February Black History Calendar
- Feb 1, 1902
Playwright, poet, author Langston Hughes born
Search Library of Congress - Feb 2, 1807
Congress bans foreign slave trade.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 3, 1956
Autherine Lucy enrolls as the first African American student at the University of Alabama.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 4, 1913
Rosa Parks , civil rights pioneer who sparked Montgomery bus boycott, born.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 5, 1934
Major league home run champion Hank Aaron born.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 6, 1867
Robert Tanner Jackson becomes first African American to receive a degree in dentistry.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 7, 1883
Ragtime pianist and composer Hubie Blake born.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 8, 1968
Three South Carolina State students killed during segregation protest in Orangeburg, S.C.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 9, 1964
Arthur Ashe, Jr. becomes first African American on U.S. Davis Cup team.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 10, 1989
Ronald H. Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 11, 1990
Nelson Mandela is released from prison after 27 years.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 12, 1909
NAACP founded in New York City.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 13, 1970
Joseph L. Searles becomes first Black member of the New York Stock Exchange.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 14, 1879
B.K. Bruce of Mississippi becomes first African American to preside over U.S. Senate.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 15, 1961
U.N. sessions are disrupted by U.S. and African nationalists over assassination of Congo Premier Patrice Lumumba.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 16, 1874
Frederick Douglass elected president of Freedman’s Bank and Trust.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 17, 1902
Marion Anderson, internationally acclaimed opera star, born.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 18, 1931
Toni Morrison , winner of 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, born.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 19, 1923
In Moore vs. Dempsey decision, U.S. Supreme Court guarantee due process of law to Blacks in state courts.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 20, 1934
Four Saints in Three Acts , by Virgil Thompson and Gertrude Stein, premieres as the first Black-performed opera on Broadway.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 21, 1965
Malcolm X is assassinated in New York.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 22, 1989
Col. Frederick Gregory was the first African American to command a space shuttle mission.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 23, 1868
W.E.B. Dubois , scholar, activist and author of the Souls of Black Folk, born.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 24, 1922
The home of Frederick Douglass made a national shrine.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 25, 1853
First Black YMCA organized in Washington, D.C.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 26, 1965
Civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson died after being shot by state police in Marion, Ala.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 27, 1988
Debi Thomas becomes first Black to win an Olympic medal in figure skating.
Search Library of Congress - Feb 28, 1984
Michael Jackson wins eight Grammy awards.
Search Library of Congress