(Photo By Flickr User Julio Lopes)
Black History Today- February 25th:
2012- Blues guitarist, singer, & harmonica player Iverson Minter (aka Louisiana Red), passed away at the age 79.
2008- Stephen Ellis Garret (aka Static Major), passed away, aged 33. He was a Grammy Award-winning rapper, songwriter, record producer, & singer. He died of a rare condition called myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disorder.
1999- White supremacist John King, one of three white men accused of chaining James Byrd to a pickup and dragging him along a Texas road until he was decapitated. King was found guilty and sentenced to death.
1997- Sade was arrested in Montego Bay, Jamaica for disorderly conduct, disobeying a policeman, and dangerous driving on this day.
1992- James Brown received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 34th Annual Grammy Awards on this day. Also on this day, Natalie Cole won big at the 34th Annual Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Traditional Pop Album of the Year and Best Engineered Album (non-classical). Lastly, Tina Turner’s British biopic, "The Girl from Nutbush" aired on BBC1 in England on this day.
1989- Frank Bruno challenged Mike Tyson for the undisputed world heavyweight title. Tyson took Bruno in five rounds on this day.
1987- Edward Daniel Nixon, former president of the Georgia NAACP, died at age 87 on this day.
1986- Dionne Warwick, on this day, presented her cousin, Whitney Houston, with the Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female award at the 28th Annual Grammy Awards.
1980- Award-winning Poet, essayist, and educator Robert Hayden, passed away, aged 66. He was also the first African-American Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.
1978- On this day Daniel "Chappie" James, Jr. (first African American four-star general), dies in Colorado Springs, CO.
1976- Film & television actress, comic book author, screenwriter, and singer/songwriter, Rashida Jones, was born on this day in Los Angeles, CA.
1971- President Richard Nixon met with members of the Congressional Black Caucus and appointed a White House panel to study a list of recommendations made by the group.
1965- Model, actress, writer, journalist, TV personality, Veronica Webb, was born on this day in Detroit, MI. She is also the first African-American to have a major cosmetics contract (Revlon).
1964- Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali), became world heavyweight boxing champion for the first time, on this day, by knocking out Sonny Liston in Miami Beach, FL.
1962- Singer, songwriter, record producer & multi-instrumentalist Foster Sylvers, was born on this day in Pasadena, CA. He was also a founding member of the group The Sylvers.
1950- Gwendolyn Brooks, on this day in Topeka, KS. Brooks became the first African-American to win a Pulitzer Prize, for her book Annie Allen. She passed away in Chicago, IL in December 2000.
1948- Martin Luther King, Jr. ordained as a Baptist minister on this day.
1947- Olympic Gold medalist Lee Evans was born in Maderra, CA on this day. He is also an inductee into the Nat’l Track & Field Hall of Fame (1983) and a Fulbright Scholar.
1928- Born this day, Al Higganbothan, Jr., was the first African-American (and the youngest person) to serve as a commissioner of a federal regulatory commission.
1870- Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, was sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African-American ever to sit in the U.S. Congress.
