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1
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F
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1865: |
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John Sweat Rock, noted Boston lawyer, becomes first black to speak before the U.S. Supreme Court. |
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1902: |
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Langston Hughes, poet, born. |
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2
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S
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1807: |
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Congress bans foreign slave trade. |
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1892: |
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Carter Williams patents canopy frame (awning). |
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1915: |
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Biologist Ernest T. Just receives Springarn Medal for research in fertilization and cell division. |
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3
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S
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1956: |
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Autherine Lucy enrolls as the first black student at the University of Alabama. |
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4
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M
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1913: |
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Rosa Parks, civil rights pioneer who sparked 1955 Montgomery bus boycott, born. |
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5
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T
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1884: |
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Willis Johnson patents eggbeater. |
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1934: |
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Hank Aaron, major league home-run champion, born. |
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6
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W
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1898: |
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Melvin B. Tolson, educator, author and poet, born. |
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1993: |
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Arthur Ashe, Jr., tennis player, humanitarian and activist, dies. |
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Ash Wednesday |
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7
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T
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1883: |
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Ragtime pianist and composer Eubie Blake born. |
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8
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F
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1968: |
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Three South Carolina State students killed during segregation protest in Orangeburg, South Carolina. |
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9
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S
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1964: |
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Arthur Ashe Jr. becomes first black on U.S. Davis Cup team. |
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10
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S
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1927; |
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Leontyne Price, internationally acclaimed opera singer, born. |
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1989: |
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Ronald H. Brown elected chair, Democratic National Committee. |
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1992: |
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Alex Haley, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, dies. |
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11
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M
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1990: |
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Nelson Mandela of South Africa is released from prison after 27 years. |
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12
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T
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Lincoln's Birthday |
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1909: |
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NAACP founded in New York City. |
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1927: |
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Xavier University of Louisiana College of Pharmacy founded. |
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13
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W
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1970: |
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Joseph L. Searles becomes first African American member of New York Stock Exchange. |
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14
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T
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Valentine's Day |
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1817: |
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Frederick Douglass, "the Great Emancipator," born. |
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1970: |
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B.K. Bruce of Mississippi becomes the first black to preside over U.S. Senate. |
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15
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F
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1915: |
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Biologist Ernest Just receives Spingarn Medal for egg fertilization. |
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1961: |
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U.N. sessions disrupted by U.S. and African nationalists over assassination of Congo Premier Patrice Lumumba. |
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16
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S
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1874: |
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Frederick Douglass elected president of Freedman's Bank and Trust. |
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17
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S
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1938: |
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Mary Frances Berry, first woman to serve as chancellor of a major research university (University of Colorado), born. |
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1902: |
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Marian Anderson, internationally acclaimed opera star born. |
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18
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M
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1931: |
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Toni Morrison, winner of 1988 Pulitzer Prize for her novel Beloved, born. |
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19
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T
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1919: |
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First Pan-African Congress, organized by W.E.B. DuBois, held in Paris. |
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1923: |
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In Moore v. Dempsey decision, Supreme Court guarantees due process of law to blacks in state courts. |
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1999: |
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Henry Ossian Flipper granted posthumus pardon by President Bill Clinton. Flipper was falsely accused of theft. |
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20
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W
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1895: |
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Frederick Douglass, leading voice in the abolitionist movement, dies. |
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President's Day |
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21
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T
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1965: |
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Malcolm X assassinated in New York. |
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22
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F
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Washington's Birthday |
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1989: |
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Col. Frederick D. Gregory becomes first African American to command a space shuttle mission. |
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23
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S
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1868: |
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W.E.B. DuBois, scholar, activist and author of The Souls of Black Folk, born. |
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24
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S
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1864: |
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Rebecca Lee Crumpler becomes first black woman to receive a medical degree (New England Female Medical College). |
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25
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M
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1853: |
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First black YMCA organized in Washington, D.C. |
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26
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T
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1965: |
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Civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson dies after being shot by state police in Marion, Alabama. |
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27
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W
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1897: |
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Marian Anderson, world-reknowned opera singer and civil rights activist, born. |
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1988: |
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Debi Thomas becomes first African American to win an Olympic medal in figure skating. |
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28
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T
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1984: |
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Michael Jackson, and entertainer, wins eight Grammy Awards. |
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*
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1940: |
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Actress Hattie McDaniel becomes first black to win an Oscar for he role in the movie Gone With the Wind. *(29th) |
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29
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F |
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Leap Day
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