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February 2008
History
Mary Church Terrell began the practice of honoring Frederick Douglass on his February 14th birthday in 1900, according to her autobiography, in Washington DC. Carter G. Woodson who moved to Washington in 1909 and witnessed the annual celebration begun by Terrell for 15 years prior to choosing the second week of February for Black History Week in 1926 because it marks the birthday of one man who greatly influenced the Black population, Frederick Douglass. Later on in 1976, as the nation reached its bicentennial, the week was expanded into an entire month.
February and Black History Month
*February 23, 1868:
W.E.B. DuBois, important civil rights leader and co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was born.
February 3, 1870: The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed, granting Blacks the right to vote.
*February 25, 1870:
The first Black U.S. Senator, Hiram Rhodes Revels, took his oath of office.
*February 12, 1909:
The NAACP was founded by a group of concerned and moderate black, Jewish and white citizens in New York City.
*February 1, 1960:
In what would become a civil-rights movement milestone, a group of black Greensboro, North Carolina, college students began a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter.
*February 21, 1965:
Malcolm X, who promoted Black Nationalism, was shot to death by three Black Muslims.
Information obtained from: WIKIPEDIA
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