Notable Moments in Black History That Occurred in February, from Rosa Parks' Birthday to Nelson Mandela's Release
- - Notable Moments in Black History That Occurred in February, from Rosa Parks' Birthday to Nelson Mandela's Release
Diane J. Cho, Brendan LeFebruary 3, 2026 at 4:30 AM
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Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks and Malcolm X
WALTER DHLADHLA/AFP via Getty; Photo12/UIG/Getty; Robert Parent/Getty
There's a whole lot of American history to be celebrated in February — Black History Month — alone.
Established in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson and Jesse E. Moorland of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Black History Month began as a week-long celebration. It wasn't until the '60s that universities expanded it to a full month. President Gerald Ford officially recognized it in 1976 as a national holiday that lasts throughout the entirety of February.
Ahead, read about pivotal dates in Black history that occurred in February, from important birthdays to sporting achievements, pop culture moments and more.
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Feb. 1, 1901: Langston Hughes Is Born
Langston Hughes
Hulton Archive/Getty
James Mercer Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, to parents Carrie M. Langston and James N. Hughes. He released his first book of poems, The Weary Blues, in 1926 and was awarded a literary prize for his debut novel, Not Without Laughter, in 1930.
The award-winning poet went on to create a large body of highly influential work — including several novels, short stories and plays — that highlighted portrayals of Black life in America during the 20s to the 60s. Some of his most famous poems are Let America Be America Again (1936), I, Too (1945) and Harlem (1951).
Hughes died of complications from prostate cancer on May 22, 1967, in New York City. He was 65 years old. His home at 20 East 127th Street in Harlem was given landmark status and East 127th Street was renamed "Langston Hughes Place" in his honor.
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Feb. 2, 1897: Alfred L. Cralle Invents the Ice Cream Scoop
Alfred L. Cralle Courtesy Photo
Cralle was born in 1866 in Kenbridge, Virginia, and grew up helping his father in the carpentry trade. While working as a porter for a hotel, Cralle noticed that people were having a hard time scooping ice cream with ordinary utensils, so he decided to create a device that would help, according to The Undefeated.
In 1897, Cralle had patented the Ice Cream Mold and Disher, which was designed to not only scoop ice cream but also keep it from sticking to the device to make the process a lot easier. His handy invention is still used today.
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Feb. 3, 1989: Lori McNeil Defeats Chris Evert in the Pan Pacific Open
Lori McNeil Barbara Alper/Getty
Legendary tennis star Lori McNeil became an All-American in singles and doubles at Oklahoma State University before turning pro in 1984, according to the Women's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame.
She most famously beat the now-retired International Tennis Hall of Famer Chris Evert in the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo on this day in history.
McNeil's legendary career highlights include NCAA Big Eight Athletic Conference Singles Champion (1982), U.S. Indoor Doubles Champion (1986), Texas Tennis Hall of Fame inductee (2000) and U.S. Women's Tennis Coach at the World University Games (2005).
She's won 32 career doubles titles and was appointed assistant coach to the U.S. Olympic Team in 2004. Today, she continues to serve as a mentor for young players.
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Feb. 4, 1913: Rosa Parks Is Born
Rosa Parks Universal History Archive/Getty
The civil rights activist was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, to parents James and Leona McCauley. She is known for getting arrested after refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, after a white bus driver demanded that she do so.
The brave act of defiance, which took place on Dec. 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, led to a year-long bus boycott by Montgomery's Black residents. The movement eventually led to a Supreme Court ruling that said bus segregation was unconstitutional.
By Dec. 21, 1956, one year and 20 days after her initial arrest, Parks was photographed sitting in the front seat of a bus after her long-fought victory. Parks died in 2005 after a lifetime of fighting against civil rights injustices.
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Feb. 5, 1934: Baseball Legend Hank Aaron Is Born
Hank Aaron Bettmann/Getty
Henry Louis "Hank" Aaron was born in Mobile, Alabama, and primarily played for the Milwaukee Braves as right fielder. His career highlights include earning three Gold Glove Awards, making 25 All-Star Game appearances and leading the Braves in 1957 to their first World Series Championship since 1914, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The trailblazing athlete beat out Babe Ruth's home run record of 714 with his own 755, which remained the most home runs of all time until the record was broken in 2007 by Barry Bonds. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982 and has since been immortalized by the Atlanta Braves within their SunTrust Park stadium, where a bronze statue of the player lives to honor his illustrious career.
