(Photo By Flickr User dbking)
Black History Today for February 19th:
2011- NFL player Ollie Matson who played for the Los Angeles Rams teams during a 14-year Hall of Fame career, died of respiratory failure in Los Angeles, CA on this day at age 80. Also, Donald L. Cox member of the Black Panther Party, died in Camps-sur-l’Agly, France on this day at age 74.
2002- Vonetta Flowers became the first black gold medalist in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. She and partner Jill Brakken won the inaugural women's two-person bobsled event.
1996- Concert singer Dorothy Maynor (1910-1996), died on this day
1994- The Jackson Clan came together for the much-publicized Jackson Family Honors show at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV on this day.
1993- Kenya Moore of Michigan, was crowned the 42nd Miss USA on this day.
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.
1983- James Ingram and Patti Austin’s "Baby, Come to Me" reached Number 1 on the Pop Charts on this day. Also, Born this day, Emily Perez (the first female African American Cadet Command Sergeant Major in the history of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point). Perez was deployed to Iraq in December as a Medical Service Corps officer. She was killed when a makeshift bomb exploded near her Humvee during combat operations in Al Kifl, near Najaf. Aged 23, she was the first female graduate of West Point to die in the Iraq War, the first West Point graduate of the “Class of 9/11″ to die in combat, and the first female African-American officer to die in combat.
1974- Al Green received the award for "Favorite Album Soul/R&B" category at the Inaugural American Music Awards on this day.
1966- The Isley Brothers’ classic "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak For You)," Charted on this day on both the R&B & Pop Charts. Ron Isley would remake the song in a duet with Rod Stewart 24 years later and charting at Number 10 on the Pop Charts.
1963- Grammy Award winning Singer & Songwriter Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel, was born on this day in Paddington, London, England.
1958- The Miracles’first single "Got a Job" was issued on End Records. Although, it didn’t chart, it was the start of the group’s monumental career; 46 pop and 48 R&B hits through 1978. It was also the 18th birthday for both Smokey Robinson and Bobby Rogers.
1955- Etta James charted with the song "Wallflower" on this day. Etta would go on to have 30 R&B hits.
1942- The Tuskegee Airmen the first African American Flying Unit in the U.S. Military was initiated into the armed forces on this day.
1940- Singer/songwriter Bobby Rogers & Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter, composer, record producer, and former record executive William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. (both of The Miracles) were born on this day in Detroit, MI.
1919- The 1st Pan-African Congress is held in Paris, France. The Pan-African Congress, organized by W.E.B. Du Bois, met a 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.
1864- Knights of Pythias established. Confederate troops defeated three Black and six white regiments at Battle of Olustee, about fifty miles from Jacksonville, FL.
