*		Today in Black History - February 16		*

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* History Month.' Black History Month needs to be a 12-MONTH THING.   *
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* accomplished while being handicapped with RACISM, it can only       *
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1801 - The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church officially 
	separates from its parent, the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
	The Zion church will be incorporated as the African Episcopal 
	Church of the City of New York. James Varick will be its first
	pastor and will later become the first black African Methodist
	Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) bishop. It will hold its first national 
	conference in 1821. The name Zion will not be added to the 
	church's name until 1848.

1874 - Frederick Douglass is elected President of Freedman's Bank and
	Trust Company. 

1923 - Bessie Smith makes her first recording for Columbia Records. 
	The record, "Down Hearted Blues," written by Alberta Hunter 
	and Lovie Austin, will sell an incredible 800,000 copies and 
	be Columbia's first popular hit. 

1944 - The U.S. Navy starts its first officer training class of 
	African Americans at Camp Robert Smalls, Great Lakes, Illinois.
	In March 1944, 13 of the group made history when they became the 
	U.S. Navy's first African American officers on active duty. 12 
	were commissioned as ensigns; the thirteenth was made a warrant 
	officer. They will become known as "The Golden Thirteen."

1951 - James Ingram is born in Akron, Ohio. He will be raised there 
	on Kelly Avenue. He will begin his career in 1973, and will chart
	eight Top 40 hits on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart from the 
	early 1980s until the early 1990s, as well as thirteen top 40 
	hits on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Hip-Hop Songs chart. In addition, 
	he will chart 20 hits on the Adult Contemporary chart (including 
	two number-ones). He will have two number-one singles on the Hot 
	100: the first, a duet with fellow Rhythm & Blues artist Patti 
	Austin, 1982's "Baby, Come to Me" will top the U.S. pop chart in 
	1983; "I Don't Have the Heart", which became his second number-one 
	in 1990 will be his only number-one as a solo artist. In between 
	these hits, he will also record the song "Somewhere Out There" with 
	fellow recording artist Linda Ronstadt for the animated film "An 
	American Tail." The song and the music video both will become 
	gigantic hits. He will co-write "The Day I Fall in Love", from the 
	motion picture Beethoven's 2nd (1993), and singer Patty Smyth's 
	"Look What Love Has Done", from the motion picture Junior (1994), 
	which will earn him nominations for Best Original Song from the 
	Oscars, Golden Globes, and Grammy Awards in 1994 and 1995. He will 
	join the ancestors on January 29, 2019.
	
1951 - The New York City Council passes a bill prohibiting racial 
	discrimination in city-assisted housing developments.

1957 - LeVar Burton is born in Landstuhl, Germany. He will become an 
	actor, winning a landmark role in the award-winning mini-
	series, "Roots," as the enslaved African youth Kunta Kinte, 
	while attending USC. He will go on to become a producer, 
	director and writer for numerous television series and films. 

1970 - Joe Frazier knocks outs Jimmy Ellis in the second round to 
	become the undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion. 

1972 - Wilt Chamberlain scores his 30,000th point in his 940th game, 
	a basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the 
	Phoenix Suns. He is the first player in the NBA to score 
	30,000 points. 

1992 - The Los Angeles Lakers retire Magic Johnson's uniform, # 32.

1999 - Mary Elizabeth Roche, best known as Betty Roche, joins the 
	ancestors at the age of 81 in Pleasantville, New Jersey. She 
	was a singer who performed with Duke Ellington in the 1940s 
	and 1950s. She sang with the Savoy Sultans from 1941 to 
	1943, when she joined Ellington's group. She scored high 
	marks from critics for the suite "Black, Brown and Beige," at 
	Ellington's first Carnegie Hall concert. She also performed 
	Ellington's signature song "Take the A Train" in the 1943 
	film, "Reveille With Beverly."

1999 - O.J. Simpson's 1968 Heisman Trophy is sold for $230,000 to help 
	settle a $33.5 million civil judgement against Simpson for the 
	deaths of his ex-wife and her friend.

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