(Photo By Flickr User Dennis Heller)
Black History Today for February 5th:
1995- The late Trayvon Martin was born on February 5, 1995 to Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin. Martin was shot and killed on February 26, 2012 in Sanford, FL by George Zimmerman. On July 13, 2013, a jury acquitted Zimmerman of murder.
1990- Columbia University graduate, Harvard University law student, and now President Barack Obama, became the first African-American named president of the Harvard Law Review.
1962- Suit seeking to bar Englewood, NJ, from maintaining "racial segregated" elementary schools filed in U.S. District Court.
1958- Clifton R. Wharton Sr. confirmed as minister to Rumania. Career diplomat was the first Black to head a U.S. embassy in Europe.
1950- Singer Natalie Maria Cole, daughter of legedary singer Nat "King" Cole, born in Los Angeles, CA. Singing professionally at age 11, by 1976 Cole had won Grammys for New Artist of the Year and Best R&B Female Vocalist.
1934- Henry "Home Run King, Hammerin' Hank, Hammer" Louis Aaron, baseball superstar was born in Mobile, AL.
1900- U.S. Rep. Jefferson Long, elected from the state of Georgia, died in Washington, D.C. Long was the only candidate interested in running for the 60-day term and he was duly elected.
1866- Congressman Thaddeus Stevens offered an amendment to Freedmen's Bureau bill authorizing the distribution of public land and confiscated land to freedmen and loyal refugees in forty acre lots. The measure was defeated in the House by a vote of 126 to 37. A Black delegation, led by Frederick Douglas called on President Johnson and urged ballots for former slaves. Meeting ended in disagreement and controversy after Johnson reiterated his opposition to Black suffrage.
