(Photo By Flickr User Tomas Jansson)
Black History Today for February 24th:
2009: The widow of New Orleans musician Ernie K-Doe, Antoinette K-Doe, passed away in New Orleans, LA on this day. She was 66 years old.
2007: Denver Broncos running back Damien Nash collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack after playing in a charity basketball game in suburban St. Louis, MO on this day. He was only 24 years old. Also, Lamar Lundy, along with Los Angeles Rams teammates Merlin Olsen, Deacon Jones, and Rosey Grier formed the "Fearsome Foursome" defensive line that battered NFL offenses during the ’60s. He passed away on this day in Richmond, IN at age 71.
2006: Prominent female Sci-Fi Writer, Octavia Butler, died this day. She was the first African- American woman to gain popularity and critical acclaim as a major science fiction writer and the first Genre author to win the MacArthur Foundations’ "Genius" Grant.
1999: Lauryn Hill took home five Grammy Awards for Best R&B Song, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best New Artist, Album of the Year, and Best R&B Album on this day. Also on this day, Sam Cooke was honored posthumously with the NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards on this day.
1993: Janet Jackson presented brother Michael Jackson with the Grammy Legend Award on this day. Also, Antonio "L.A." Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, received the Producer of the Year Award at the 35th Annual Grammy Awards on this day.
1987: NBA Superstar, Kareem Abdul- Jabbar, scored his first three-point shot on this day.
1982: Quincy Jones, was named Producer of the Year at the 24th Grammy Awards on this day. Also, singer/songwriter James Ingram, won a Grammy for Best Vocal R&B Performance by a Male for the song "One Hundred Ways" on this day.
1977: Professional boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr., was born on this day in Grand Rapids, MI.
1973: Robert Flack’s "Killing Me Softly With His Song" topped the Pop Charts for the first of five weeks.
1967: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. presented Aretha Franklin, on this day, with the Southern Christian Leadership Award at Cobo Hall in Detroit, MI when the city declared it "Aretha Franklin Day."
1966: Elected leader and first president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, ousted in military coup while he is away on a peace mission to Vietnam.
1956: Baseball Hall of Famer, Major League Baseball first baseman, designated hitter, and known as one of the most reliable and productive hitters of his era, Eddie Murray, was born on this day in Los Angeles, CA. Also, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bayard Rustin, leaders in the racial bus boycott in Montgomery, AL., leave the Montgomery County Courthouse on this day.
1940: Former world heavyweight boxing champion Jimmy Ellis (born James Albert Ellis) in Louisville, KY. Ellis won the World Boxing Association title after beating Jerry Quarry in April 1968.
1868: House of Representatives voted, 126 to 47, to impeach President Andrew Johnson.
1864- Rebecca Lee Crumpler becomes the first black woman to receive an M.D. degree. She graduated from the New England Female Medical College. Rebecca Lee Crumpler was born in 1833. She worked from 1852-1860 as a nurse in Massachusetts.
1811: Bishop of African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, Daniel Payne born on this day.
