FEBRUARY 12, 2002

1793
In 1793, Congress passed the first Fugitive Slave Law to implement the provisions in the Constitution. It stated that to reclaim an escaped slave a master needed only to go before a magistrate and provide oral or written proof of ownership. The magistrate would then issue an order for the arrest of the slave. The slave was not given a trial in court or allowed to present evidence on their own behalf, including proof of having previously earned their freedom.

Many Northern states passed "Personal Liberty" laws that granted a fugitive slave rights, such as trial by jury. Other states, such as Pennsylvania, passed strong kidnapping laws which functioned to punish slave catchers. Edward Prigg was convicted of kidnapping in Pennsylvania after capturing a slave family. Prigg took his case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court issued a double edged decision: it declared Pennsylvania's law unconstitutional but also ruled that the states did not have to use their facilities to enforce the Fugitive Slave Law. This led to some states passing new personal liberty laws prohibiting the use of state facilities for the enforcement of the fugitive law.

After the first Fugitive Slave Law was passed, lawyer Salmon P. Chase was just starting on his anti slavery career. He became an avid supporter of abolitionist causes when he met the editor of an abolitionist newspaper, James Birney, in 1836. The year after Chase and Birney had met, Birney's housekeeper Matilda, a part African female, was captured as a runaway slave. Birney had been unaware she was a fugitive. Despite Chase's defense, which denounced the Fugitive Slave Law as unconstitutional, the authorities took Matilda back to New Orleans, where she was sold at auction. Chase moved on to defend Birney, who was charged with harboring a fugitive slave. Chase took the case to the Supreme Court, where the charges were dismissed because Birney did not know Matilda was a slave when he hired her. Chase continued to work defending fugitive slaves and those who aided them. Although he never won a case defending a runaway, he became known as the "Attorney General of Fugitive Slaves."

The Fugitive Slave Law angered many free blacks residing throughout the United States. In January of 1800 a group petitioned for Congress to repeal the Fugitive Slave Law and abolish slavery. This petition, and others like it sent by free blacks, was predictably ignored by Congress on the basis that blacks were not recognized by the Constitution and thus not their equals.


1865
Henry Highland Garnet, first Black to speak in the Capitol, delivered memorial sermon on the abolition of slavery at services in the House of Representatives. Henry Highland Garnet was born a slave in New Market, Maryland, in 1815. He escaped in 1824 and made his way to New York where he studied at the Oneida Theological Institute in Whitesboro before becoming a Presbyterian minister in Troy, New York.

Garnet joined the Anti-Slavery Society and became one of the organizations leading lecturers. However, in 1843 he was disowned by the society when he called upon slaves to murder their masters.

Garnet served as a pastor in Jamaica (1853-56) but returned to the United States during the Civil War and demanded that Abraham Lincoln permit the enlistment of African-American soldiers.

In 1864 Garnet was appointed pastor of the 15th Street Presbyterian Church in Washington. During this period he became the first African-American to deliver a sermon before the House of Representatives. He also worked for the Freedmen's Bureau, where he was involved in developing programs to help former slaves.

In 1881 Henry Highland Garnet was appointed minister to Liberia. However, he died two months later on 13th February, 1882.

1869
Issac Burns Murphy, jockey, dies.

1882
Black rights activist Henry Highland Garnet dies, soon after being appointed the U.S. ambassador to Liberia.

1900
For a Lincoln birthday celebration, James Weldon Johnson writes the lyrics for "Lift Every Voice and Sing". With music by his brother, J. Rosamond, the song is first sung by 500 children in Jacksonville, Fla. It will become known as the "Negro National Anthem".

1907
Born this day in Helena, AR --- died Jan. 18, 1969
Worked with gospel greats like Thomas Dorsey and
Theodore Frye. Sis. Martin became owner of one of
the largest gospel publishing houses in Chicago.

1909
The National Association for The Advancement of Colored
People is a civil rights organization founded in 1909
by 60 black and white citizens. It helps prevent unjust acts,and
set equality for all minorites. It achieved major success in the
arts, business,and other fields.

1930
In Tuskegee, Alabama, the Rosenwald Fund made grants to the Alabama State Board of Health to help meet the cost of a study of syphilis in African American men living in rural Georgia and Alabama. Thus would begin a four decade long study of syphilis without treatment. Over 400 men were allowed to carry the disease without medical treatment for nearly 40 years. Several government agencies including the Federal Public Health Service and the Center for Disease Control participated in the unethical study. It was kept a secret until 1972 when a newspaper reporter disclosed it.

