(Photo By Flickr User Cliff)

Black History Today for February 25th:

1839- Seminoles and their Black allies shipped from Tampa Bay, FL to the West.

1870- Hiram R. Revels of Mississippi sworn in as first Black U.S. senator and first Black representative in Congress.

1948- Martin Luther King, Jr. ordained as a Baptist minister

1964- The singer with the “Golden Voice,” Nat “King” Cole, dies. Also, Muhammad Ali defeated Sonny Liston for world heavyweight boxing championship on this day.

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.

1975- Death of Elijah Muhammad (Poole) (77), leader of the Nation of Islam, in Chicago, IL. He was succeeded by his son, Wallace D. Muhammad.

1978- Death of Daniel (“Chappie”) James Jr. (58), retired Air Force general and the first Black promoted to four-star rank, at the Air Force Academy, CO.

1980- Poet and poetry consultant to the Library of Congress, Robert E. Hayden, dies.

1987- Edward Daniel Nixon, former president of the Georgia NAACP, died at age 87.

1989- Boxer Mike Tyson becomes the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World by defeating challenger Frank Bruno of England.

1991- Adrienne Mitchell, first African-American woman to die in combat in the Persian Gulf War is killed in her military barracks in Dharan, Saudi Arabia

1998- R. Kelly’s hit single “I Believe I Can Fly” wins Best Male R&B Vocal, Best Song Written for TV or a Movie, and Best R&B Song at the Grammy Awards.

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, was sentenced to death by lethal injection.

(Information courtesy of blackfacts.com)