He died on Jan. 22, 2021, at the age of 86.
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Feb. 5, 1995: Trayvon Martin Is Born
Trayvon Martin
Handout
Trayvon Benjamin Martin was born in Miami to Tracy Martin and Sabrina Fulton. on Feb. 25, 2012, when Trayvon was 17, he was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida, while returning home from a convenience store. His murder resulted in nationwide protests and rallies, as well as a petition that garnered 2.2 million signatures calling for the prosecution of Zimmerman.
The media heavily covered the proceeding investigation and trial. Zimmerman was later acquitted by a jury on charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter. However, Trayvon's legacy lives on with several memorials around the country, including one at Goldsboro Westside Historical Museum, a Black history museum in Sanford.
Tracy and Fulton published a book about their son's life and death in 2017, titled Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin.
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Feb. 6, 1993: Arthur Ashe Dies at 49
Arthur Ashe Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty
Tennis champion and tireless civil rights activist Arthur Ashe died of AIDS-related complications one year before his 50th birthday.
Ashe was the first and only Black man to win Wimbledon and the U.S. and Australian Opens, according to The New York Times. He was the first Black tennis player chosen to represent the U.S. at the Davis Cup and won five championships. He also helped create the Association of Tennis Professionals in an effort to help protect the interests of players.
The icon was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985 and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton. To this day, ESPN presents the Arthur Ashe Courage Award to a person in the sports world who exhibits courage in the face of adversity.
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Feb. 7, 1926: Carter Godwin Woodson Initiates First Negro History Week
Carter Godwin Woodson Hulton Archive/Getty
The scholar proposed and launched "Negro History Week," which became "Black History Month" in 1976. The author of more than 30 books was said to have chosen the month of February in order to honor two significant birthdays: Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12) and Frederick Douglass (Feb. 14). The man also known as the "Father of Black History" was the second African-American to earn a doctorate from Harvard University (the first was W.E.B. Du Bois) in 1912. He died in 1950.
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Feb. 8, 1986: Debi Thomas Becomes First Black Woman to Win a National Figure Skating Title
Debi Thomas
American Broadcasting Companies via Getty
Thomas was the first Black figure skater to win the U.S. National Figure Skating Championship in Women's Singles. She achieved the incredible feat while also studying pre-med as a student at Stanford University, BET reports.
Before retiring from the sport and beginning medical school at Northwestern University, Thomas also took the title of the first Black figure skater to win a medal in any Winter Olympics sport when she earned a bronze medal at the 1988 Games.
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Feb. 9, 1944: Alice Walker Is Born
Alice Walker Dana Nalbandian/WireImage
The esteemed writer, activist and poet was the first Black woman novelist to win a Pulitzer Prize for Literature and the National Book Award for her third novel, The Color Purple. The novel, which centers on the life of African-American women living in the South in the 1930s, was later adapted into a film by Steven Spielberg in 1985, starring Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover and Oprah Winfrey. It was also made into a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, which debuted in 2004.
Walker's other significant works include Possessing the Secret of Joy, The Third Life of Grange Copeland and Meridian. She was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2001 and the California Hall of Fame in The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts in 2006, according to PBS.
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Feb. 10, 1989: Ronald H. Brown Gets Elected as National Chairman of the Democratic Party
Ronald H. Brown Marianne Barcellona/Getty Images
On this day in history, the then-47-year-old influential lawyer became the first Black chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
''We cannot ignore the history of this moment,'' Brown told committee members after his election, as reported by The New York Times. ''In choosing the first American of African descent to lead one of America's political parties, you have made history.''
Brown went on to serve as the first Black U.S. Secretary of Commerce under President Bill Clinton's administration before he was killed in a plane crash in April 1996 along with 34 others, according to Politico.
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Feb. 11, 1990: Nelson Mandela Is Released from Prison
Nelson Mandela and Winnie Mandela Allan Tannenbaum/Getty Images
The anti-apartheid South African revolutionary is seen with his then-wife Winnie raising his fist upon his release from Victor Verster prison after being jailed for 27 years.