1934
Birthday of William Felton Russell, better known as "Bill" Russel, he was player-coach of the Boston Celtics basketball team in 1968 and 1969. Russell was born in Monroe, Louisiana.

1948
First Lt. Nancy C. Leftenant became the first Black accepted in the regular army nursing corps.

1952
Congressional Medal of Honor awarded posthumously to Sgt. Cornelius H. Charlton for heroism in Korea.

1956
In 1956, the first black late-night talk show host in history, Arsenio hall was born.

1962
Bus boycott started in Macon, Georgia.

1983
Pianist Eubie Blake died in Brooklyn, NY 5 days after his 100th birthday.

A schedule of programs for Black History Month on The History Channel:
http://www.historychannel.com/exhibi.../schedule.html

Black History Month Websites
 

For parents, teachers, family members, etc.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Celebrate the history, heritage, and contributions of African Americans during National African American Heritage Month and Black History Month inFebruary.
Bold and Bright Harlem <http://www.crayola.com/credirect.cfm?id=2974>
Freedom Train <http://www.crayola.com/credirect.cfm?id=2975>
Harriet Tubman Triarama <http://www.crayola.com/credirect.cfm?id=2976>
Martin Luther King Milestones
<http://www.crayola.com/credirect.cfm?id=2977>

Ringgold's Storytelling Art
<http://www.crayola.com/credirect.cfm?id=2978>
African Trade Beads <http://www.crayola.com/credirect.cfm?id=2979>
African Asimevo Cloth <http://www.crayola.com/credirect.cfm?id=2980>
Rhythm and Blues <http://www.crayola.com/credirect.cfm?id=2981>
Tell Us a Story Virginia Hamilton
<http://www.crayola.com/credirect.cfm?id=2982>

This day in history
 

February 12, 1909

NAACP founded after riot in Springfield, Illnois

February 13, 2002

1635
America's first public school, the Boston Latin School, opened in Boston. Black students were excluded from attending.

1882
Death of Henry Highland Garnet (66), diplomat and protest leader, in Monrovia, Liberia.

1923
The first Black professional basketball team "The
Renaissance" organized.

1957
Southern Christian Leadership Conference organized at New Orleans meeting with Martin Luther King Jr. as president.

1970
The New York Stock Exchange admits its first Black
member, Joseph Searles.

1973
Gertrude E. Downing and William Desjardin
Corner Cleaner Attachment,
Patent No. 3,715,772 on February 13, 1973

http://infoplease.lycos.com/spot/bhm1.html -- A plethora of Black History Websites as well as other sites relevant to Black achievements.

Americans have recognized black history annually since 1926, first as "Negro History Week" and later as "Black History Month." What you might not know is that black history had barely begun to be studied—or even documented—when the tradition originated. Although blacks have been in America at least as far back as colonial times, it was not until the 20th century that they gained a respectable presence in the history books.

Blacks Absent from History Books
We owe the celebration of Black History Month, and more importantly, the study of black history, to Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Born to parents who were former slaves, he spent his childhood working in the Kentucky coal mines and enrolled in high school at age twenty. He graduated within two years and later went on to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard. The scholar was disturbed to find in his studies that history books largely ignored the black American population—and when blacks did figure into the picture, it was generally in ways that reflected the inferior social position they were assigned at the time.

Established Journal of Negro History
Woodson, always one to act on his ambitions, decided to take on the challenge of writing black Americans into the nation's history. He established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now called the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History) in 1915, and a year later founded the widely respected Journal of Negro History. In 1926, he launched Negro History Week as an initiative to bring national attention to the contributions of black people throughout American history.

1760
Richard Allen born in slavery in Philadelphia.

1817
Possible birthday of Frederick Douglass, abolitionist and orator. Born into slavery as Frederick Bailey, Douglass purchased his freedom in 1845 and went on to become the greatest abolitionist of his time.

1867
Morehouse College organized in Augusta, Georgia. The institution was later moved to Atlanta. New registration law in Tennessee abolished racial distinctions in voting.

1936
National Negro Congress organized at Chicago meeting attended by 817 delegates representing more than 500 organizations. Asa Phillip Randolph of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was elected president of the new organization.

