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SPECIAL BLACK HISTORY MONTH EDITION
2.14.21
Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! Below is my continued recognition of Black History Month 2021...
BLACK HISTORY THIS WEEK... | 2/14 - 2/20
by Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely
(click on images for further details, with a new entry added each day)
February 14, 1867: Two years after the Civil War ended, Morehouse College is founded as the Augusta Institute, becoming Morehouse College in 1913. Notable "Morehouse Men" include Dr. Martin Luther King, Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee, Olympic legend Edwin Moses, and recently elected, U.S. Senator, Raphael Warnock.
1870; The Brick Wall: I am fortunate in that my family on both sides are traceable beyond 1870 aka "The Brick Wall" because it was the first year that freed enslaved people were counted in a census. Click below and learn how to search for family beyond 1870.
February 18, 193l: Toni Morrison was born on this day, and in 1993 became the first African-American woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.
February 15, 1851: Shadrach Minkins had been caught under the abhorrent Fugitive Slave Act in Boston, but was saved by Black abolitionists while he was at the courthouse. They helped him get to Canada, where he settled in Montreal. The Fugitive Slave Act made my great-great grandparents flee to England for safety.
February 17, 180l: Thomas Jefferson elected our 3rd President. Last year, it was great that Smithsonian Magazine featured side-by-side images of Jefferson and his 6th great-grandson, Shannon LaNier via Sally Hemings. Making us distant cousins via her sister, Mary and Mary's son, Joseph.
(Photo: Drew Gardner)
February 19, 1919: The first Pan-African Congress convened in Paris, with by W.E.B. DuBois being the key figure in its organization. 15 nations were represented.
February 20, 1962: African-American NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson (portrayed by TarajI P. Henson in Hidden Figures), made history by helping John Glenn make history as the first American to orbit the Earth.
© 2021 Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely. All rights reserved.