February 1^st:

• Carter Woodson started “Negro History Week”.  He chose the second week of February because it marked the birthday of 2 people Abraham Lincoln & Frederick Douglass.
• Langston Hughes accomplished writer, poet, and journalist of the Harlem Renaissance was born February 1, 1902
• “I don’t want a black history month. Black history is American history.” – Morgan Freeman

February 2^nd:

• Muhammad Ali the “greatest [boxer] of all time” was originally named after the 19th century abolitionist & politician Cassius Marcellus Clay
• The banjo originated in Africa and up until the 1800’s was considered an instrument only played by blacks.

February 3^rd:

• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was stabbed by an Black woman in 1958 while attending his book signing at a department store in Harlem.

February 5^th:

• Madame C.J. Walker invented specialized hair products 4 African-American hair & became the first American woman 2 become a millionaire.

February 6^th:

• Madame C.J. Walker invented specialized hair products 4 African-American hair & became the first American woman 2 become a millionaire.

February 7^th

• Ophelia DeVore-Mitchell: One of the 1st African American models in the US & was the first AA woman to start a Modeling Agency.

February 8^th

• “Some say we are responsible for those we love. Others know we are responsible for those who love us.” – Nikki Giovanni.

February 9^th

• During the Attack on Pearl Harbor, an African American cook named Dorie Miller shot down 2 Japanese Planes w/ anti-aircraft machine gun.
• “The time is always right to do what is right.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

February 10^th

• “Racism is man’s gravest threat 2 man-the maximum of hatred 4 a minimum of reason.” ~Abraham J. Heschel
• “Your willingness to look at your darkness is what empowers you to change.” ~Iyanla Van Zant

February 11^th

• “Strange Fruit” the song about lynching in the south made famous by Billie Holiday was originally a poem by a Jewish schoolteacher
• On this day in 1990 Nelson Mandela was released from prison in Cape Town, South Africa after being a political prisoner for 27 years.

February 12^th

• Judy W. Reed was the first African-American woman to receive a patent in 1884 for a hand-operated machine used to knead and roll dough.
• Bessie Coleman (1893-1926) was the first licensed African-American pilot in the world. She received aviation instruction in France.

February 13^th

• Ben Carson led the 1st successful operation 2 separate a pair of Siamese twin infants who were joined @ the back of the head in 1987.

February 14^th

• In 1992, 35-year-old athlete Evelyn Ashford became the oldest woman to win an Olympic gold medal in track-and-field.
• On 2/8/88 Debi Thomas became the 1st African American to win a bronze medal during the Winter Olympics & went on to become a surgeon.

February 15^th

• Today we Spotlight Thomas Jennings who was the First African American inventor to receive a patent for an invention.
• George T Sampson invented a clothes dryer that used heat from a stove in 1892.

February 16^th:

• Charlotte Ray graduated from Howard University in 1872 to become the first African American female lawyer.
• Did you know that Dizzy Gillespie was one of the founding fathers of Jazz and one of the inventors of bebop?!

February 17^th

• In the mid 1800s Philadelphia was known as “The Black Capital of Anti–Slavery” ’cause of the strong abolitionist presence there.
• Alfred Anderson, Father of Black Aviation, trained black aviators for 6 decades. First black to acquire a Transport License.

February 18^th

• Ashmun Institute was founded in 1854 as the first institution of higher learning for African American’s. It was later renamed Lincoln University.
• Ruth Simmons was the first Black female President of a top-ranked college (Smith) in ’95 & of an Ivy League University (Brown) in ’01.

February 19^th

• Dr. Patricia. E. Bath (1949–) invented a method of eye surgery that has helped many blind people to see.
• Jan Ernst Matzeliger (1852–1889) invented a shoe-making machine that increased shoe-making speed by 900%!

February 20^th

• In 1909, Matthew A. Henson accompanied Robert E. Peary on the first successful U.S. expedition to the North Pole.
• William Wells Brown was the first African-American to publish a novel, a play, and a travel book.

February 21^st

• Phillis Wheatley was the first published African American poet & the first African-American woman whose writings were published.
• African-American surgical technician Vivien Theodore Thomas developed the procedures used to treat blue baby syndrome in the 1940s.

February 22^nd

• After retiring from baseball, hall-of-famer Jackie Robinson helped establish the African-American owned and controlled Freedom Bank.
• Frederick Jones held over 60 patents, most of them pertained to refrigeration. One of them was used in WWII to preserve medicine.

February 23^rd

• Garrett Morgan an African American inventor created the gas mask and then he created the ability to separate blood from plasma.
• In 1855 John Mercer Langston became one of the first AA ppl in the US elected to public office when elected as a town clerk in OH.

February 24^th

• Elbert F Cox was the first African-American to earn a PhD in Mathematics in 1925 from Cornell University
• CHARLIE SIFFORD was the first African-American athlete to compete in the PGA tour. (1961)

February 25^th

• African-American surgeon Charles R. Drew is often credited with the invention of the first large-scale blood bank.
• January 1949, James Robert Gladden becomes first African American certified in orthopedic surgery.

February 26^th

• Wendell Scott broke the color barrier in stock car racing (1952) & is the only black driver to win a race in the Sprint Cup (1964).
• Madam C.J. Walker was the first female millionaire and she just happened to be an African American.

February 27^th

• Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American woman to win an Oscar in 1940 for Gone With the Wind
• W.E.B. DuBois was the 1st A-A 2 earn a doctorate @ Harvard. He also attempted virtually every possible solution 2 the problem of racism

February 28^th

• In 1850 Lucy Stanton of Cleveland becomes the first African American woman to graduate from an American college or university.
• Alain LeRoy Locke was the first African-American Rhodes Scholar. There have been many since him!
• In 1901: Bert Williams & George Walker record their music for the Victor Talking Machine Co. and become the first black recording artists
• Henry Blair invented the corn seed planter in 1834, & cotton planter in 1836. He couldn’t read or write so he signed his patent with an X.
• Frederick Jones held over 60 patents, most of them pertained to refrigeration. 1 of them was used in WWII to preserve medicine.
• Louis Armstrong bought his first coronet at the age of 7 with money he borrowed. He taught himself to play while living in a home for delinquents.
• Politician and educator Shirley Chisholm survived 3 assassination attempts during her campaign for the 1972 U.S. presidential election.
• Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall said he was punished for misbehavior in school by being forced 2 write copies of the Constitution.
• Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall was a classmate of writer Langston Hughes during their studies at Lincoln University.
• A serious student, Condoleezza Rice entered college at the age of 15, and was an assistant professor at Stanford by age 26.
• Most of the homes architect Paul Williams designed were built on land whose deeds barred blacks from being able to purchase them.
• On Jan 20, 2009 Barack Hussein Obama took office as our nations first Black President a feat I didn’t think I’d see in my lifetime.