Four years later, he was inaugurated as South Africa's first democratically elected president and served one term before focusing on his philanthropic work for the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and The Mandela Rhodes Foundation.
Mandela died in 2013 and is remembered for his relentless fight for equality, work to combat poverty, HIV and AIDs. He's received over 200 honors, including the Nobel Peace Prize (1993), Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience Award (2006), Presidential Medal of Freedom (2002) and the Olympic Gold Order (1994).
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Feb. 12, 1909: The NAACP Is Founded
NAACP MPI/Getty Images
The nation's largest civil rights organization was founded to ensure political, educational, social and economic equality for all minority U.S. citizens through democratic processes.
Today, there are more than 2,200 chapters (according to the organization's website) dedicated to furthering these causes. Some noteworthy achievements: helping pass the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, which established lynching as a federal crime, and the Voting Rights Act, which guaranteed that no one can be denied the right to vote because of his or her race.
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Feb. 13, 1923: The First Black Professional Basketball Team Is Organized
The New York Renaissance blackfives/instagram
The Renaissance (or the New York Rens), the nation's first Black professional basketball team, was formed by Robert "Bob" Douglas (pictured in the middle of the top row in this photo). The team was named after the famed Renaissance Ballroom and Casino in Harlem, and they became the first Black-owned professional team before winning the inaugural World Championship of Professional Basketball in 1939.
The team's original lineup included Clarence "Fats" Jenkins, James "Pappy" Ricks, Frank "Strangler" Forbes and Leon Monde.
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Feb. 14, 1818: The Day the U.S. Observes Frederick Douglass' Birthday
Frederick Douglass Library Of Congress/Getty Images
Although historically America has celebrated the activist and author's birthday on the 14th of February, the actual month and date of Douglass' birth are still unknown. The birth date Americans observe today was chosen based on his autobiographical writings, which revealed that he was told his birth month was February and the year was 1818.
According to the National Constitution Center, Douglass wrote about speaking with Captain Thomas Auld, one of his former slave owners, in 1877 about wanting to know his birth details.
"I told him I had always been curious to know how old I was and that it had been a serious trouble to me, to not know when was my birthday," he wrote. "He said he could not tell me that, but he thought I was born in February 1818."
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Feb. 15, 1965: Nat King Cole Dies
Nat King Cole Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
The legendary singer and pianist died in his sleep at St. John's hospital in Santa Monica, California after suffering from lung cancer, according to the L.A. Times. He was 45 years old.
The star was best known for his incredible catalogue of music, including hits like "Unforgettable," "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66" and "I Love You (For Sentimental Reasons)." He also made history in 1956 when he became the first Black host of a variety series, The Nat King Cole Show.
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Feb. 16, 1951: N.Y.C. Council Passes Bill that Prohibits Housing Racial Discrimination
N.Y.C. Charles Rotkin/Getty Images
On this day, a bill that prohibited racial discrimination in city-assisted housing developments in New York City was passed.
Today, New York state and New York City human rights laws include additional protections based on age, citizenship, lawful job or source of income, gender, gender identity, or gender expression, marriage or partnership status, current children or plans to have children in the future, sexual orientation, experience as a survivor of domestic violence, stalking, or sex offenses and military service, according to N.Y.C. Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).
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Feb. 17, 1942: Huey P. Newton Is Born
Huey P. Newton David Fenton/Getty Images
The co-founder of the Black Panther Party (BPP) was born in Monroe, Louisiana, and grew up in Oakland, California, before attending Merritt College, where he played a role in getting the first African American history course added to the school's curriculum, according to the National Archives. Then in 1966, Newton and Bobby Seales founded the BPP, which was organized to help defend the lives of Black people in the United States.
"We've never advocated violence, violence is inflicted upon us," Newton told the New York Times in 1970. "But we do believe in self-defense for ourselves and for Black people."
Thought to have been inspired by Malcolm X, Newton adopted and advocated armed self-defense in Black communities, according to the New York Times. "They would patrol the streets, guns drawn, turning them on drug dealers and police officers alike," the Times reported of the BPP under Newton.
The party grew to international fame - even overseas in China, where in 1970, Newton was greeted by thousands of Chinese citizens who supported the BPP.
