February 5, 1858 Henry Beard Delany, the second African American bishop elected in the United States, was born enslaved in Saint Mary’s, Georgia. Delany graduated in theology from Saint Augustine’s School (now college) in 1885. After graduating, he joined the faculty of the school where he taught until 1908.
Archive | February, 2012
February 4th in African American History – Lawrence Joel
February 4, 1984 Lawrence Joel, Medal of Honor recipient, died. Joel was born February 22, 1928 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He joined the United States Army in 1946 and served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. On November 8, 1965, while serving as a medic with the rank of specialist five assigned to the 1st […]
February 4th in African American History – Rosa Louise McCauley Parks
February 4, 1913 Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, the “mother of the modern Civil Rights Movement,” was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, she refused to obey a bus driver’s order to give up her seat to a White passenger and was arrested. Her arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and […]
February 3rd in African American History – Percival Prattis
February 3, 1947 Percival Prattis became the first African American news correspondent admitted to the press galleries of the United States Senate and House of Representatives. A veteran of World War I, Prattis joined the Pittsburgh Courier in 1935, became editor in 1956, and retired in 1962.
February 3rd in African American History – Edwin Bancroft Henderson
February 3, 1977 Edwin Bancroft Henderson, the “grandfather of black basketball,” died. Henderson was born November 28, 1884 in Washington, D.C. In 1904, he became the first African American certified to teach physical education and from 1920 to 1954 was director of physical education in Washington’s segregated schools.
February 2nd in African American History – Pete Brown
February 2, 1935 Pete Brown, the first African American to win a Professional Golfers Association Tour event, was born in Port Gibson, Mississippi, but grew up in Jackson, Mississippi.
February 2nd in African American History – Willie Mae Ford Smith
February 2, 1994 Willie Mae Ford Smith, considered the greatest of the “anointed singers,” died. Smith was born June 6, 1906 in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, but raised in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1922, she and her sisters formed a gospel quartet called the Ford Sisters.