* Today in Black History - February 15 *
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* "Once a year we go through the charade of February being 'Black *
* History Month.' Black History Month needs to be a 12-MONTH THING. *
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* accomplished while being handicapped with RACISM, it can only *
* inspire us to greater heights, knowing we're on the giant shoulders *
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1848 - Sarah Roberts is barred from a white school in Boston,
Massachusetts. Her father, Benjamin Roberts, files the first
school integration suit on her behalf.
1851 - African American abolitionists invade a Boston courtroom and
rescue a fugitive slave from federal authorities. The fugitive,
Shadrach Minkins was about his job as a waiter in Boston
when United States federal officers showed up at his
workplace and arrested him. Minkins had escaped from
slavery in Virginia the previous year. An act passed by
Congress in 1850, the Fugitive Slave Law, had just been
enacted, allowing slave holders to enlist the aid of the federal
government in recapturing runaway slaves. The Minkins case is
to be an early test of the new law. Within a few hours of his
arrest, Minkins is brought before a federal commissioner. But
as he is being led from the courtroom, a group of Boston
African Americans overpower the guards and free him. He
immediately disappears and is never seen in Boston again.
With the help of the Underground Railroad, Minkins will travel
north through New Hampshire and Vermont, crossing into
Canada six days after his rescue. Out of reach of the U.S.
government, Minkins will settle in Montreal, marry an Irish
woman and raise two children before his death in 1875.
Minkins's rescue will come to symbolize the spirit of resistance
to the legal institutions of the slave system.
1960 - Darrell Ray Green is born in Houston, Texas. He will become a
professional football player with the Washington Redskins. He
will, for 20 years, be a defensive threat and one of the
fastest men in the NFL. He will retire in 2002 at the age of
42, the oldest Redskin, having played for six head coaches.
He will be enshrined into the College Football Hall of Fame in
2004. On February 2, 2008, he will be voted into the NFL Hall
of Fame on his first ballot, and will be inducted with former
Redskins teamate Art Monk on August 2, 2008.
1961 - U.S. and African Nationalists protesting the slaying of Congo
Premier Patrice Lumumba disrupt United Nations sessions.
1964 - Louis Armstrong's "Hello Dolly," a song the world-renowned
trumpeter recorded and almost forgot, becomes the number-
one record on Billboard's Top 40 charts, replacing The Beatles'
"I Want to Hold Your Hand." It is Armstrong's first and
only number-one record.
1965 - Nat King Cole, singer and pianist, joins the ancestors in Santa
Monica, California at the age of 45. He succumbs to lung
cancer.
1968 - Henry Lewis becomes the first African American to lead a
symphony orchestra in the United States when he is named
director of the New Jersey Symphony.
1969 - Noted historian John Henrik Clarke, speaking before the Jewish
Currents Conference in New York City, says, "You cannot
subjugate a man and recognize his humanity, his history...so
systematically you must take this away from him. You begin
by telling lies about the man's role in history."
1978 - Leon Spinks defeats Muhammad Ali for the world heavyweight
boxing championship in a 15-round decision in Las Vegas,
Nevada.
1992 - At memorial services attended by over 1,600 in Memphis,
Tennessee, author Alex Haley ("Roots," "Autobiography of
Malcolm X") is eulogized by his wife, who says, "Thank you,
Alex, you have helped us know who we truly are."
1992 - NAACP Executive Director, Benjamin L. Hooks, announces that he
would retire from the organization in 1993. He will have
headed the organization for sixteen years.
1999 - The body of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African gunned
down by New York City police, is returned to his native
Guinea.
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