*  Today in Black History - February 23             *

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* History Month.' Black History Month needs to be a 12-MONTH THING.   *
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1763 - A major slave rebellion occurs in the Dutch South American 
 colony of Berbice (part of present-day Guyana).  Slaves, 
 led by Cuffy, Atta, Accara, and others, fire a rebellion at 
 Plantation Magalenenburg because of the harsh and inhumane
 treatment of the slave population.  Cuffy, proclaims himself 
 Governor of Berbice and orders the Dutch Governor, Hoogenheim, 
 to leave with the white inhabitants.  The slaves will control 
 the territory for months.  Major resistance will continue 
 beyond October, 4th.  There will be a split at the leadership 
 level of the rebellion.  The final collapse of the revolution 
 will occur just before the trial of the last resisters on 
 March 16, 1764.  

1868 - William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) Du Bois is born in Great 
 Barrington, Massachusetts.  He will become one of the
        greatest men of letters of his time, serving as an editor,
        teacher, political theorist, and novelist.  His 
 accomplishments will include founding and editing the NAACP
 "Crisis Magazine," writing the influential "Souls of Black 
 Folk," being one of the founding fathers of the NAACP, and 
 the first African American to become a member of the National  
 Institute of Arts and Letters. 

1942 - Don Lee is born in Little Rock, Arkansas.  He will become a major 
 African American literary critic, author of nonfiction and 
 poetry, and founder of the influential Third World Press known
 as Haki Madhubuti.  The Chicago State University professor, poet, 
 and publisher will score a hit for his Third World Press with his 
 own "Groundwork: Selected and New Poems 1966-1996."  "Groundwork" 
 and the second volume of Gwendolyn Brooks' autobiography-along 
 with continuing sales of Madhubuti's 1995 "Million Man March/Day 
 of Absence", will increase the number of successful titles at 
 Third World Press to 25 by 1997.

1964 - Roberto Martin Antonio "Bobby" Bonilla is born in New York City.
 He will become a major league baseball player in 1981 and will
 play for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, New York 
 Mets, and the Baltimore Orioles, before ending up with the
 Florida Marlins in 1996.

1968 - Wilt Chamberlain becomes the first NBA player to score 25,000
 points.

1970 - Guyana becomes a republic.  The Republic of Guyana changes its name 
 to the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.  February 23 is chosen to 
 celebrate the start of the Berbice Slave Revolt of 1763, which was 
 led by Cuffy, a slave who became a national hero.  One of the first
 actions of the new republic will be to nationalize foreign-owned
 companies.

1977 - "Roots," an adaptation of Alex Haley's best-selling novel, is
 viewed by more Americans than any other program since the invention
 of television.  Approximately 130 million people watched at least
 part of the series.  The final episode was watched by a reported
 80 million viewers.  Alex Haley spent twelve years researching and
 writing the book.  While the show attracted many African American
 viewers, ratings companies reported that millions of whites as well
 as African Americans watched the show.

1979 - Colonel Frank E. Peterson, Jr. becomes the first African American
 promoted to the rank of general in the Marine Corps.  He also was
 the first African American pilot to win Marine Corps wings.  He
 will retire in 1988 as commanding general of the Marine Development
 Education Command in Quantico, Virginia.
 
1990 - Comer J. Cottrell, President of Pro-Line Corporation, pays $1.5 
 million for the Bishop College campus, traditionally an African
 American college, in a bankruptcy auction.  Cottrell's actions 
 result in the relocation of Paul Quinn College in Waco, another
 African American campus, to the Dallas site.

1999 - Hughie Lee-Smith, a painter and former teacher at the Art Students
 League in New York, joins the ancestors after succumbing to cancer 
 at the age of 83 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Lee-Smith was known 
 for his paintings that frequently included symbolic figurative 
 scenes. His works often included settings suggestive of theater 
 stages or bleak urban or seaside landscapes.  In 1953, he won a 
 prize for his work from the Detroit Institute of Arts.  While 
 serving in the Navy he did a mural titled, "History of the Negro 
 in the U.S. Navy." He taught at the Art Students League for 15 
 years, beginning in 1958. In 1963, he became the second African 
 American member elected to the National Academy of Design in New 
 York City. He became a full member four years later.  His 
 paintings are in many public collections, including the 
 Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the 
 National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Schomburg Center 
 for Research in Black Culture in New York City. 

1999 - A jury in Jasper, Texas convicts white supremacist John William 
 King of murder in the gruesome dragging death of an African 
 American man, James Byrd Jr.  King will be sentenced to death two 
 days later. 

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