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Black History Month - February

Ruby Bridges

Born 1954 in Mississippi
Died -

Ruby Bridges was born in 1954 in Mississippi in a small cabin. In 1957 her family moved to New Orleans because her father had lost his job picking crops. The schools in New Orleans were still segregated at that time, although laws had already been passed making segregation illegal.

In 1960, the year Ruby started first grade, she and four other African American girls were ordered to attend two different white elementary schools. Only Ruby was sent to the William Frantz Elementary School. On Ruby’s first day of school, crowds of angry white citizens gathered outside the school to protest.

President Eisenhower ordered federal marshals to accompany Ruby to and from school each day. Each day she paused for a few moments before reaching the angry crowd to pray for them and once, having forgotten to do so beforehand, she stopped in the midst of the crowd to pray. Ruby was the only child to attend school at the William Frantz Elementary School for much of that year.

A touching painting done by Norman Rockwell entitled "The Problems We All Live With" depicts Ruby’s determination making her way to school in the same way each day, surrounded by the federal marshals.

Ruby Bridges graduated from high school in New Orleans where her children attended school. When her children were young she supported them by working in a travel agency. Since 1995 Bridges has published two books and she lectures nationwide including schools in her visits. As a successful business woman, she created the Ruby Bridges Educational Foundation to help increase parental involvement in schools.

Books for Children

  • The Story Of Ruby Bridges, by Robert Coles - Preschool and elementary age children will enjoy this historical account written in collaboration with Bridges herself.
  • Ragtime Tumpie, by Alan Schroeder - A book about the childhood of another famous black woman, Josephine Baker, an entertainer during the 1930’s and 40’s. (amazon.com has it)

Links

[Index of People - B]
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Frederick Douglass

Born February 1818
Died 20 February 1895

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born a slave in February 1818, in Tuckahoe, Maryland. Poorly fed as a young boy, Frederick was often cold and lived in fear of being whipped for not performing his tasks properly.

When Frederick was seven years old, he was sent to Baltimore to work for the Auld family. Although it was against the law at the time to teach a slave to read, in ignorance to the law Mrs. Auld began teaching Frederick the alphabet. She stopped when her husband discovered what was happening, but she had opened an avenue for Frederick. Hiding an old spelling book, Frederick taught himself to read. Later on he taught other black people to read and write also.

Frederick escaped in 1838 to New York City, disguised as a sailor. He changed his name to Douglass to avoid slave hunters.

Frederick Douglass began traveling about the country, attending abolitionist meetings and speaking at many of them. Many people doubted that anyone who had been a slave could ever be as eloquent a speaker as Douglass was, so he decided to write his autobiography. His book invoked more anger and placed him in danger of being enslaved again. As a result he sailed to England in 1845.

Later that same year, Douglass and his family moved to Rochester, New York. There he started his own newspaper, The North Star. This paper printed articles written by African Americans about abolition. It also included articles promoting equal rights for women.

During the Civil War, Frederick Douglass worked to have black men serve in the Union army. When blacks were finally allowed to serve in 1864, Douglass spoke to President Lincoln concerning the unfair treatment of blacks in the army. After the war he continued to fight for equal rights for all people and became the first president of the National Convention of Colored Men, which fought to give African Americans the right to vote.

Before his death on February 20, 1895, Douglass had been appointed as the marshal for the District of Columbia and the United States Minister to Haiti.

Book for Children

  • Frederick Douglass - Portrait Of A Freedom Fighter, by Sheila Keenan - a comprehensive and interesting biography geared for children 8 years and older.

Links

[Index of People - D]
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Martin Luther King Jr.

Born 15 January 1929 in Atlanta, GA.
Assassinated 4 April 1968 in Memphis, TN.

The Jim Crow Laws segregated blacks from whites while claiming separate but equal services. Although outlawed in 1908, many areas of the United States still upheld these practices and in essence continued the segregation.

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He entered college in Atlanta, Georgia at the young age of 15 and later attended divinity school in Pennsylvania and earned his doctorate degree in Boston, Massachusetts. After graduation he was asked to become the minister for a church in Montgomery, Alabama.

It was in Montgomery, Alabama that an African American woman named Rosa Parks refused to give her bus seat to a white man. After her arrest, Dr. King was chosen to head a publicity campaign to inform the blacks living in Montgomery of a bus boycott. At that time, 75% of the bus passengers were black. On January 30, 1956 one month later, Dr. King’s home was bombed with his wife and baby daughter narrowly escaping. In December of that same year the bus segregation was ruled unconstitutional and the boycott was ended.

In 1957 Dr. King helped establish the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to coordinate nonviolent protest groups in the nation. King attended sit-ins and other nonviolent demonstrations, giving speeches and sometimes being jailed or personally attacked.

On August 28, 1963 in Washington, DC, King spoke to over 200,000 people in the largest civil rights demonstration to date. On December 10, 1964 in Norway he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed by a white man named James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. His assassination caused rioting across the country. He was buried on April 9 in Atlanta, Georgia after thousands marched through the city in a funeral parade. Two days after Dr. King's burial, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

President Ronald Reagan signed legislation on November 2, 1983 which made Dr. King’s birthday a national holiday.

