As you engage in conversation with family members, friends and others about what the world would be if not for the contributions of Africans and African Americans . Here are some interesting facts about this week for your discussion.
February 19:
- 1919: The first Pan-African Congress, organized by WEB DuBois, opens in Paris. Fifty-seven delegates from 16 countries and colonies will meet for three days and declare: “The natives of Africa must be allowed to participate in the government as fast as their development permits”.
- 1940: William “Smokey” Robinson is born. As part of the Motown group The Miracles and in his solo career, Robinson will be an enduring R & B and pop performer.
- 1987: Rioting erupts in Tampa, FLA, after a young African American man dies from a police chokehold.
- 2002: Vonetta Flowers becomes Winter Olympics first African American gold medalist.
February 20:
- 1927; Sidney Poitier is born in Miami, Fla. He will become one of the modern movies’ leading men, making his screen debut in 1950 and earning praise in such films as Cry the Beloved Country, Blackboard Jungle, Porgy and Bess, A Raisin in the Sun, To Sir With Love, Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. His 1965 role in Lilies of the Field will earn him an Oscar, the first for an African American in a starring role.
- 1991: African Americans win eight Grammys including Mariah Carey for best new artist and female pop vocal, Anita Baker for female R & B vocal, Living Colour for best hard rock performance. Hammer for best rap solo and best R & B song for “U Can’t Touch This”, and Chaka Khan and Ray Charles for best R & B vocal by a duo or group.
February 21:
- 1933: Nina Simone is born in Tryon, NC. She will begin her entertaining career in 1954 and bolstered by critical praise for her 1959 recording of “I Loves You, porgy”, she will tour in the US and Europe during the 1960s and early 1970s. returning to the concert stage and recording studio in 1977, she will be called the “High Priestess of Soul”.
- 1936: Barbara Jordan is born in Houston, TX. The first African American state senator in the Texas legislature since 1883 and a three-term congresswoman, she will play a key role in the 1974 Watergate hearings. In 1976, she will be the first woman and first African American to make a keynote speech before the Democratic National Convention.
- 1965: Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, NY. One of the most charismatic leaders in the civil rights and black power movements, he was best known for his doctrine of self-determination for African American people, including their right to fight for their rights and protect themselves in a hostile America by “whatever means necessary”.
February 22:
- 1950: Julius Erving is born in Roosevelt, NY. He will become a star basketball player, first for the ABA’s Virginia Squires and later for the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers.
- 1989: Col. Frederick D. Gregory becomes first African American to command a space shuttle mission.
February 23:
- William Edward Burghardt (W. E. B.) DuBois is born in Great Barrington, Mass. He will become one of the greatest men of letters of his time, serving as an editor, teacher, political theorist, and novelist.
- 1979: Frank E. Peterson is named the first African American general in the Marine Corps.
February 24:
- 1811: Daniel A. Payne, educator, clergyman, bishop, historian of the AME Church, and the first African American to become a college president, is born in Charleston, SC.
- 1864: Rebecca Lee Crumpler becomes first African American woman to receive a medical degree (New England Female Medical College).
February 25:
- 1853: First black YMCA organized in Washington, DC.
- 1964: Muhammad Ali, considered by many the greatest heavyweight champion of all time, wins his first world heavyweight championship title by defeating Sonny Liston in Miami, Fla.
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