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This Month In Black History: Important Things That Happened In February That You Never Learned

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February 5, 2023

It’s Blacker than ever!

We’ve made it past the first month and, if you’re like us, the new year is really just starting. While we’re settling into a new wave of abundant blessings, let’s take some time to reflect on the paths that have already been paved. Of course, it’s Black History Month so there’s a lot to celebrate. But there were also huge accomplishments made during the month of February before we had a month to honor our collective contributions. We’re giving you a head start on your Black studies with this list of important things that happened in February that you never learned, courtesy of BlackFacts.com:

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February 14, 1760 – Richard Allen, founder of AME church, is born

 

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February 2, 1839 – Edmond Berger invents the spark plug

 

February 11, 1840 – South Carolina Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Jasper Wright is born

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February 1, 1865 – John Swett Rock becomes first African American lawyer admitted to practice before the Supreme Court

 

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February 23, 1868  W.E.B. Du Bois is born

 

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February 27, 1872  Charlotte E. Ray makes history as first Black woman to receive a law degree

 

February 13, 1882 – Abolitionist Henry Highland Garnet passes away

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February 5, 1884 – Willis Johnson receives patent for rotary egg beater

 

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February 18, 1885 – Justice Jonathan Jasper Wright passes away

 

February 7, 1887 – Pianist Eubie Blake is born in Baltimore, MD

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February 20, 1895 – Abolitionist Frederick Douglass passes away

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February 12, 1896 – Jockey Issac Murphy passes away

 

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February 2, 1897  Inventor Alfred L. Cralle receives patent for the ice cream scooper

 

February 27, 1897 – Opera singer Marian Anderson is born

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February 6, 1898 – Poet Melvin B. Tolson is born

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February 1, 1902 – Writer Langston Hughes is born in Joplin, Missouri

 

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February 9, 1906 – Poet Paul Laurence Dunbar passes away

 

February 12, 1909 – National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded

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February 5, 1910 – Diplomat John Howard Morrow, first ambassador to independent Guinea, is born

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February 4, 1913 – Civil rights leader Rosa Parks is born

 

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February 2, 1915 – Scientist Ernest E. Just makes history as first recipient of NAACP Spingarn medal

 

February 13, 1920  Negro Baseball League is founded

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February 7, 1926 – Carter G. Woodson launches Negro History Week 

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February 10, 1927 – Internationally renowned opera singer Leontyne Price is born

 

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February 20, 1927 – Sidney Poitier is born

 

February 26, 1928 – Rock ‘n’ Roll pioneer Fats Domino is born

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February 23, 1929 – Baseball player Elston Gene Howard is born

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February 10, 1931 – Inventor James Edward West is born

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February 18, 1931 – Poet Toni Morrison is born

 

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February 6, 1933 – U.S. Rep and civil rights activist Walter E. Fauntroy is born

 

February 21, 1933 – Nina Simone is born 

February 5, 1934 – Baseball legend Hank Aaron is born in Mobile, Alabama

 

February 12, 1934 – NBA superstar Bill Russell is born

 

February 18, 1934 – Poet Audre Lorde is born

 

 

February 21, 1936 – U.S. Rep Barbara Jordan is born

 

February 1, 1937 – Actor/comedian Garrett Morris is born in New Orleans, Louisiana

February 10, 1937 – Singer Roberta Flack is born

 

February 20, 1937 – Jazz singer Nancy Wilson is born

 

 

February 19, 1940 – Singer Smokey Robinson is born

 

February 21, 1940 – Civil rights leader John Lewis is born

 

February 29, 1940  Hattie McDaniel becomes first African American to win an Oscar

 

February 17, 1942 – Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton is born

 

February 9, 1944 – Writer Alice Walker is born

 

February 6, 1945 – Bob Marley is born in Jamaica

 

 

February 14, 1946 – Entertainer Gregory Hines is born

 

 

February 1, 1948 – Singer Rick James is born

 

 

February 6, 1950 – Singer Natalie Cole is born

 

February 22, 1950 – Basketball Hall of Fame legend Julius Erving is born

 

February 3, 1956  Autherine J. Lucy Foster becomes first Black student to attend the University of Alabama

 

February 12, 1956  Arsenio Hall is born

 

February 3, 1957 – Award-winning filmmaker Marlon Troy Riggs is born

 

 

February 16, 1957 – Actor LeVar Burton is born

 

February 11, 1958 – Ruth Carol Taylor becomes the first Black flight attendant in the U.S.

 

February 16, 1958 – Rapper Ice T is born

 

February 1, 1960 – The Greensboro sit-in takes place

 

 

February 17, 1963 – Basketball icon Michael Jordan is born

 

February 20, 1963 – NBA superstar Charles Barkley is born

 

February 25, 1964 – Muhammad Ali defeats Sonny Liston to win first world title

 

February 27, 1964 – Author Anna Julia Cooper passes away

 

February 3, 1965 – Sculptor Geraldine McCullough wins Widener Gold Medal award

 

February 7, 1965 – Comedian Chris Rock is born

 

February 15, 1965 – Singer Nat King Cole passes away

 

 

February 21, 1965 – Malcolm X is assassinated

 

February 8, 1968 – Actor Gary Coleman is born

 

February 29, 1968 – Broadway actress Juanita Hall passes away

 

February 12, 1970 – Joseph L. Searles III becomes the first Black member admitted to the New York Stock Exchange

  

 

February 9, 1971 – Satchel Paige is nominated to the Baseball Hall of Fame

 

February 26, 1971 – Singer Erykah Badu is born

 

 

February 8, 1974 – “Good Times” premieres on CBS

 

February 25, 1975 – Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad passes away

 

February 14, 1977  Clifford Alexander Jr. appointed as first Black Secretary of the Army

 

February 23, 1979  Frank E. Peterson Jr. appointed the first Black general in the Marine Corps

 

February 17, 1982 – Jazz pianist Thelonious Monk passes away

 

 

February 12, 1983 – Pianist Eubie Blake passes away

 

February 28, 1984 – Michael Jackson takes home 8 Grammy Awards for “Thriller”

 

 

February 4, 1986 – U.S. Postal Service issues Sojourner Truth stamp

 

February 3, 1989 – Former baseball player Bill White makes history as first African American president of the National League

 

February 10, 1989 – Ron Brown makes history as first African American elected to become national chairman of the Democratic Party

 

February 1, 1990 – Ida B. Wells postage stamp issued

 

February 8, 1990 – NBA player Klay Alexander Thompson is born

 

February 11, 1990 – Nelson Mandela is released from prison

 

 

February 10, 1992 – Author Alex Haley passes away

 

February 6, 1993 – Tennis icon Arthur Ashe passes away

 

February 9, 1995 – Astronaut Bernard Harris becomes first African American to walk in space

 

February 19, 1996 – Opera singer Dorothy Maynor passes away

 

 

February 4, 2005 – Legendary actor Ossie Davis passes away

 

February 3, 2011 – West Indian writer Édouard Glissant passes away

 

February 6, 2012 – Architect Norma Merrick Sklarek passes away

 

 

February 24, 2020 – Former NASA mathematician Katherine G. Johnson passes away

 

February 11, 2022  Fisk University launches first HBCU Intercollegiate Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Team


February 19, 2022
  Elana Meyers Taylor becomes most decorated Black Winter Olympian

This month in Black history: Important things that happened in February that you never learned/David Redfern/Redferns

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