Books for Children

  • Happy Birthday Martin Luther King, by Jean Marzollo, Illustrated by J. Brian Pinkey : ISBN 0-590-44066-7, Scholastic, Inc. : ISBN 0-590-44065-9, Scholastic Trade, Inc. (amazon.com has it)
  • Martin Luther King Day, by Linda Lowery

Links

[Index of People - K]
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Elijah McCoy

Born 1843 in Ontario, Canada
Died 1929

Elijah McCoy was born in Colchester, Ontario, Canada in 1843. As a young child, McCoy was interested in machines and how they worked and at the age of 16 he attended school in Scotland to learn drafting and engineering.

After graduating, McCoy moved to Ypsilanti, Michigan, but he was unable to find a job as an engineer. He accepted a job with the Michigan Central Railroad as a fireman and oilman. In 1872 McCoy invented an oil cup for lubricating steam trains and received a patent for it.

At first, because of prejudice, the railroad companies would not use McCoy’s lubricating cup. However, the train company he worked for eventually tried his lubricator. Discovering that McCoy’s invention was successful, other people tried to imitate it. Train companies soon learned however, that Elijah’s lubricator was the best and in purchasing one they asked for "the real McCoy".

Before his death in 1929 Elijah McCoy had received 57 patents for his inventions and had founded his own business called the Elijah McCoy Manufacturing Company.

Books for Children

  • Great Black Heroes - Five Notable Inventors, by Wade Hudson - This book includes short well-written biographies of five little known African American inventors, including Elijah McCoy.
[Index of People - M]
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Rosa Parks

In Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, laws still existed which limited the rights of black citizens. One such law required that black people had to sit in the rear of a public bus and if a white person wanted to sit down they must give up their seat.

On December 1, 1955, a woman who worked as a seamstress was going home on the bus from work. The woman’s name was Rosa Parks. After Parks had taken her seat, a white man demanded to sit down. Parks did not want to give up her seat and refused to move. The bus was stopped and Rosa Parks was arrested and thrown in jail.

To protest her arrest and unfair treatment, many local black leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., organized a bus boycott. Aproximately 75% of the bus passengers at the time were African American. Blacks found other ways to get to and from work and to other commitments. They walked, formed carpools, and rode bicycles. The year-long boycott devestated the bus company. It ended on December 21, 1956, when the city announced that it would comply with the ruling by the Supreme Court which declared bus segregation to be unconstitutional.

Links

[Index of People - P]
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Harriet Tubman

Born about 1820
Died 10 March 1913

Life As A Slave

Harriet Tubman was born into slavery sometime about 1820 in Maryland as Araminta Ross. Although she had been named Araminta she eventually took her mother’s name of Harriet. Having been born a slave, Harriet’s family lived together in a one room shack. They lived in constant fear of any family member being sold to another owner, breaking their family apart.

At six years of age Harriet was sent away to learn to weave. However, while she was there she became extremely sick with the measles and was finally allowed to return.

Even as a young child Harriet showed spirit and determination. She often gathered with other slaves, an act which was forbidden by many owners. At these gatherings she attended religious services and listened to stories about slaves who had escaped to other states. Harriet’s master, in an attempt to squelch her determination, hired her out to families to clean an cook. He also forced her to work in the fields, which was usually reserved for the men.

Once when Harriet was in a store she saw a slave attempting to run away. When his master threw a heavy weight at the slave to stop him, Harriet stepped in the way and was hit in the head by the weight. She was knocked unconscious and nearly died. For the rest of her life Harriet suffered from sudden blackouts.

In 1844 Harriet Ross married a free man, named John Tubman. She hoped that he would help her become free, but he refused to do so. After that Harriet began to plan a way to escape alone. With help from a Quaker woman she eventually escaped in 1849 on the Underground railroad to the freedom of Pennsylvania and on into Canada.

As A Free Woman

Harriet was not content with her own freedom. She wanted to help her relatives to freedom and went back South to guide them along the Underground Railroad. She went back time and again helping over 300 slaves gain their freedom.

As the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad, Harriet was always at risk. Rewards were posted for her capture dead or alive. Slaves began to refer to her as "Moses" in reference to Moses from the Bible who led the Jewish people to freedom.

Harriet Tubman was never captured and she never lost a slave on the journey North. However, she was a tough conductor of the railroad, carrying a pistol with her on many trips. When runaway slaves would become scared, she would threaten to use the gun if they tried to return South, knowing that their return could mean their own death as well as the deaths of all those involved in helping the slaves escape.

During the Civil War, Harriet assisted the Union Army serving as cook, nurse, scout, and spy against the Confederate Army. Later Harriet established a home for poor black people. She died on March 10, 1913 in the state of New York. Because of her service she was given a full military funeral.

