February - Black History Month

Harriet Tubman
-She was born into slavery in the year 1820 in Maryland.
-She had a head injury from when a slave once tried to escape, and an overseer threw a rock that hit her. She suffered from this throughout her life.
-In 1844, she married John Tubman.
-In 1849,having heard rumors that she was to be sold, she escaped to Pennsylvania.
Colin Powell
-Colin Powell was the Secretary of state.
-He was confirmed in 2001.
-Colin was born in Harlem, NYC in 1937.
-In 1987 Powell replaced Carlucci as national security adviser.
Muhammad Ali
-He was born in 1942.
-He began boxing at 12 when his bicycle was stolen.
-In high school, he won 100 out of 108.
-He went to complete the 1960 olympics.
Hank Aaron
-He was a baseball player.
-He was born February 5, 1934 in Mobile, Alabama.
-When he was a teenager, baseball was slowly becoming integrated.
-He was recruited by the Milwaukee Braves.
Louis Armstrong
-He was a jazz musician and entertainer.
-He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
-He is the son of Mary Ann and WIllie Armstrong.
-His parents were separated.
Tiger Woods
-He is a professional golfer.
-He was born in 1975.
- He was born in Orlando, Florida.
Langston Hughes
-He was a writer
-He was born in Missouri.
-He graduated from Ohio.
Duke Ellington
-He was a bandleader, composer, and pianist.
-The bond he had with his mother was unique.
-Began He began piano lessons at age 7.
Ida Bell Wells-Barnett
-She was a journalist, suffragist, anti-lynching crusader, and champion of racial justice.
-She was born a slace in Holly Springs, Mississippi.
-Her parents and some of her brothers and sisters died in a yellow fever epidemic.
Ralph Bunche
-He was the highest american official in the United Nations.
-He was a barber's son.
-Bunch attended University of California.
Lena Horne
-She was a singer and an actress.
-She was born June 30, 1917.
-Her mother was an actress.
-In 1937 she married Louis Jones the politician.
Derrick Bell
He was the first tenured African American professor at law at Harvard.
He was the former dean of the University of Oregon.
He wrote about the critical race theory.
Henry Gates
Gates has hosted several PBS television miniseries.
 He is an American literary critic, educator, scholar, writer, editor, and public intellectual.
 He has received numerous honorary degrees and awards for his teaching, research, and development of academic institutions to study black culture.
Lorraine Hansberry
Lorraine Hansberry was an African American playwright and author of political speeches, letters, and essays.
Her best known work, A Raisin in the Sun, was inspired by her family's battle against racial segregation in Chicago.
Hansberry contributed to the understanding of abortion, discrimination, and Africa.
Chester Higgins
Chester Higgins, Jr. is an American photographer.
Higgins has worked as a New York Times photographer since 1975 and has exhibited in museums throughout the world.
His one-man exhibitions have appeared at the International Center of Photography, The Museum of Photographic Arts, The Smithsonian Institution, The Museum of African Art, Musée Dapper Paris, The Schomburg Center, The New-York Historical Society and the Schatten Gallery at Emory University.
Randall Kenan
Randall Kenan is an American author of fiction and nonfiction.
Kenan strongly identifies with both his African American and gay identities, both of which were highlighted in his next two books.
He then spent several years traveling across America and Canada collecting oral histories of African Americans.
Julius Lester
Julius Lester is an American author of books for children and adults, and taught for 32 years.
 He is also a photographer, as well as a musician who recorded two albums of folk music and original songs
During his New York years, Lester hosted a radio show on WBAI-FM.