While We Should Recognize African Americans and Their Accomplishments During Any Month

UpdatedThursday, 2/13/14

[February is Black History Month.During Black History Month we remember the events and the important people who contributed to our recent history.Since February is Black History Month we started off the announcements this month with a song honoring some of the important people who have made contributions to United States history. Each day in February, we will remember people who, despite challenging events, made a difference.

While we should recognize African Americans and their accomplishments during any month, we should take time to appreciate those individuals and the miraculous contributions that they have made to the world. Accomplishments are not distinguished by race or gender. However, there was a time when African Americans had to fight for their rights and voice. We will never forget their bravery and achievements.]

Carter G. Woodson. In 1926, Carter G. Woodsonand theAssociation for the Study of Negro Life and Historyannounced the second week of February to be "Black History Week".This week was chosen because it marked the birthday of both PresidentAbraham Lincoln(who abolished slavery) andFrederick Douglass (a former slave who was the leader of the movement to end slavery).

In February of 1969 the leaders of the Black United Students atKent State Universityproposed that Black History Week should be Black History Month. The first celebration of Black History Month took place at Kent State University one year later, in February 1970.

In 1976 as part of theUnited States Bicentennial, the informal expansion of Negro History Week to Black History Month was officially recognized by the U.S. government. PresidentGerald Fordspoke in regards to this, urging Americans to "seize the opportunity to honor black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history."

Thank you to Carter G. Woodson who started Black History Week which evolved into Black History Month.

Louis Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, shifting the focus of the music from collective improvisation to solo performance. As a trumpet player, Louis Armstrong had a unique tone and an extraordinary talent for melodic improvisation. Through Louis Armstrong’s playing, the trumpet emerged as a solo instrument in jazz and is used widely today. With Louis Armstrong’sinnovations, he raised the bar musically for all who came after him. Thank you Louis Armstrong, for your contributions to music. You made a difference.

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks(February 4, 1913– October 24, 2005) was anAfrican-Americancivil rightsactivist, whom theUnited States Congresscalled "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement".[1]

On December 1, 1955, inMontgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to obey a bus driver’s order to give up her seat in the colored section to a white passenger, after the white section was filled. She said no and the bus driver called the police to arrest her.

Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat was the catalyst for theMontgomery Bus Boycott. Both became important symbols of the modernCivil Rights Movement to endracial segregation and discriminationagainstblack Americansand enforceconstitutional voting rights.

Her birthday, February 4, and the day she was arrested, December 1, have both becomeRosa Parks Day, commemorated in the U.S. states of California and Ohio.

Resources: If A Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks, by Faith Ringgold.

Bessie Coleman became well known for her skills as a pilot.

About 100 years ago, since Bessie Coleman could not gain admission to American flight schools because she was black and a woman and no black U.S. aviator would train her, she went to France.Bessie Coleman became not only the first African-American woman to earn an aviation pilot's license, and the first African-American woman to earn an international aviation license from theFédérationAéronautiqueInternationale, but she was also the first American of any gender or ethnicity to do so. Determined to polish her skills, Coleman spent the next two months taking lessons from a French ace pilot near Paris, and in September 1921 sailed for New York. She became a media sensation when she returned to the United States.

Bessie Coleman was offered a role in a movie calledShadow and Sunshine. She gladly accepted, hoping the publicity would help to advance her career and provide her with some of the money she needed to establish her own flying school. But upon learning that the first scene in the movie required her to appear in tattered clothes, with a walking stick and a pack on her back, she refused to proceed. She had no intention of perpetuating the image of black people that movies often portrayed. She stood up for what she believed. Thank you Bessie Coleman for making a difference.

In 1948, Marie Daly became the first African American woman to earn a PhD in Chemistry. In 1955, Daly taught biochemistry at Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. She began collaborating with Dr. Quentin B. Deming to investigate the underlying causes of heart attacks. Marie Daly and her colleague found that high cholesterol levels contributed to the blockage of arteries that supply oxygen to the heart.Marie Daly also investigated the effects of sugar on the function of coronary arteries. Later, she became a pioneer in studying the impact of cigarette smoking on the lungs.

