A Month Long Celebration
Febuary is African-American History Month. Many significant events in African-American history occurred in the month of February. Each week of this month we will share historical information for each date. The source for this information is here.
On February 9:
Feb. 9, 1944 – Novelist Alice Walker was born in Eatonton, Ga.
Feb. 9, 1952 – Author Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man wins the National Book Award.
Feb. 9, 1971 – Leroy “Satchel” Paige is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Feb. 9, 1995 – Bernard Harris, African-American astronaut, takes space walk.
On February 10:
Feb 10, 1927 – Leontyne Price, who became an internationally acclaimed opera singer, was born in Laurel, Miss.
Feb. 10, 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.
Feb. 10, 1966 – Economist Andrew Brimer is appointed to the Federal Reserve Board.
On February 11:
Feb. 11, 1961 – Robert Weaver sworn in as administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Agency, highest federal post to date by a black American.
Feb. 11, 1976 – Clifford Alexander Jr. confirmed as the first black secretary of the United States Army.
Feb. 11, 1990 – Nelson Mandela is released from a South African prison after being detained for 27 years as political prisoner.
Feb. 12, 1865 – Henry Highland Garnet, first black to speak in the Capitol, delivered memorial sermon on the abolition of slavery at services in the House of Representatives.
Feb. 12, 1909 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded. The call for the organizational meeting was issued on 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth by 47 whites and six blacks.
Feb. 12, 1948 – First Lt. Nancy C. Leftneant became the first black accepted in the regular Army Nursing Corps.
On February 13:
Feb. 13, 1923 – The first black professional basketball team, “The Renaissance,” was organized.
Feb. 13, 1957 – Southern Christian Leadership Conference organized at New Orleans meeting with Martin Luther King Jr. as president.
Feb 13, 1970 – The New York Stock Exchange admits its first black member, Joseph Searles.
On February 14:
Feb. 14, 1817 – Frederick Douglass, “The Great Emancipator,” is born.
Feb. 14, 1867 – Morehouse College organized in Augusta, Ga. The institution was later moved to Atlanta. New registration law in Tennessee abolished racial distinctions in voting.
Feb. 14, 1936 – National Negro Congress organized at Chicago meeting attended by 817 delegates representing more than 500 organizations.
On February 15:
Feb. 15, 1848 – Sarah Roberts barred from white school in Boston. Her father, Benjamin Roberts, filed the first school integration suit on her behalf.
Feb. 15, 1851 – Black abolitionists invaded a Boston courtroom and rescued a fugitive slave.
Feb. 15, 1968 – Henry Lewis becomes the first black to lead a symphony orchestra in the United States.