1946
Entertainer and dancer Gregory Hines born

February 16, 2002

1804
The New Jersey Legislature approved a law calling for "gradual" emancipation of African Americans. In so doing, New Jersey became the last Northern state to outlaw slavery.

1848
Sarah Roberts barred from white school in Boston. Her father, Benjamin Roberts, filed the first school integration suit on her behalf.

1851
Black abolitionists invaded Boston courtroom and rescued a fugitive slave.

1961
U.S. and African nationalist protesting the slaying of Congo Premire Patrice Lumumba distrupts U.N. sessions.

1965
Nat King Cole (45), singer and pianist, died in Santa Monica, California.

1968
On this day Henry Lewis becomes the first African American to lead a symphony orchestra in the United States.

1970
Nationalists disrupted UN session on Congo with demonstration for slain Congo Premier Patrice Lumumba.

February 16, 2002
 

1857
Frederick Douglass elected President of Freedman
Bank and Trust.

1923
On this day Bessie Smith makes her first recording, "Down Hearted Blues," which sells 800,000 copies for Columbia Records.

1951
New York City Council passed bill prohibiting racial discrimination in city-assisted housing developments.

1957
Actor Levar Burton was born in Landsthul, Germany. Burton won fame for his acting in the television movie "Roots," which was based on the novel by Alex Haley. He became known once more in the 1980s and 1990s for his recurring role in the "Star Trek: Next Generation" series and movies.

1970
Joe Frazier knocked out Jimmy Ellis in the second round of their New York fight and became the world heavyweight boxing champion.

FEBRUARY 17, 2002

1870
Congress passed resolution readmitting Mississippi on condition that it would never change its constitution to disenfranchise Blacks.

1891
A. C. Richardson, a black inventor,
invented the churn, patent #466,470

1902
Opera singer Marian Anderson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Anderson was entered in the New York Philharmonic Competition at age 17 by her music teacher, and placed first over 299 other singers. Awarded a Rosenwald Fellowship in 1930, Anderson went to Europe for a year of study. She returned briefly to the United States but went back to Europe in 1933 to debut in Berlin and again, in 1935, in Austria. In 1933, Anderson performed 142 concerts in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. On Easter Sunday in 1939, Anderson performed an open air recital at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The performance was scheduled for the concert hall controlled by the Daughters of the American Revolution but was cancelled when the DAR refeused to allow Anderson to sing there. In 1955, Anderson signed with New York's Metropolitan Opera Company.

1918
Birthday of Rep. Charles A. Hayes, D-Illinois, who was born in Cairo, Illinois. In 1989, Hayes was re-elected to a fourth term in the House of Representatives. He was first elected Sept. 12, 1983.

1936
James Nathaniel Brown, 63, Pro Football Hall of Fame Fullback, Born February 17, 1936 in St. Simons Island, GA

1938
On this day Mary Frances Berry, who will become the first woman to serve as a chancellor of a major research university, is born in Nashville, Tenn.

1942
Huey Newton, founder of the Black Panthers, born.

1963
Michael Jeffrey Jordan, 39, Basketball player, former minor league baseball player, Born New York, New York, February 17, 1963

1967
Ronald DeVoe, 35, Singer of Bell Biv DeVoe and New Edition was born Boston, MA, February 17, 1967.

1973
The Navy frigate USS Jesse L. Brown was commissioned. The ship was named for Ensign Jesse L. Brown, the first African American naval aviator killed in combat over Korea.

1982
Jazz Pianist Thelonious Monk dies

1997
Virginia House of Delegates votes unanimously to retire the state song, "Carry me back to old virginia," a tune which glorifies slavery.

FEBRUARY 18, 2002


National Independence Day in Gambia

1688
First formal protest against slavery by organized white body in English America made by Germantown (Pa.) Quakers at monthly meeting. The historic "Germantown Protest" denounced slavery and the slave trade.

1865
Rebels abandoned Charleston. First Union troops to enter the city included Twenty-first U.S.C.T., followed by two companies of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteers.

1867
An institution was founded at Augusta, Georgia which was later to become Morehouse College, following its relocation to Atlanta. Morehouse College is one of the most prestigious black colleges in the nation.

1896
H. Grenon patents razor stropping device
Grenon, H.
Razor Stropping Device
Feb. 18, 1896
Patent No. 554,867

1931
On this day Toni Morrison, who will win the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Beloved, is born in Lorain, Ohio.

