(Photo By Flickr User Canadian Film Centre)

Black History Today for February 19th:

1864- Knights of Pythias established. Confederate troops defeated three Black and six white regiments at Battle of Olustee, about fifty miles from Jacksonville, FL.

1919- Pan-African Congress meeting, organized by W.E.B. Du Bois, met at Grand Hotel, Paris. There were fifty-seven delegates sixteen from the United States and fourteen from Africa form sixteen countries and colonies. Blaise Diagne of Senegal was elected president and Du Bois was named secretary.

1940- Soul singer William “Smokey” Robinson born in Detroit, MI. Robinson’s first singing group was the Miracles which he formed in 1955 while still in high school. The group’s first success came in 1960 with the hit, “Shop Around.”

1942- The Army Air Corps’ all African American 100th Pursuit Squadron, later designated a fighter squadron, was activated at Tuskegee Institute. The squadron served honorably in England and in other regions of the European continent during World War II.

1992- John Singleton,the first African-American director to be nominated for the Academy Award is nominated for best director and best screenplay for his first film Boyz N the Hood.

1996- Concert singer Dorothy Maynor, dies (1910-1996)

2002- Vonetta Flowers became the first black gold medalist in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. She and partner Jill Brakken won the inagural women’s two-person bobsled event.

(Information courtesy of blackfacts.com)