(Photo By Flickr User Graham S Dean Photography)
Black History Today for February 14th:
2011- Negro league baseball pitcher, outfielder, and first baseman Cecil Kaiser passed away on this day after a fall. He was 94 years old. He was nicknamed the “Minute Man” as it took him about one minute to strike out batters and as the “Aspirin Tablet Man” for throwing pitches that resembled aspirin tablets.
2006- English singer, songwriter arranger and record producer Lynden David Hall passed away on this day. In 2003, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma and died from complications resulting from the stem cell transplant he received in January 2005. He was 31 years old.
2005- 24-year-old professional boxer, Najai "Nitro" Turpin, a contestant for the Reality show ‘The Contender’ committed suicide while sitting in the car with girlfriend and his two-year-old daughter. Also on this day, Marvel Comics announced that Marvel’s first Black Superhero, the Black Panther would be making a comeback with the hopes of sparking the imaginations of a new generation of black youth. And finally, the romantic comedy "Hitch" starring Will Smith and Eva Mendes opened in theaters and took in over $45 million during Valentine’s Day Weekend.
1998- The Isley Brothers were honored at the twenty-ninth NAACP Image Awards on this day with the Hall of Fame Award.
1996- Prince and Mayte Garcia got married in a Minneapolis church on this day. Mayte is currently starring in the reality show "The Hollywood Exes" with Sheree Zampino, Nicole Murphy, Andrea Kelly, Jessica Canseco, and Daphne Wayans.
1994- Lenny Kravitz was awarded the Best International Male Artist trophy at the Thirteenth Brit Awards on this day in London.
1991- The SuperSoaker water gun invented and created by Lonnie Johnson received a patent on this day.
1976- "Inseparable" by Natalie Cole was the number one R&B song on this day.
1967- One of the greatest songs ever, "Respect" by Aretha Franklin was recorded on this day.
1966- NBA great, Wilt Chamberlain, set an NBA record on this day by scoring 20,884 points.
1957- Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Montgomery, AL., reads the telegram sent to U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower by the Southern Negro Leaders Conference in New Orleans, LA.on this day. The telegram says that a mass pilgrimage will be made to the nation’s capitol if the president does not make a stand calling for enforcement of the Supreme Court’s ruling outlawing segregation.
1946- Tony Award winning, singer, dancer, and choreographer Gregory Hines and the greatest tap dancer of his generation, was born on this day in New York City, NY. He passed away in 2003 at age 57.
1936- National Negro Congress organized at Chicago meeting attended by 817 delegates representing more than 500 organizations. Asa Phillip Randolph of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was elected president of the new organization.
1867- Morehouse College organized in Augusta, GA. The institution was later moved to Atlanta. New registration law in Tennessee abolished racial distinctions in voting.
1818- Possible birthday of Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, and orator. Born into slavery as Frederick Bailey, Douglass purchased his freedom in 1845 and went on to become the greatest abolitionist of his time.
1760- Richard Allen born in slavery in Philadelphia, PA
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