[CrimsonTide4]

FEBRUARY 28, 2002

1704
Elias Neau, a Frenchman, opened school for Blacks in New York City.
1708
Slave revolt, Newton, Long Island (N.Y.). Seven whites killed. Two Black male slaves and an Indian slave were hanged, and a Black woman was burned alive.

1778
Rhode Island General Assembly in precedent-breaking act authorized the enlistment of slaves.

1859
Arkansas legislature required free Blacks to choose between exile and enslavement.

1871
Second Enforcement Act gave federal officers and courts control of registration and voting in congressional elections.

1879
Southern Blacks fled political and economic exploitation in "Exodus of 1879." Exodus continued for several years. One of the major leaders of the Exodus movement was a former slave, Benjamin ("Pap") Singleton.

1932
Richard Spikes invented the automatic gear shift

1940
United States population: 131,669,275. Black population: 12,865,518 (9.8 per cent).
Richard Wright's Native Son published.

1942
Race riot, Sojourner Truth Homes, Detroit.

1943
Porgy and Bess opened on Broadway with Anne Brown and Todd Duncan in starring roles.

1948
Sgt. Cornelius F. Adjetey becomes the first martyr for
national independence of Ghana.

1977
Death of comedian Eddie ("Rochester") Anderson (71).

1984
Musician and entertainer Michael Jackson wins eight Grammy Awards. His album, "Thriller", broke all sales records to-date, and remains one of the top-grossing albums of all time.

1990
Philip Emeagwali awarded the Gordon Bell Prize (computing's Nobel Prize) for solving one of the twenty most difficult problems in the computing field.

1990
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Cornelius Gunter, lead singer of the Coasters, was shot to death in Las Vegas, Nevada. Gunter joined the group in 1957 and was around for such hits as "Poison Ivy" and "Charlie Brown."