Celebrating Black History Month

This week in Black History

February 7

February 8

In 1925, Marcus Garvey entered federal prison in Atlanta.
“Good Times,” starring John Amos, Esther Rolle, Bern Nadette Stanis and Jimmie Walker premiered on CBS on this day in 1974. Good Times followed the lives of an urban black family living in the Chicago housing projects, and was one of the first television shows depicting the life of a black family.
In 1978, Leon Spinks defeated Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight boxing championship. Ali regained his title on Sept. 15, and became the first boxer to win the title three times.
In 1986, Oprah Winfrey first hit the air waves in Chicago as the first black woman to host a nationally syndicated talk show.
Figure skater Debi Thomas became the first black ice skater to win the Women’s Singles of the U.S. National Figure Skating Championship competition in 1986. Thomas was also a pre-med student at Stanford University.

February 9

Paul Laurence Dunbar died on this day in 1906.
Novelist Alice Walker was born on this day in 1944.
In 1952, Ralph Ellison’s novel, The Invisible Man, wins the National Book Award.
In 1971, Leroy “Satchel” Paige is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
In 1995, astronaut Bernard Harris, walks in space.

February 10

Opera singer Mary Leontyne Price was born on this day in Laurel, Mississippi in 1927.
Georgia born athlete Jackie Robinson, the first black player in major league baseball, married Rachel Isum in 1946.
In 1964, after 12 days of debate and voting on 125 amendments, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by a vote of 290-130. The bill prohibited any state or local government or public facility from denying access to anyone because of race or ethnic origin. The bill also allowed the federal government the power to initiate school desegregation law suits and to cut off federal funds to companies or states who discriminated. It forbade labor organizations or interstate commercial companies from discriminating against workers due to race or ethnic origins.
Attorney Ronald Brown was elected national chairman of the Democratic Party becoming the black politician to hold that post. Brown was later appointed Secretary of Commerce under the Clinton administration in 1994. He served in this capacity until he was killed in 1996 when he and 32 others died in a plane crash while on a diplomatic mission in Croatia.

February 11

Jarena Lee was born on this day in 1783. The daughter of former slaves and born in Cape May, New Jersey, Lee was the considered the first female preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1836, she published her autobiography, The Life and Religious Experiences of Jarena Lee, a Coloured Lady, Giving an Account of Her Call to Preach the Gospel.
National Urban League Director Whitney M. Young was killed on this day in 1971. Young worked tirelessly to bring the races together and joined the tenets of social work. A high school is later named for him in Chicago, Illinois, that has come to represent the best in academic and scholastic excellence in the nation.
In 1976, Clifford Alexander, Jr., was confirmed as the first black Secretary of the Army. He holds this position until the end of President Jimmy Carter’s term.
Nelson Mandela is released from prison on this day in 1990.

February 12

Famous horse jockey, Isaac Burns Murphy, dies on this date in 1869.
In 1882, black rights activist, Henry Highland Garnet, dies soon after being appointed the U.S. Ambassador to Liberia. Garnet was the first black person to speak at the Capitol, delivering a memorial sermon on the abolition of slavery at services before the House of Representatives.
Augustus Nathaniel Lushington, who became the first black Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.), died on this day in 1897.
The NAACP (National Association For the Advancement of Colored People) was founded on this day in 1909 by a small group of white citizens committed to social justice and preventing unjust acts against blacks. The NAACP remains the nation’s largest and strongest Civil Rights organization.
Bill Russell, a player and coach for the Boston Celtics basketball team was born on this day in 1934, in Monroe, Louisiana.
Arsenio Hall, the first black person to host a late-night talk show, was born on this day in 1956.

February 13

The first black professional basketball team, The Renaissance, was organized.
In 1957, the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) was organized at a meeting in New Orleans. Martin Luther King, Jr. was elected as the first president.
In 1970, the New York Stock Exchange admits its first black member, Joseph Searles.

– Facts taken from BlackFacts.com and list compiled by Monica Land