February 19, 2002

1864
Knights of Pythias established. Confederate troops defeated three Black and six white regiments at Battle of Olustee, about fifty miles from Jacksonville, Florida.

1919
Pan-African Congress, organized by W.E.B. Du Bois, met a Grand Hotel, Paris. There were fifty-seven delegates sixteen from the United States and fourteen from Africa form sixteen countries and colonies. Blaise Diagne of Senegal was elected president and Du Bois was named secretary.

1940
Soul singer William "Smokey" Robinson born in Detroit, Michigan. Robinson's first singing group was the Miracles which he formed in 1955 while still in high school. The group's first success came in 1960 with the hit, "Shop Around."

1942
The Army Air Corps' all African American 100th Pursuit Squadron, later designated a fighter squadron, was activated at Tuskegee Institute. The squadron served honorably in England and in other regions of the European continent during World War II.

1996
Concert singer Dorothy Maynor dies (1910-1996)

just a quick addition to black history facts...

2.19.02

earlier today, vonetta flowers became the first african-american (male or female) to win a gold medal in the winter olympics. the event was 2-person bobsled.

FYI: Middle Passage air times
 

Wed 2/20 03:00 PM HBO SIGNATURE - EAST
Wed 2/20 06:00 PM HBO SIGNATURE - WEST
Wed 2/20 11:30 PM HBO SIGNATURE - EAST
Thu 2/21 02:30 AM HBO SIGNATURE - WEST
Fri 2/22 09:00 AM HBO - EAST
Fri 2/22 09:00 AM HBO High Definition - EAST
Fri 2/22 09:00 AM HBO LATINO - EAST
Fri 2/22 12:00 PM HBO High Definition - WEST
Fri 2/22 12:00 PM HBO - WEST
Fri 2/22 12:00 PM HBO LATINO - WEST
Sun 2/24 03:00 PM HBO - EAST
Sun 2/24 03:00 PM HBO High Definition - EAST
Sun 2/24 03:00 PM HBO LATINO - EAST
Sun 2/24 06:00 PM HBO High Definition - WEST
Sun 2/24 06:00 PM HBO - WEST
Sun 2/24 06:00 PM HBO LATINO - WEST
Tue 2/26 06:40 AM HBO SIGNATURE - EAST
Tue 2/26 09:40 AM HBO SIGNATURE - WEST
Thu 2/28 09:00 PM HBO SIGNATURE - EAST
Fri 3/1 12:00 AM HBO SIGNATURE - WEST
Sat 3/9 06:30 AM HBO PLUS - EAST
Sat 3/9 09:30 AM HBO PLUS - WEST
Tue 3/12 10:00 AM HBO PLUS - EAST
Tue 3/12 01:00 PM HBO PLUS - WEST
Tue 3/12 08:00 PM HBO PLUS - EAST
Tue 3/12 11:00 PM HBO PLUS - WEST
Mon 3/18 12:30 AM HBO PLUS - EAST
Mon 3/18 03:30 AM HBO PLUS - WEST
Fri 3/22 09:00 AM HBO PLUS - EAST
Fri 3/22 12:00 PM HBO PLUS - WEST
Wed 3/27 04:30 PM HBO PLUS - EAST
Wed 3/27 07:30 PM HBO PLUS - WEST

FEBRUARY 20, 2002

1869
Tennessee Governor W.C. Brownlow declared martial law in nine counties in Ku Klux Klan crisis.

1895
Death of Frederick Douglass (78), Anacostia Heights, District of Columbia. Douglass was the leading Black spokesman for almost fifty years. He was a major abolitionist and a lecturer and editor.

1900
J.F. Bickering patents airship invention

1927
On this day Sidney Poitier, who will be the first African American
to win an Academy Award in a starring role, is born in Miami, Fl. (Can you name the movie he received the Academy Award for?)

1931
Army Lt. Gen. Emmett Paige, Jr. born in Jacksonville, Florida

1936
Death of John Hope (67), president, Atlanta University.

1936
Jazz singer, actress, Nancy Wilson was born in Chillicothe, Ohio

1963
Charles Wade Barkley, 39, basketball player, born Leeds, AL, February 20, 1963

1968
State troopers used tear gas to stop demonstrations at Alcorn A&M College.