reserve Board in 1966. Leontyne Price, world renowned soprano was born on this day in 1927. February 9 Paul Lawrence Dunbar was the 1st poet to use Black dialect in his verse. He died on this day in 1906. Leroy "Satchel" Paige was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971. February 8 In 1915, the N.A.A.C.P. protests the premier of D.W. Griffith's controversial silent film, The Birth of a Nation (LA, CA). Released under the title, The Clansman, the movie debuted only after Griffith sought an injunction from the court. Local censors approved the film. City council members also responded to concerns about the racist nature of the picture by ordering it suppressed.

Feb 4th-Feb 7th Feb 7th: President Truman appointed Irwin C. Mollison judge of the US Customs Court in 1945. Eubie Blake, famed pianist is born in Baltimore, MD in 1883. He died in 1983 (lived nearly 100 years)! Freedman's Aid Society, founded to promote education among Blacks. Feb 6th: 1945 Bob Marley is Born! Arthur Ashe dies in 1993. First organized emigration of U.S. Blacks back to Africa, from New York to Sierra Leone in 1820. Peabody Fund established to promote Black education in the South in 1867. Feb 5th: In 1994, white separatist Byron De La Beckwith was convicted in Jackson, Mississippi, of murdering civil rights leader Medgar Evers in 1963. and was sentenced to life in prison. Feb 4th: 24th Amendment abolished Poll tax in 1864. (see Jim Crow)

Robert Nesta Marley

Langston Hughes

Feb 1st-3rd Feb 3rd: Geraldine McCullough wins Widener Gold Medal for Sculpture in 1965. 15th Amendment (Black suffrage) passed in 1870. Feb 2nd: In a dramatic concession to South Africa's black majority, President F.W. de Klerk lifted a ban on the African National Congress and promised to free Nelson Mandela. Feb 1st: Black college students staged a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, N. C. in 1960. Langston Hughes, poet and author is born in 1902 (died-1967).