In 1960 Daly and Deming moved toYeshiva Universityat theAlbert Einstein College of Medicinein New York City. At Yeshiva, she continued her research and taught biochemistry courses. She enjoyed teaching medical students and was dedicated to increasing the number of minority students enrolled in medical schools. Daly also served as an investigator for theAmerican Heart Association; she was especially interested in how hypertension affects the circulatory system. She was a member of the prestigious Board of Governors of theNew York Academy of Sciencesfor two years. Daly retired from the Einstein College of Medicine in 1986, and in 1988 she established a scholarship for African American chemistry and physics majors at Queens College in memory of her father.Thank you Marie Daly for your work in discovering life saving information and for increasing access to education for minorities. You made a difference.

Maya Angelou is a world famous poet, author, historian singer and civil rights activist. Dr. Angelou has served on two presidential committees, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Arts in 2000, the Lincoln Medal in 2008, and has received 3 Grammy Awards. President Clinton requested that she compose a poem to read at his inauguration in 1993. Dr. Angelou's reading of her poem "On the Pulse of the Morning" was broadcast live around the world.

Dr. Angelou has received over 30 honorary degrees and is Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University. Dr. Angelou’s words and actions continue to stir our souls, energize our bodies, liberate our minds and heal our hearts.Thank you Dr. Angelou for your teaching us through your writing. You made a difference.

Langston Hughes is one of the greatest American writers.Hughes was apoet, essayist, novelist, playwright, journalist and lyricist born in Joplin, Missouri. Many called him the Poet Laureate of Harlem.

He was one of the earliest innovatorsof the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance.

Martin Luther King Jr. was the single most instrumental force in the Civil Rights Movement during the 1950's and 1960's. His use of a nonviolent approach to atrocities of humanity granted him the honor of a Nobel Peace Prizeand the inspiration of an American nation and world at large. His famous speech during the march on Washington is forever engrained in American history as a pivotal point in the nation’s history. He influenced several political policies and calls to action, most notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation. Martin Luther King was a living example that one person could change the world, with help of many.

Jane Bolin was the first black woman to become judge in the United States (1932) . She was also the first black woman to earn a law degree from Yale, the first black woman to pass the New York State bar exam and the first to join the city's law department.

Bolin worked to end segregation in child placement facilities and the assignment of probation officers based on race. She also helped create a racially integrated treatment center for delinquent boys.

Dr. Ralph Johnson Bunche received the 1950 Nobel PeacePrizefor his mediation efforts in Palestine during the 1940s, he was also the first African-American to receive the honor. He also received the Medal of Freedom from President John F. Kennedy. Dr. Bunche was also directly involved in the building of the United Nations. A prominent advocate of the civil rights movement, he participated in the March on Washington, and was present during Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech. Dr. Bunche also attended the Selma to Montgomery march that led to the to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Thank you to Dr. Ralph Johnson Bunche for making a difference.

Known as arguably one of the most intelligent individuals to ever live, W.E.B. Du Bois was instrumental in bringing along the process of human rights for African-Americans. He was the best known spokesperson for African-American rights during the first half of the 20th century.

Du Bois was the first African-American to earn a PH.D from Harvard University. He was also the founding member of what we know today to be the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).

Harriet Tubman was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the American Civil War. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made more than thirteen missions to rescue more than 70 slaves using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry, and in the post-war era struggled for women's suffrage.

Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became aleaderof the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing. He stood as a living counter-example to slaveholders' arguments that slaves did not have the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens.Many Northerners also found it hard to believe that such a great orator had been a slave.

Douglass actively supported women's suffrage. Without his approval, he became the first African American nominated for Vice President of the United States as the running mate of Victoria Woodhull on the impracticable and small Equal Rights Party ticket.Douglass held multiple public offices. Douglass was a firm believer in the equality of all people, whether black, female, Native American, or recent immigrant, famously quoted as saying, "I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong."

George Washington Carver was born in 1860 in Diamond Grove, Missouriand in became one of the most commemorated and highly regarded scientists in United States history. His significant discoveries and methods allowed farmers through the South and Midwest to become successful and profitable.

Bill Cosby

Over the past century, few entertainers have achieved the legendary status of William H. Cosby Jr., better known as Bill Cosby. His successes span five decades and virtually all media, remarkable accomplishments for a kid who emerged from humble beginnings in a Philadelphia project.

In the 1960s, his stand-up act was a coast-to-coast sensation, spawning a string of hilarious, best-selling comedy albums, which went on to win eight Gold Records, five Platinum records and five Grammy Awards. His role on TV’s I Spy made him the first African-American to co-star in a dramatic series, breaking television’s racial barrier and winning three Emmy Awards. In the 1980s, he again rocked the television world with The Cosby Show, a gentle, whimsical and hugely successful series that single-handedly revived the family sitcom (and rescued NBC).

