*** Today in Black History - February 1 ***

1810 - Charles Lenox Remond is born in Salem, Massachusetts to free
parents. He will become one of the most prominent of the
African American abolitionist crusaders.

1810 - The first insurance company managed by African Americans, the
American Insurance Company of Philadelphia, is established.

1833 - Henry McNeal Turner is born. He will become one of the first
Bishops in the African American Episcopal Church. He will
also be an army chaplain, political organizer, magazine editor,
and college chancellor.

1865 - John S. Rock becomes the first African American attorney allowed
to practice before the United States Supreme Court. Due to his
poor health, he never actually argued a case before the court,
succumbing to tuberculosis at the age of 41.

1870 - Jonathan Jasper Wright is elected to the South Carolina
Supreme Court. He is the first African American to hold a
major judicial position.

1871 - Jefferson Franklin Long, Republican congressman from Georgia,
makes the first speech by an African American on the floor
of Congress. His text is to oppose leniency to former
Confederates.

1902 - Langston Hughes is born in Joplin, Missouri. He will be
known as one of the most prolific American poets of the
20th century and a leading voice of the Harlem Renaissance.
In addition to his poetry, Hughes will achieve success as
an anthologist and juvenile author, write plays and librettos,
found theater groups, and be a widely read columnist and
humorist. Among his honors will be the NAACP's Spingarn Medal
in 1960.

1938 - Sherman Hemsley is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He will
become an actor and will known for his roles in the TV shows
"All in the Family," "The Jeffersons," and "Amen."

1948 - James Johnson, Jr. is born in Buffalo, New York. He will become
a singer, songwriter, producer, and musician working under the
name "Rick James." He will be best known for his recording of
"Super Freak" and produce Teena Marie, the gold-certified Mary
Jane Girls, Eddie Murphy, and others.

1957 - P.H. Young becomes the first African American pilot, flying on an
United States scheduled passenger airline.

1960 - Four African American college students from North Carolina A&T
College in Greensboro, North Carolina sit at a "whites-only"
Woolworth's lunch counter and refuse to leave when denied
service, beginning a sit-in protest.

1963 - Nyasaland (now Malawi) becomes a self-governing nation.

1965 - More than seven hundred demonstrators, including Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr., are arrested in Selma, Alabama.

1965 - Ruby Dee becomes the first African American thespian to play a
major role at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford,
Connecticut.

1978 - The first stamp of the United States Postal Service's Black
Heritage USA series honors Harriet Tubman, famed abolitionist
and "conductor" on the Underground Railroad.

1982 - The nations of Senegal & Gambia form a loose confederation named
Senegambia.

1991 - President F.W. de Klerk of South Africa, states that he will
repeal all apartheid laws.

1992 - Barry Bonds signs baseball's highest single year contract to
date ($4.7 million).

1997 - BET Holdings and Encore Media Corp. launch BET Movie/Starz, the
first 24 hour African American movie channel.

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