It’s Blacker than ever!
We’ve made it past the first month and, if you’re like us, the new year is really just starting. While we’re settling into a new wave of abundant blessings, let’s take some time to reflect on the paths that have already been paved. Of course, it’s Black History Month so there’s a lot to celebrate. But there were also huge accomplishments made during the month of February before we had a month to honor our collective contributions. We’re giving you a head start on your Black studies with this list of important things that happened in February that you never learned, courtesy of BlackFacts.com:
February 14, 1760 - Richard Allen, founder of AME church, is born
February 2, 1839 - Edmond Berger invents the spark plug
February 11, 1840 - South Carolina Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Jasper Wright is born
February 1, 1865 - John Swett Rock becomes first African American lawyer admitted to practice before the Supreme Court
February 23, 1868 - W.E.B. Du Bois is born
February 27, 1872 - Charlotte E. Ray makes history as first Black woman to receive a law degree
February 13, 1882 - Abolitionist Henry Highland Garnet passes away
February 5, 1884 - Willis Johnson receives patent for rotary egg beater
February 18, 1885 - Justice Jonathan Jasper Wright passes away
February 7, 1887 - Pianist Eubie Blake is born in Baltimore, MD
February 20, 1895 - Abolitionist Frederick Douglass passes away
February 12, 1896 - Jockey Issac Murphy passes away
February 2, 1897 - Inventor Alfred L. Cralle receives patent for the ice cream scooper
February 27, 1897 - Opera singer Marian Anderson is born
February 6, 1898 - Poet Melvin B. Tolson is born
February 1, 1902 - Writer Langston Hughes is born in Joplin, Missouri
February 9, 1906 - Poet Paul Laurence Dunbar passes away
February 12, 1909 - National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded
February 5, 1910 - Diplomat John Howard Morrow, first ambassador to independent Guinea, is born
February 4, 1913 - Civil rights leader Rosa Parks is born
February 2, 1915 - Scientist Ernest E. Just makes history as first recipient of NAACP Spingarn medal
February 13, 1920 - Negro Baseball League is founded
February 7, 1926 - Carter G. Woodson launches Negro History Week
February 10, 1927 - Internationally renowned opera singer Leontyne Price is born
February 20, 1927 - Sidney Poitier is born
February 26, 1928 - Rock ‘n’ Roll pioneer Fats Domino is born
February 23, 1929 - Baseball player Elston Gene Howard is born
February 10, 1931 - Inventor James Edward West is born
February 18, 1931 - Poet Toni Morrison is born
February 6, 1933 - U.S. Rep and civil rights activist Walter E. Fauntroy is born
February 21, 1933 - Nina Simone is born
February 5, 1934 - Baseball legend Hank Aaron is born in Mobile, Alabama
February 12, 1934 - NBA superstar Bill Russell is born
February 18, 1934 - Poet Audre Lorde is born
February 21, 1936 - U.S. Rep Barbara Jordan is born
February 1, 1937 - Actor/comedian Garrett Morris is born in New Orleans, Louisiana
February 10, 1937 - Singer Roberta Flack is born
February 20, 1937 - Jazz singer Nancy Wilson is born
February 19, 1940 - Singer Smokey Robinson is born
February 21, 1940 - Civil rights leader John Lewis is born
February 29, 1940 - Hattie McDaniel becomes first African American to win an Oscar
February 17, 1942 - Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton is born
February 9, 1944 - Writer Alice Walker is born
February 6, 1945 - Bob Marley is born in Jamaica
February 14, 1946 - Entertainer Gregory Hines is born
February 1, 1948 - Singer Rick James is born
February 6, 1950 - Singer Natalie Cole is born
February 22, 1950 - Basketball Hall of Fame legend Julius Erving is born
February 3, 1956 - Autherine J. Lucy Foster becomes first Black student to attend the University of Alabama
February 12, 1956 - Arsenio Hall is born
February 3, 1957 - Award-winning filmmaker Marlon Troy Riggs is born
February 16, 1957 - Actor LeVar Burton is born
February 11, 1958 - Ruth Carol Taylor becomes the first Black flight attendant in the U.S.
February 16, 1958 - Rapper Ice T is born
February 1, 1960 - The Greensboro sit-in takes place
February 17, 1963 - Basketball icon Michael Jordan is born
February 20, 1963 - NBA superstar Charles Barkley is born
February 25, 1964 - Muhammad Ali defeats Sonny Liston to win first world title
February 27, 1964 - Author Anna Julia Cooper passes away
February 3, 1965 - Sculptor Geraldine McCullough wins Widener Gold Medal award
February 7, 1965 - Comedian Chris Rock is born
February 15, 1965 - Singer Nat King Cole passes away
February 21, 1965 - Malcolm X is assassinated
February 8, 1968 - Actor Gary Coleman is born
February 29, 1968 - Broadway actress Juanita Hall passes away
February 12, 1970 - Joseph L. Searles III becomes the first Black member admitted to the New York Stock Exchange
February 9, 1971 - Satchel Paige is nominated to the Baseball Hall of Fame
February 26, 1971 - Singer Erykah Badu is born
February 8, 1974 - "Good Times" premieres on CBS
February 25, 1975 - Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad passes away
February 14, 1977 - Clifford Alexander Jr. appointed as first Black Secretary of the Army
February 23, 1979 - Frank E. Peterson Jr. appointed the first Black general in the Marine Corps
February 17, 1982 - Jazz pianist Thelonious Monk passes away
February 12, 1983 - Pianist Eubie Blake passes away
February 28, 1984 - Michael Jackson takes home 8 Grammy Awards for “Thriller”
February 4, 1986 - U.S. Postal Service issues Sojourner Truth stamp
February 3, 1989 - Former baseball player Bill White makes history as first African American president of the National League
February 10, 1989 - Ron Brown makes history as first African American elected to become national chairman of the Democratic Party
February 1, 1990 - Ida B. Wells postage stamp issued
February 8, 1990 - NBA player Klay Alexander Thompson is born
February 11, 1990 - Nelson Mandela is released from prison
February 10, 1992 - Author Alex Haley passes away
February 6, 1993 - Tennis icon Arthur Ashe passes away
February 9, 1995 - Astronaut Bernard Harris becomes first African American to walk in space
February 19, 1996 - Opera singer Dorothy Maynor passes away
February 4, 2005 - Legendary actor Ossie Davis passes away
February 3, 2011 - West Indian writer Édouard Glissant passes away
February 6, 2012 - Architect Norma Merrick Sklarek passes away
February 24, 2020 - Former NASA mathematician Katherine G. Johnson passes away
February 11, 2022 - Fisk University launches first HBCU Intercollegiate Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Team
February 19, 2022 - Elana Meyers Taylor becomes most decorated Black Winter Olympian
This month in Black history: Important things that happened in February that you never learned/David Redfern/Redferns