(Photo By Flickr User RangerRick)

 Black History Today for Febraury 20th:

2012- Former Indiana US congresswoman and a key sponsor of the 1983 legislation that established a national holiday for Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Katie Hall, died this day. She was 73 years old.

2011- Streetball Legend Troy “Escalade" Jackson died on this day at age 35. 

2002- NFL’s first black quarterback, Willie Thrower, died this day at age 71. He became the leagues’ first black quarterback when he played in one game for the Chicago Bears in 1953.

1977- Former NBA player Stephon Marbury (currently in China playing basketball with the Beijing Ducks), was born on this day. 

1968- State troopers used tear gas to stop demonstrations at Alcorn A&M College (University) in Lorman, MS.

1963- Retired NBA Hall of Famer, Olympic Gold medalist, and broadcaster Charles Wade Barkley, was born on this day in Leeds, AL. Also, on this day, Willie Mays signed a $100,000 contract with the San Francisco Giants and the following year he became the first African-American to be named Captain of a major League baseball team. 

1936- Grammy Award winning singer of blues, jazz, cabaret, and pop; a consummate actress and the complete entertainer, Nancy Wilson, was born on this day in Chillicothe, OH. Also, the death of John Hope (67), president of Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University).

1929- Writer Wallace Thurman's play "Harlem" opens in NYC. It is the first successful play by an African-American playwright.

1927- Academy Award winning actor and film director Sidney Poitier, was born on this day in Miami, FL. 

1895- Abolitionist Frederick Douglass dies on this date in Washington, DC.

1869- Tennessee Governor W.C. Brownlow, declared martial law in nine countries in Ku Klux Klan crisis.