* Today in Black History - February 2 * 1914 - William Ellisworth Artis is born in Washington, North Carolina. He will become one of the finest African American artists of the twentieth century. He will be educated at Syracuse University and become a student of Augusta Savage. Artis's sculptures will exhibit a strong originality and a romantic, almost spiritual appeal. His works will be exhibited at Atlanta University, the Whitney Museum, the "Two Centuries of Black American Art" exhibit and collected by Fisk University, Hampton University, the North Carolina Museum of Art, and private collectors. 1915 - Biologist Ernest E. Just receives the Spingarn Medal for his pioneering research on fertilization and cell division. 1938 - Operatic baritone, Simon Estes is born in Centerville, Iowa. He will be noted for his leading roles in Wagnerian operas and will sing at the opening of the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. 1948 - President Harry S. Truman sends a message to Congress pressing for civil rights legislation, including anti-lynching, fair employment practices, and anti-poll tax provisions. 1956 - Autherine J. Lucy becomes the first African American student to attend the University of Alabama. 1956 - Seven whites and four African Americans are arrested after an all-night civil rights sit-in at the Englewood, New Jersey city hall. 1956 - Four African American mothers are arrested after a sit-in at a Chicago elementary school. The mothers later receive suspended $50 fines. Protests, picketing and demonstrations continue for several weeks against de facto segregation, double shifts and mobile classrooms. 1971 - Ugandan army strongman Major-General Idi Amin ousts Milton Obote and assumes full power as military head of state and forms an 18-man cabinet to run the country. Amin, a Muslim, strengthens ties with Arab nations and launches a genocidal program to purge Uganda's Lango and Acholi ethnic groups. He will order all Asians to leave the country, which will thrust Uganda into economic chaos. During Amin's regime, about 300,000 Ugandans will be killed. 1984 - Ralph Sampson, one of the Houston Rockets 'Twin Towers', is named Rookie of the Month in the National Basketball Association. To earn the honor, Sampson averages 24.4 points, 12 rebounds and 2.43 blocked shots per game during the month of January. In addition, Sampson will become the only rookie (up to that time) to be named to the NBA's All-Star Game. 1988 - A commemorative stamp of James Weldon Johnson is issued by the United States Postal Service as part of its Black Heritage USA series. 1990 - In a dramatic concession to South Africa's black majority, President F.W. de Klerk lifts a ban on the African National Congress, and sixty other political organizations and promises to free Nelson Mandela. ______________________________________________________________ Munirah Chronicle is edited by Brother Mosi Hoj "The TRUTH shall make you free" E-mail: <[log in to unmask]> Archives: <http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/Munirah.html> <http://blackagenda.com/cybercolonies/index.htm> _____________________________________________________________ To SUBSCRIBE send E-mail to: <[log in to unmask]> In the E-mail body place: Subscribe Munirah Your FULL Name ______________________________________________________________ Munirah(TM) is a trademark of Information Man. Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved by the Information Man in association with CODE One Communications.