Books for Children

  • Aunt Harriet’s Underground Railroad In The Sky, by Faith Ringgold - Written and illustrated by a contemporary African American artist, this fictional book ties together the author’s own life with inspiration from Harriet Tubman’s life. It also includes a short biography of Harriet Tubman’s life as an addendum. (amazon.com has it)
  • Nettie’s Trip South, by Ann Turner - A story based on the diary of a young girl’s trip South in 1859 where she witnesses a slave auction. (amazon.com has it)

Links

[Index of People - T]
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Significant Events in African American History

  • 1620 - The first public school specifically intended for blacks and Native Americans was established in Virginia.
  • 1754 - Benjamin Banneker, despite never having seen a clock, invented the first clock ever built entirely in America.
  • 1783 - Deborah Sampson was discharged by General Washington from the Continental army. She had served for three years in a Massachusetts regiment disguised as a man, under the assumed name of Robert Shirtliffe. During her services she had received both sword and gun wounds.
  • 1818 - Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist, was born in February.
  • 1820 - Harriet Tubman was born at about this time. The exact date will most likely never be known.
  • 1827 - Freedom’s Journal was founded, the first anti-slavery newspaper published by African Americans.
  • 1834 - Henry Blair became the first African American to receive a patent. He invented a corn harvester.
  • 1843 - Isabella Van Wagner, a former slave, changed her name to Sojourner Truth. She became a well known abolitionist. She also fought for equal rights for women.
  • 1849 - Harriet Tubman escaped slavery.
  • 1850 - The Fugitive Slave Act was signed into law in September 1850 by President Millard Fillmore. This law gave slave owners the right to go north and recapture blacks accused of being runaway slaves
  • 1857 - The Supreme Court ruled that a slave named Dred Scott could not sue for his freedom because he was not a citizen, he was property.
  • 1864 - Sojourner Truth was welcomed to the White House by President Abraham Lincoln.
  • 1866 - The Civil Rights Act of 1866, giving blacks the right to vote, after President Andrew Johnson’s veto of the bill was overridden by Congress.
  • 1870 - Hiram K. Revels of Mississippi became the first African American to be elected to the Senate.
  • 1895 - Frederick Douglass died.
  • 1896 - The Supreme Court ruled that southern laws, known as the Jim Crow laws, requiring "separate but equal" facilities for black citizens should be upheld.
  • 1875 - The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was passed by Congress integrating hotels, theaters, and restaurants.
  • 1908 - Jack Johnson became the first black man to win the World Heavy Weight Boxing Championship.
  • 1908 - The Jim Crow Laws were ruled unconstitutional.
  • 1910 - Granville T. Woods, the inventor of the railway telegraphy, which conductors and engineers could use on moving trains to communicate with each other, and the "third rail" safety device used for electric trains and subways, died.
  • 1913 - Harriet Tubman died.
  • 1918-1928 - The Harlem Renaissance: a great cultural movement in Harlem, New York, influenced all of America with its jazz, poetry, art, and literary works. It popularized many of the creations by Langston Hughes, Wallace Thurman, Ethel Waters, Duke Ellington, and many other talented individuals.
  • 1920The most famous black baseball league, The Negro National League, was formed. It was so popular that it sometimes attracted a greater crowd than the major leagues.
  • 1929 - Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15.
  • 1936 - On August 16 in Berlin, Germany, Jesse Owens won four gold medals in the Olympics. Check out the children’s book, A Picture Book Of Jesse Owens, by David A. Adler. (amazon.com has it)
  • 1955 - Rosa Parks took a seat at the front of a public bus on December 1 in Montgomery, Alabama. When she would not give up her seat to a white man, the bus was stopped and Rosa Parks was arrested.
  • 1957 - Nine African American students, later known as The Little Rock Nine, were prevented from attending an all-white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. President Eisenhower sent troops to uphold a court order that they were permitted to attend. It was the first time since the Reconstruction that federal troops were used to defend the rights of black citizens.
  • 1960 - Six year old Ruby Bridges was escorted to an all white school by federal marshals after a judge ordered its desegregation.
  • 1963 - Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at the largest civil rights demonstration ever held.
  • 1964 - On December 10, Martin Luther King Jr. became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He gave the award money of $54,000 to groups supporting civil rights.
  • 1964 - The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. From that point forward, it was illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of race, sex, color, religion or national origin.
  • 1966 - Bobby Seale and Huey P. newton formed the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. This organization’s original purpose was to protect African American neighborhoods from police brutality.
  • 1968 - April 4th, Martin Luther King Jr. was assasinated.
  • 1971 - April 20, the Supreme Court upheld that bussing and redistricting were valid tools to integrate American schools.
  • 1974 - On October 11, a proclamation by the governor of Ohio recognized Granville T. Woods as the "greatest electrician in the world."
  • 1979 - On October 4, Jesse Jackson met with P.L.O.’s Yasir Arafat in Beirut to discuss the middle east.
  • 1983 - President Ronald Reagan declared Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday a national holiday on November 2.
  • 1983 - September 30, the space Shuttle Challenger launched at night for the first time carrying America’s first black astronaut, Guion Bluford, into orbit.
  • 1993 - One of the creators of bebop, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, died on January 6 of cancer.
    • 1993 - On August 28, thousands of people gathered in Washington, D.C., marking the 30th anniversary of the civil rights demonstration at which Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I have a dream..." speech.

Links relating to African-American History

  • The Afro American Almanac - includes biographies of many famous and little known African Americans as well as historic events in African American history.
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