QMG celebrates our rich history during Black History Month, the history makers of the past, along with today's history makers!
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Black History Month Facts of the Day:
February 24th, 1999 - Singer/Actor/Rapper Lauryn Hill becomes the first black woman to win five Grammy awards in one night.
January 19th, 2023 - Wes Moore is sworn in as Maryland's first black governor.
December 1st, 2022 - Hakeem Jeffries becomes the first black lawmaker to lead a party in congress.
February 7th, 2023 - Lebron James surpasses Kareem Abdul Jabbar for the number 1 spot on the NBA's all-time regular season scoring list.
February 11th, 1990 - Nelson Mandela is released from a South African Prison after being detained for 27 years as a political prisoner.
On February 9th, 1952- Ralph Ellison's novel, "Invisible Man" won the National Book Award
On February 9th, 1944 - Alice Walker, the author of "The Color Purple" was born.
(February 8th, 2022), Denzel Washington earned his 10th Oscar nomination for Best Actor in The Tragedy of Macbeth, breaking his own record as the most-nominated Black actor in Academy Awards history.
Samuel L Gravely was the first black person to command a U.S. warship. He was also the first African American in the US navy to be commissioned an officer, the first fleet commander and the first to become a flag officer, retiring as a Vice Admiral. He was born on June 4, 1922 in Richmond, Virginia. After spending two years at Virginia Union University, he enlisted in the Naval Reserves on September 15, 1942 and was trained as a Fireman Apprentice.
In 1943, he became the first black candidate accepted in the V-12 Navy College program. In 1944, Gravely was a part of the "Golden Thirteen" -- which were 13 black men who became the first African-American men to be commissioned and warrant officers in the US Navy. Later that year, he completed midshipman training as a commissioned officer, thereby becoming the first African-American to graduate from the V-12 program.
Shortly after, he became the first black officer on the USS PC-1264 -- a submarine chaser. While he was the first black officer on the ship, the rest of the command staff were white.In April 1946, he was released from active duty, remaining in the Naval Reserve. He returned to his hometown of Richmond to complete his bachelor's degree in History. He then became a Navy Recruiter -- recruiting African Americans in the Washington DC area. His US Navy career lasted 38 years.Samuel L. Gravely died in October 2004 after suffering a stroke.
-February 1st, 1960- The Greensboro Four - David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr. (Jibreel Khazan), and Joe McNeil, all from North Carolina A&T State University, staged a sit-in at Woolworth, for refusing to serve African Americans at it's lunch counter. Not long after their protest, sit-ins began occurring across the South.
-February 2nd 1862 - District of Columbia Abolishes Slavery.
-February 2nd 1962 - Seven whites and four blacks were arrested after an all-night sit-in at Englewood, N.J. city hall. Four black mothers were arrested after a sit-in at a Chicago elementary school.
-February 3rd, 1903 - Jack Johnson wins the Negro Heavyweight title.
-February 3rd 1920 - The Negro Baseball League is Founded.
-February 4th 1794 - France abolishes slavery. The nation has a lukewarm commitment to abolition and under Napoleon, reestablished slavery in 1802.
Yvonne Johnson…..the first African-American to serve as Greensboro's mayor. She served as mayor of Greensboro, NC from 2007 until 2009. She was previously a member of the Greensboro City Council for 14 years, beginning in 1993 and Mayor Pro-Tem for 6 years.
James Benson Dudley was a prominent African American educator and for nearly thirty years president of North Carolina A&T University. Dudley would serve as president of the College – which became the Agricultural and Technical College in 1915 – until his death in 1925. James B. Dudley High School, founded in 1929 and Greensboro’s first high school for African Americans, is named for him. He was buried in Wilmington.
Dr. Loretta Lynch was the first African American woman to serve as Attorney General of the United States. Lynch was born in Greensboro. In late 2014, President Barack Obama appointed Lynch to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder. Her appointment as the 83rd U.S.
Attorney General was approved by the U.S. Senate in April, 2015.
Elreta Melton Alexander‐Ralston was the first African American woman to be elected a judge in North Carolina and only the second in the United States. She also achieved many other firsts for African American women in the legal profession. She was also the first African American woman to graduate from Colombia Law School and the first African American woman to practice law in the state. She was also the first African American woman to argue a case before the North Carolina Supreme Court in 1955.