With hit movies like Uptown Saturday Night and best-selling books like Fatherhood, Bill Cosby is quite simply a national treasure with the unique ability to touch people’s hearts.

He works hard to influence people to see the importance of education, self-respect and self-improvement.

President Barack Obama first African American editor of the Harvard Law Review and first black president of the United States. In 2009, Barack Obama was awarded The Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

Jackie Robinson(January 31, 1919– October 24, 1972) was an Americanbaseballplayer who became the firstAfrican-Americanto play inMajor League Baseball(MLB) in the modern era.[1]Robinson broke thebaseball color linewhen theBrooklyn Dodgersstarted him at first base on April 15, 1947. As the first major league team to play a black man since the 1880s, the Dodgers endedracial segregationthat had relegated black players to theNegro leaguesfor six decades.[2]The example of Robinson's character and unquestionable talent challenged the traditional basis of segregation, which then marked many other aspects of American life, and contributed significantly to theCivil Rights Movement.

Oprah Winfrey(born January 29, 1954) is an Americanmedia proprietor,talk show host, actress, producer, andphilanthropist.[1]Winfrey is best known for her multi-award-winning talk showThe Oprah Winfrey Showwhich was the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was viewed throughout the U.S. between 1986 to 2011.Dubbed the "Queen of All Media", Oprah Winfrey has been ranked the richest African-American of the 20th century,the greatest black philanthropist in American history,and is currently North America's only black billionaire.She is also, according to some assessments, the most influential woman in the world.In 2013, she was awarded thePresidential Medal of Freedomby PresidentBarack Obama[12]and an honorary doctorate degree fromHarvard.

African American Scientists

Benjamin Banneker
(1731-1806) / Born into a family of free blacks in Maryland, Banneker learned the rudiments of reading, writing, and arithmetic from his grandmother and a Quaker schoolmaster. Later he taught himself advanced mathematics andastronomy. He is best known for publishing an almanac based on his astronomical calculations.
Rebecca Cole
(1846-1922) / Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Cole was the second black woman to graduate from medical school (1867). She joined Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first white woman physician, in New York and taught hygiene and childcare to families in poor neighborhoods.
Edward Alexander Bouchet
(1852-1918) / Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Bouchet was the first African American to graduate (1874) from Yale College. In 1876, upon receiving his Ph.D. in physics from Yale, he became the first African American to earn a doctorate. Bouchet spent his career teaching college chemistry and physics.
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams
(1856-1931) / Williams was born in Pennsylvania and attended medical school in Chicago, where he received his M.D. in 1883. He founded the Provident Hospital in Chicago in 1891, and he performed the first successful open heart surgery in 1893.
George Washington Carver
(1865?-1943) / Born into slavery in Missouri, Carver later earned degrees from Iowa Agricultural College. The director of agricultural research at theTuskegee Institutefrom 1896 until his death, Carver developed hundreds of applications for farm products important to the economy of the South, including the peanut, sweet potato, soybean, and pecan.
Charles Henry Turner
(1867-1923) / A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Turner received a B.S. (1891) and M.S. (1892) from the University of Cincinnati and a Ph.D. (1907) from the University of Chicago. A noted authority on the behavior of insects, he was the first researcher to prove that insects can hear.
Ernest Everett Just
(1883-1941) / Originally from Charleston, South Carolina, Just attended Dartmouth College and the University of Chicago, where he earned a Ph.D. in zoology in 1916. Just's work on cell biology took him to marine laboratories in the U.S. and Europe and led him to publish more than 50 papers.
Archibald Alexander
(1888-1958) / Iowa-born Alexander attended Iowa State University and earned a civil engineering degree in 1912. While working for an engineering firm, he designed the Tidal Basin Bridge in Washington, D.C. Later he formed his own company, designing Whitehurst Freeway in Washington, D.C. and an airfield in Tuskegee, Alabama, among other projects.
Roger Arliner Young
(1889-1964) / Ms. Young was born in Virginia and attended Howard University, University of Chicago, and University of Pennsylvania, where she earned a Ph.D. in zoology in 1940. Working with her mentor, Ernest E. Just, she published a number of important studies.