*  Today in Black History - February 19               *

1919 - The first Pan-African Congress, organized by W.E.B. Dubois,
        opens in Paris.  Fifty-seven delegates from 16 countries and
        colonies will meet for three days and declare "The natives of
        Africa must be allowed to participate in the government as
        fast as their development permits."  Blaise Diagne of Senegal
        is elected president and Dubois is named secretary.

1940 - William "Smokey" Robinson is born in Detroit, Michigan.  As part
        of the Motown group "The Miracles" and in his solo career,
        Robinson will be an enduring Rhythm and Blues and pop performer.
        He will also become a Vice-President of Motown Records.

1959 - Gabon adopts its constitution.

1987 - A racially motivated civil disturbance erupts in Tampa, Florida,
        after a young African American man dies from injuries resulting
        from a police chokehold.

1992 - John Singleton is nominated for two Academy Awards for best
        director and best screenplay for his first film, "Boyz N the
        Hood."  Singleton is the first African-American director ever
        to be nominated for the Academy Award.

1995 - A day after being named the new chairwoman of the NAACP, Myrlie
        Evers-Williams outlines her plans for revitalizing the civil
        rights organization, saying she intended to take the group
        back to its roots.

1999 - President Bill Clinton posthumously pardons Henry O. Flipper.
        Flipper was the first African American to graduate from the U.S.
        Military Academy at West Point.  Flipper was acquitted on charges
        of embezzlement of commissary funds, but was found guilty of
        "conduct unbecoming an officer" for lying to investigators.  He
        received a dishonorable discharge in 1882.  He had been a victim
        of racism from the time he went to West Point to the time he was
        railroaded out of the military.  Mr. Flipper joined the ancestors
        in 1940 at the age of 84.

2002 - Vonetta Flowers becomes the first Black athlete from any country
        to win a gold medal in the Olympic Winter Games. She and her
        partner win the women's two-person bobsled event at the Salt Lake
        City games. They finished their two runs in 1 minute 37.76 seconds.

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