Newton's last words before getting shot and killed by Black Guerilla Family member Tyrone Robinson were, "You can kill my body, and you can take my life but you can never kill my soul. My soul will live forever!" The activist was laid to rest in 1989 at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, and will always be remembered for his heroic fight to protect and help foster the Black community.
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Feb. 18, 1931: Toni Morrison Is Born
Toni Morrison
Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post via Getty
The Nobel laureate and author of treasured novels such as Beloved, The Bluest Eye and Song of Solomon was born Chloe Ardelia Wofford in Lorain, Ohio, in 1931. "Toni" was a nickname that came from her Catholic name Anthony, after St. Anthony of Padua, and "Morrison" came from her ex-husband, Harold Morrison, whom she married in 1958 and divorced in 1964.
The beloved author died at 88 and was the only African American woman to earn the Nobel Prize for literature, according to The Guardian. She was also awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1988.
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Feb. 19, 2002: Vonetta Flowers Becomes First Black Athlete to Win Gold at Winter Olympics
Vonetta Flowers Jim Spellman/WireImage
After graduating from P.D. Jackson Olin High School in 1992, Vonetta Flowers became the first person in her family to attend college. She accepted a Track and Field scholarship to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she would become the school's first seven-time All-American, according to her website. She then went on to try and qualify for the 2000 Olympic track team, but didn't make it. However, a twist of fate put her on the path to bobsledding.
Two years later, Flowers and teammate Jill Bakken beat out two front-runner German teams to win gold at the 2002 Olympics. They became the first American women to win, and Flowers became the first Black athlete ever to win a gold medal in the winter Olympics.
''I didn't know I was the first,'' she told the New York Times after her win. ''I hope this won't be the end of it. I hope you'll see other African American girls and boys who want to give winter sports a try because there are not a lot out there.''
Through tears, she added: ''I'm sorry. I'm so happy right now.''
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Feb. 20, 1929: Wallace Thurman's Broadway Play 'Harlem' Opens in N.Y.C.
Wallace Thurman Alamy
The trailblazing journalist, novelist and playwright — once described by Langston Hughes as "a strangely brilliant Black boy, who had read everything and whose critical mind could find something wrong with everything he read" — moved to New York City's Harlem neighborhood in the early 1920s and was regarded as one of the most forward-thinking literary minds of his day.
He became the circulation manager of a White-run magazine, The World Tomorrow, a rare position for someone of color at the time, and also founded two magazines (Fire!! and Harlem) before one of his short stories was adapted for Broadway.
Cordelia the Crude: A Harlem Sketch opened as the play Harlem on his day in history and went on to have 93 performances before it went on tour, according to the Kennedy Center.
His most notable books include Negro Life in New York's Harlem, The Blacker the Berry and Infants of the Spring.
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Feb. 21, 1965: Malcolm X Is Assassinated
Malcolm X Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1925, the human rights activist became one of the most popular figures during the civil rights movement. He was killed while standing at a podium about to give a speech inside the Audubon Ballroom in N.Y.C. Three men were convicted of the crime: Mujahid Abdul Halim (known as Talmadge Hayer and Thomas Hagan), Muhammad Abdul Aziz (known as Norman 3X Butler) and Khalil Islam (known as Thomas 15X Johnson). All were sentenced to life in prison.
However, prosecutors announced in February 2020 that they would reopen the investigation into his assassination following the release of a docuseries about the 1965 killing. The six-part Who Killed Malcolm X? first aired on Fusion but began streaming on Netflix, and proposed that two of the three men convicted of the crime were innocent, and were not even present when Malcolm X was killed.
In 2021, Aziz and Islam were exonerated of the crime after a 22-month investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance's office.
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Feb. 22, 1989: DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince Win First Best Rap Performance Grammy
DJ Jazzy Jeff and Will Smith Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
The hip-hop duo's "Parents Just Don't Understand" was the first hip-hop song to ever get nominated for a Grammy. DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince, a.k.a. Jeff Townes and Will Smith, made history as the first-ever best rap performance Grammy winners, but declined to pick up their award when they won.
"We chose to boycott," Smith told the New York Times at the time, as a response to the Grammys choosing to not televise the inaugural category and their win.
"You go to school for 12 years, they give you your diploma, and they deny you that walk down the aisle," he added.
