*               Today in Black History - February 28             *

1704 - A school for African Americans is opened in New York City by Elias
        Neau, a Frenchman.

1708 - A slave revolt occurs in Newton, Long Island in New York State.
        Seven whites are killed.  Two African American male slaves and
        an Indian slave are hanged, and an African American woman is
        burned alive.

1776 - George Washington, in his letter of acknowledgment to Phyllis
        Wheatley for a poem she wrote for his birthday, says, "I thank
        you most sincerely for...the elegant line you enclosed...the
        style and manner exhibit a striking proof of your poetic
        talents."

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

1784 - Phyllis Wheatley, poet, dies.

1859 - Arkansas legislature requires free African Americans to choose
        between exile and enslavement.

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

1940 - Richard Wright's "Native Son" is published.

1942 - Riots against African Americans occur in Detroit, Michigan at the
        Sojourner Truth Homes.

1943 - "Porgy and Bess" opens on Broadway with Anne Brown and Todd Duncan
        in starring roles.

1945 - Charles "Bubba" Smith is born in Beaumont, Texas.  He will become
        a professional football player with the Baltimore Colts, Oakland
        Raiders and the Houston Oilers.  After a successful football
        career, he will become an actor in the "Police Academy" series.
        He also will become the president and CEO of Vital Aircraft
        Company,  which solicits the Department of Defense for
        government contracts.  To illustrate his enduring interest in
        education and work with children, he will endow an engineering
        scholarship at his alma mater, Michigan State University.

1956 - Adrian Dantley is born.  He will become a professional basketball
        player and star with the Utah Jazz.  He will be their top scorer
        in 1981 and 1984.

1962 - Rae Dawn Chong is born in Edmonton, Alberta.  She will become an
        actress in movies like "Quest for Fire."

1967 - Wilt Chamberlain sets a NBA record with his 35th consecutive
        field goal.

1968 - Frankie Lymon, a Rock and Roll singer who became a star with his
        teenage group, "The Teenagers," dies at the age of 25 from a
        drug overdose.

1977 - Eddie "Rochester" Anderson dies at the age of 71. Born in
        Oakland, California, to a theatrical family, Anderson's guest
        appearance in a 1937 Jack Benny Easter show grew to be a 30-year
        career on the popular radio, and later television, program.

1991 - "The Content of our Character," the controversial book on
        affirmative action and race relations by Shelby Steele, wins the
        National Book Critics Circle Award.

1998 - Todd Duncan dies at his home in Washington, DC, at the age 95.  His
        death is on the fifty-fifth anniversary of his starring role
        in the Broadway opening of "Porgy and Bess."

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