February 2023

In honor of Black History Month we are celebrating the Birthdays of Black Americans born during the month of February. Let’s send out Happy Birthday wishes to the following African American people of note who have contributed to the health, wealth, entertainment and well-being of all Americans.

FEBRUARY 1
James Mercer Langston Hughes (2/2/1902 to 5/22/1967) was an African American poet, social activist, novelist, play write, and columnist. As an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance Period, he made the African American experience the subject of his writings, poetry and plays.

FEBRUARY 2
Sonny Stitt (2/2/1924 to 7/22/1982) was an American Jazz saxophonist of the Bebop/hard bop idiom who was known for his warm tone. He recorded more than 100 albums and was one of the best documented saxophonist of his generation.

FEBRUARY 3
Charles Henry Turner (2/3/1967 to 2/14/1923) was a pioneering African-American scientist and scholar. This zoologist and educator was the first person to discover that insects can hear and alter behavior based on previous experience.

FEBRUARY 4
William Carrington March (2/4/1923 -8/2/2002) was an entrepreneur who with his wife Julia founded March Funeral Homes located in Baltimore, MD. It is one of the largest African American funeral services company in the United States.

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an American activist in the civil rights movement and is best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery Alabama bus boycott.

FEBRUARY 5
Hank Aaron (b. 2/5/34) is a retired American major league baseball right fielder who also served as senior vice president of the Atlanta Braves. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982. At the time of his retirement he was the all- time leader in career home runs from 1954 to 1976 where he played for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves and the Milwaukee Braves.

FEBRUARY 6
Walter E. Fauntroy (b. 2/6/1933) became the first delegate to represent the citizens of the District of Columbia as a member of the United States House of Representatives in almost 100 years when he was sworn in on March 23, 1977.

FEBRUARY 7
James Hubert “Eubie” Blake (2/7/1887 to 2/12/1983)was a composer, lyricist, and pianist of ragtime, jazz and popular music. In 1921, he and his long-time collaborator Noble Sissile wrote “Shuffle Along,” which was one of the first Broadway musicals to be written and directed by African Americans.

FEBRUARY 8
Joe Black (2/8/1924- 5/17/2002) was the first black pitcher to win a World Series game in 1952. He was a right-handed pitcher in the Negro League and major league baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Redlegs and the Washington Senators.

Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler (2/8/1831-3/9/1895) was the first female Black American doctor. She graduated from medical school in 1863. She worked for the Freedmen’s Bureau after the Civil War in Richmond, Virginia to provide medical care to freed slaves. She published A Book of Medical Discourses in 1883, at a time in history when very few African Americans were allowed to attend medical college or publish book. Her book focuses on prevention and self-help.

FEBRUARY 9
Alice Walker (b. 2/9/1944) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet and social activist. Her novel, The Color Purple written in 1982 earned her the National Book Award for Hardcover Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Chick Webb (2/10/1905 to 6/16/1939) was a black American jazz and swing music drummer as well as a band leader.

FEBRUARY 10
Roberta Cleopatra Flack (b. 2/10/1937) is an African American singer known for her No. 1 singles which include “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”, “Killing Me Softly with his Song,” “Feel like Making Love”, “Where is the Love” and “The Closer I Get to You.”

Mary Violet Leontyne Price (b. 2/10/27) is an American soprano who was the first African American to become a leading performer (prima donna) at the Metropolitan Opera. She rose to international acclaim in the 1950’s and 1960′ s and was one of the most popular American classical singers of her generation .

FEBRUARY 12
Bill Russell (b. 2/12/1934)  was the first black superstar in the National Basketball Association, a five-time winner of the Most Valuable Player Award, a 12-time All Star, and an 11-time winner of the NBA Championship for the Boston Celtics. He went on to be the first black major professional sports manager. Active in Civil Rights, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.

FEBRUARY 13
Eddie Robinson (2/13/19 to 4/3/2007) was an American football coach who set the record for the most career wins (408). His entire career was spent at the historical black Gambling State University (1941-1942 and from 1945 to 1997). He was conducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997.

FEBRUARY 14
Richard Allen (2/14/1760 to3/26/1831) was a minister, educator, writer and one of America’s most active and influential black leaders. In 1794 he founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, PA. He was bishop of this first national Black church in the United States.

