(Photo By Flickr User Affendaddy)
Black History Today- February 26th:
2012- Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black Florida teen, was fatally shot on this day by a neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman. Zimmerman claimed self-defense but was arrested nearly a month later and charged with murder.
1994- Curtis Mayfield was presented with the Grammy Legend Award on this day at the 36th Annual Grammy Awards. He passed away in December of 1999 in Georgia. He was 57 years old. Also, Aretha Franklin, was awarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 36th Annual Grammy Awards on this day.
1986- Singer, songwriter, actress, and radio host Crystal Kay, was born on this day in Yokohama, Japan.
1985- Tina Turner won Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Vocal Performance all with the million seller "What’s Love Got to Do With It" at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards on this day. Also on this day, Jimmy Cliff became the first Jamaican artist to win a Grammy as the Best Reggae Recording a newly instituted category. The song was "Reggae Night." Lastly, Chuck Berry was awarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards on this day.
1983- Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ album reached number 1 on this day and stayed there for 37 weeks and selling more than 40 million copies.
1979- Singer, songwriter and musician Corinne Bailey-Rae, was born on this day in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
1971- Singer, songwriter, producer and video director, Erykah Badu (Erica Abi Wright), was born on this day in Dallas, TX.
1966- Andrew Brimmer becomes the first African American governor of the Federal Reserve Board when he is appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson
1964- On this day, the Kentucky boxer known to all as Cassius Clay, changed his name to Muhammad Ali as he accepted Islam and rejected Christianity.
1946- Race riot, Columbia, TN on this day. Two killed and ten wounded.
1943- Actor and director Bill Duke was born on this day in Poughkeepsie, NY.
1933- Godfrey Cambridge, actor and comedian, was born in New York City, NY.
1930- The Green Pastures opened at Mansfield Theater in Manhattan, NY on this day.
1928- Antoine "Fats" Domino, Jr. was born on this day. He is a singer, songwriter, pianist, composer, inductee into the Rock/Roll Hall of Fame, and recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the National Medal of Arts.
1926- Carter G. Woddson started Negro History Week. This week would later become Black History Month.
1877- At a conference in the Wormley Hotel in Washington, DC, representatives of Rutherford B. Hayes and representatives of the South negotiated agreement which paved the way for the election of Hayes as president and the withdrawal of federal troops from the South.
1870- Wyatt Outlaw, Black leader of the Union League in Alamance County, NC, was lynched on this day.
