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