For the month of February, each day, the Chicago Defender will highlight one Black leader and showcase his or her major accomplishments. We welcome you to tell us what you're doing to celebrate Black History Month and click Blackfacts.com to read more Black history facts.
February 28
Michael Jackson, pop icon and one of the most notable dancers ever, won eight Grammys on this day in 1984. "Thriller" broke all album sales to date and this album continues to sell in massive amounts. Fun fact: One of his signature moves, the Moonwalk, was learned from Jackson watching break dancers.
February 27
Figure skater Debi Thomas was the first African American to win a medal (bronze) at the winter Olympic games. During alternate dates, she was also honored as skating's world champion (1986) and two times with the U.S. National Championship (1986 and 1988).
February 26
Cassius Clay, now known as Muhammad Ali, rejected Christianity and became a Muslim on this day in 1964. Ali also took political stands on the Vietnam War and the draft, but Muhammad Ali is more notoriously known as being one of the greatest heavyweight boxers in the world.
February 25
Hirman R. Revels of Mississippi was sworn in as the first Black U.S. senator (1870 to March 3, 1871) and the first Black representative in Congress. After his term as a senator, he became the president of Alcorn College and returned to his past background as a pastor in a Mississippi church.
February 24
Rebecca Lee Crumpler was the first Black woman to receive an M.D. degree. Crumpler was an alumni member of the New England Female Medical College, and her aunt caring for sick neighbors gave Crumpler plenty of experience to take on her educational achievements.
February 23
Frank E. Peterson Jr. was named the first Black general in the Marine Corps. At the age of 20, Petersen became the first Black aviator in the history of the Marines.
February 22
DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince won the first rap Grammy for the hit single "Parents Just Don't Understand." Fresh Prince aka Will Smith went on to be a well-known actor of movies like "Independence Day," "Hancock," "Pursuit of Happyness," and "Seven Pounds," and is well-known as the star of the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."
February 21
Otis Boykin, Inventor, patented the Electrical Resistor. He is responsible for inventing the electrical device used in all guided missiles and IBM computers, plus 26 other electronic devices, including a control unit for an artificial heart stimulator (pacemaker).
February 20
In 1991, Black singers; rappers; musicians; and producers won several Grammys: Quincy Jones, Mariah Carey, B.B. King, Anita Baker, Luther Vandross, Ray Charles, Big Daddy Kane, Ice T, Kool Moe Dee, and Melle Mel.
February 19
Vonetta Flowers became the first Black gold medalist in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. She and partner Jull Brakken won the inagural women's two-person bobsled event.
February 18
Toni Morrison was born in 1931. Morrison made her debut into writing in 1970 and has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1988.
February 17
Black Panther Party leader Huey Newton was born in 1942. With over 2,000 members, the Black Panther Party was created to protect people from police brutality and racism. Although an illiterate high school graduate, he taught himself to read and went on to earn a Ph.D. in social philosophy.
February 16
Bessie Smith makes her first recording "Down Hearted Blues" that sold 800,000 copies for Columbia Records. Smith was one of the biggest Black singers in the 1920s.
February 15
Louis Armstrong recorded "Hello Dolly," his first and only number one record. A founding father of jazz, he recorded other hit songs for five decades, performed an average of 300 concerts per year, wrote two autobiographies, more than ten magazine articles, hundreds of pages of memoirs and thousands of letters, and was in 30 films.
February 14
This date is the questionable birthday of Frederick Douglass due to Douglass ascertaining it since his mother, Harriet Bailey, called him her "little valentine." Born into slavery as Frederick Baile, Douglass purchased his freedom in 1845 and went on to become a great abolitionist, orator, and writer.
February 13
The New York Stock Exchange lets in its first Black member, Joseph Searles, in 1970. He trained as a floor partner with Newburger, Loeb.
February 12
The NAACP, the nation's largest and strongest civil rights organization, was founded in 1909. The NAACP seeks removal of all racial discrimination and consists of members of various races.
February 11
Jarena Lee is the first female preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Her autobiography, The Life and Religious Experience of Jarena Lee, A Coloured Lady, details her calling to preach the gospel.
February 10
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by a vote of 290-130. It forbade labor organizations or interstate commercial companies from discriminating against workers due to race or ethnic origins and gave power to the US Attorney General to introduce school segregation lawsuits.
February 9
Ralph Waldo Ellison, author of Invisible Man, wins the National Book Award in 1952. Invisible Man remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks, and Ellison was established as one of the major figures in the 20th century.
February 8
In 1986, Oprah Winfrey became the first Black woman to host a nationally syndicated talk show. Winfrey now makes over $385 million per year, according to TV Guide and ranked as arguably "the world's most powerful woman" by Time magazine and CNN, is an animal rights activist (honored by PETA) and made a first-time public endorsement of a presidential candidate, (now) President Barack Hussein Obama.
February 7
Carter G. Woodson creates Negro History Week in 1926. This Omega Psi Phi fraternity member selected a week in February to celebrate both Frederick Douglass' and Abraham Lincoln's birthday. In 1976, Negro History Week became Black History Month.
February 6
Author, editor and poet Melvin B. Tolson was born on this day. The movie "The Great Debaters" is based on his accomplishments as a professor at Wiley College in Texas. The debate team he coached while at Wiley College had a ten-year winning streak with the biggest accomplishment winning against University of South California. Although it wasn't acknowledged by the school due to race issues and "The Great Debaters" films a debate at Harvard instead, Tolson's accomplishments were historical in Marshall, Texas.
February 5
Henry "Hank" Aaron was born on this day. He played for the Milwaukee Atlanta Braves for over 20 years and hit 755 homeruns, which was an untouched record by any other baseball player.
February 4
In 1986, a stamp of women's right's activist Sojourner Truth was issued by the United States Postal Service. Sojourner Truth is well-known for her "Ain't I a Woman?" speech at the 1851 Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. She also supported Black troops during the Civil War and helped to get the soldiers land.
February 3
Reginald F. Lewis was born on this day and was a partner of Wall Street's first Black law firm--Murphy, Thorpes & Lewis. In 1989, he became the president and CEO of TLC Beatrice International Food Company, a $1.54 billion company (1992).
February 2
Alfred L. Cralle invented the ice cream scooper in 1897. Cralle was the first Black person in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to receive a patent for his invention.
February 1
Langston Hughes, a Chicago Defender columnist and famous Harlem Renaissance poet, was born on February 1, 1902. For 20 years, he wrote columns about topics happening in the Black community, like Jim Crow laws, segregation, Black soldiers and World War II.
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Copyright 2009 Chicago Defender with reprint permission from Blackfacts.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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