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 […]
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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.
February 1st in African American History – Channing Heggie Tobias
February 1, 1882 Channing Heggie Tobias, civil rights activist, was born in Augusta, Georgia. Tobias earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Paine College in 1902 and his Bachelor of Divinity degree from Drew Theological Seminary in 1905. For the next six years, he taught bible literature at Paine College.
February 1st in African American History – Michael Phillip Anderson
February 1, 2003 Michael Phillip Anderson, NASA astronaut, was killed along with the rest of the crew of STS-107 Columbia when the craft disintegrated after reentry into the earth’s atmosphere. Anderson was born December 25, 1959 in Plattsburgh, New York. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in physics and astronomy from the University of […]