(Photo By Flickr User Army Medicine)
Black History Weekend Today for February 20th:
1869- Tennessee Governor W.C. Brownlow, declared martial law in nine countries in Ku Klux Klan crisis.
1895- Death of Frederick Douglass (78), Anacostia Heights, District of Columbia. Douglass was the leading Black spokesman for almost fifty years. He was a major abolitionist and a lecturer and editor.
1900- J.F. Bickering patents airship invention
1927- On this day Sidney Poitier, who will be the first African-American to win an Academy Award in a starring role, is born in Miami, FL.
1929- Writer Wallace Thurman’s play Harlem opens in NYC. It is the first successful play by an African-American playwright.
1931- Army Lt. Gen. Emmett Paige, Jr. born in Jacksonville, FL on this day.
1936- Jazz singer, actress, Nancy Wilson, born in Chillicothe, OH; also, the death of John Hope (67), president, Atlanta University happened on this day.
1963- “The Round Mound Of Rebound” Charles Wade Barkley, basketball player, born Leeds, AL on this day.
1968- State troopers used tear gas to stop demonstrations at Alcorn A&M College (Alcorn State University) on this date.
1991- African-Americans win eight Grammys on this date.
February 21st:
1895- North Carolina Legislature, dominated by Black Republicans and white Populists, adjourned for the day to mark the death of Frederick Douglass.
1917- Thelonious Sphere Monk (1917-1982) Jazz musician; born in Rocky Mount, NC; He was raised in New York City, NY.
1933- Nina Simone (Eunice Waymon), 66, singer (“I Love You Porgy,” “Trouble in Mind”) born Tryon, NC.
1936- On this day Barbara Jordan, who will be the first African-American woman elected to the House of Representatives, is born
1940- John Lewis, founder and chairman of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), born on tis day.
1961- Otis Boykin, Inventor, patented the Electrical Resistor.
1965- Malcolm X (Little) (39) assassinated in Audubon Ballroom (New York City, NY)at a rally of his organization. Three Blacks were later convicted of the crime and sentenced to life imprisonment.
1987- African-Americans in Tampa, FL, rebelled after an African-American man was killed by a white police officer while in custody.
1992- Eva Jessye, choral director for the first Broadway production of Porgy and Bess, died in Ann Arbor, MI on this day.
(Information courtesy of blackfacts.com)