Frederick Augustus Washington Douglass (2/14/1818 to 2/20/1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist , orator, writer, and statesman.

FEBRUARY 17
Mary Frances Berry (b. 2/17/1938) is an American historian, professor, writer, lawyer and activist whose public service included work in three presidential administrations. From 1980 to 2004 she was a member of the Commission on Civil Rights, and served as chairwoman from 1993 to 2004.

FEBRUARY 18
Toni Morrison (2/18/31 to 8/5/2019) was an American novelist essayist, book editor, college professor, and a famous African American author who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993 and a Pulitzer Prize in Literature for her best known novel Beloved in 1987.

FEBRUARY 19
William “Smokey” Robinson (b. 2/19/1940) is an African American singer, songwriter, record producer and former record executive. He was the founder and lead singer of the Motown vocal group the Miracles.

FEBRUARY 20
Beatrice “Bea” Gaddy (2/20/1933 to 10/3/2001) rose from poverty to become Baltimore’s leading advocate for the poor and the homeless and was also elected to the Baltimore City Council. Locally known as the Mother Teresa of Baltimore City, she was inducted into the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame in 2006.

Sidney Poitier (b. 2/20/1927) became the first Black actor to receive the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1964 for his role in “Lilies of the Field.”

Nancy Wilson (2/20/1937 to 12/13/2018) was a soulful and dynamic jazz singer whose crisp intricate phrasing helped her crossover into the pop and adult contemporary markets including blues and R&B.

FEBRUARY 21
John Robert Lewis (b. 2/21/1940) is an American politician and Civil Rights leader who represents Georgia’s 5th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives where he has served since 1987.

Nina Simone (2/21/1933 to 4/21/2003) had a deep distinctive voice when she sang jazz, blues and folk music. In addition to her musical career as a songwriter, pianist and arranger, Nina was a civil rights activist.

FEBRUARY 22
Grafton Tyler Brown (2/22/1841 to 3/2/1918) was the first African American to create works depicting the Pacific Northwest and the first Black professional artist in California.

Julius Erving (b.2/22/1950) also known by the nickname Dr. J is a retired basketball player who helped popularize a modern style of play that emphasizes leaping and playing above the rim. He was one the NBA’s first superstars.

FEBRUARY 23
W. E. B. Dubois (William E. Burghart DuBois) (2/23/1868 to 8/27/1963) was an American sociologist, civil rights activist, Pan Africanist author, writer and editor. His collection of essays The Souls of Black Folks (1903) is a landmark of African American literature. He cofounded the NAACP.

Louis Stokes (2/23/1925 to 8/18/2015) was an American attorney, civil rights pioneer and politician. He was the first African American congressman elected in the state of Ohio and served 15 years in the U.S. House of Representatives.

FEBRUARY 24
Daniel A. Payne (2/24/1811 to 11/2/1893) was an abolitionist, educator and historian. As President of Wilberforce University in Ohio, he became the first African American college president in the United States. He also served as a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) church for over forty years.

FEBRUARY 26
Fats Domino (2/26/1928 to 10/24/2017) was one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. This African American pianist and singer-song writer sold more than 65 million records.

FEBRUARY 27
Dexter Gordon (2/27/1923 to 4/25/1999) was one of the outstanding tenor saxophonists in jazz history, a major figure in bop and known for his heavy doses of swing.

Marian Anderson (2/27/1897 to 4/8/1993) was a legendary African-American contralto singer who sang both opera and Negro spirituals. She was the first African American to perform with New York Metropolitan Opera. She was the first African American to perform with the Philharmonic Society In Philadelphia.

Charlene Hunter Gault (b. 2/27/1942) is an American journalist and former foreign correspondent for National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Services. She was CNN’s Johannesburg and Bureau Chief and correspondent. She is respected for her work in print and on television.

Patrick Healey (2/27/1834 to 1//10/1910) was known as the first American of acknowledged African descent to earn a doctorate (earned in 1865), to become a Jesuit priest and the first African American to become president of a major university in the United States. He was the 29th President of Georgetown University (1874 -1882).