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Feb. 23, 1965: Constance Baker Motley Becomes First Black Manhattan Borough President
Constance Baker Motley Getty Images
From law clerk to Federal Court judge, Constance Baker Motley had an incredible career that set the path for many to follow.
Born in 1921, the famed civil rights lawyer started as a law clerk at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense and Education Fund, where she clerked for Thurgood Marshall, according to the National Women's Hall of Fame.
She rose up in the ranks and became the first Black woman to serve in the New York State Senate, and the first woman and Black person to serve as Manhattan Borough President. Then in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson named her a Federal Court judge and she became the first Black woman to serve in that position, as well.
"As the first Black and first woman, I am proving in everything I do that Blacks and women are as capable as anyone," the organization reported her saying.
Motley died in 2005 from congestive heart failure at 84 years old.
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Feb. 24, 1864: Rebecca Lee Crumpler Becomes First Black Woman to Receive M.D.
Antique doctor's bag and stethoscope
Born Rebecca Davis on Feb. 8, 1831, the pioneer first worked as a nurse in Charlestown, Massachusetts, before getting accepted into the New England Female Medical College, during a time when male physicians claimed that women did not have the physical strength to practice medicine, according to PBS.
By 1864, Crumpler became the school's only Black graduate and by 1883, she released Book of Medical Discourses — one of the very first medical books written by a Black person, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
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Feb. 25, 1870: Hiram Rhodes Revels Becomes First Black Congressman
Hiram Rhodes Revels
MPI/Getty
Born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Sept. 27, 1827, the moderate-leaning politician joined the U.S. Senate in 1870 — but not without a fight.
Senate Republicans were ready to swear him in, but Senate Democrats tried to block Revels by saying he wasn't a U.S. citizen, despite the fact that he was born to free parents in North Carolina, according to the U.S. House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives.
Republican Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was quoted as he reflected on the historic moment in which Revels was sworn in, saying, "All men are created equal, says the great Declaration and now a great act attests this verity. Today we make the Declaration a reality ... The Declaration was only half established by Independence. The greatest duty remained behind. In assuring the equal rights of all we complete the work."
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Feb. 26, 1869: 15th Amendment Passes, Granting Black Men the Right to Vote
15th Amendment MPI/Getty
On this day, the House of Representatives passed a vote of 144 to 44, declaring that the "right of citizens of the U.S. to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude," according to the Library of Congress.
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Feb. 27, 1872: Charlotte E. Ray Becomes First Black Female Lawyer
Charlotte E. Ray
Public Domain
Born in N.Y.C. in 1850, Charlotte E. Ray became the first Black lawyer in the U.S. and the first practicing female lawyer in Washington, D.C., according to The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights.
The trailblazer began teaching at Howard University in 1869 when she first got accepted into the Howard School of Law. Ray applied under the name of "C.E. Ray" because the university was reluctant to admit women at the time, according to the organization, but was able to graduate in 1872 and opened her own law practice. She later left law to teach due to race and gender discrimination that plagued the profession.
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Feb. 28, 1964: Thelonious Monk Covers TIME Magazine
Thelonious Monk TIME
The famed pianist graced the cover of Time in an issue that featured a deep dive into the jazz icon's impact on music. The issue came out around the time the civil rights movement had started to take off, and tensions between Black and White musicians were heading to a boiling point within the jazz community.
"Racial woes are at the heart of much bad behavior in jazz, and the racial question is largely a confusion between life and art," journalist Barry Farrell wrote in his essay, The Loneliest Monk. "Negroes say whites cannot play, when they mean that whites have always taken more money out of jazz than their music warranted. Whites complain of 'Crow Jim' when what they mean is that work is scarcer than ever - even for them. The fact is that most of the best jazz musicians are Negroes, and there is very little work to go around on either side."
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Feb. 29, 1940: Hattie McDaniel Becomes First Black Actor to Win Oscar
Hattie McDaniel Getty
The history-making actress earned an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, according to the California African American Museum. After her acting career, McDaniel pivoted to radio and became the first and highest-paid Black actress to lead a national radio show.
The next Black woman to win the coveted award for Best Supporting Actress would be Whoopi Goldberg for her role in Ghost — almost 40 years later.
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