This Week In Black History { February 2, – February 8, }

February 2,1996 – J.C. Watts becomes the first Black selected to respond to a state of the union address.

February 3,1948 – Black Mother and Sons Condemned to Death Rosa Ingram and her fourteen-and sixteen -year-old sons condemned to death for the alleged murder of a white Georgian. Mrs. Ingram said she acted in self-defense.

February 4,1794 – France abolishes slavery. The nation will have a lukewarm commitment to abolition and will, under Napoleon, reestablish slavery in 1802 along with the reinstitution of the “Code noir”, prohibiting blacks, mulattoes and other people of color from entering French colonial territory or intermarrying with whites.

February 5,1990 – Columbia University graduate and Harvard University law student Barack Obama became the first African American named president of the United State

February 6,1820 – the Mayflower of Liberia The first organized emigration back to Africa begins when 86 free African Americans leave New York Harbor aboard the Mayflower of Liberia. They are bound for the British colony of Sierra Leone, which welcomes free African Americans as well as fugitive slaves.

February 7,1872 – Alcorn A&M College opened

February 8,1986 – Ophrah’s On! Oprah Winfrey becomes the first African American woman to host a nationally syndicated talk show.

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