Black History Facts

• The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a civil rights organization, was founded in 1909.
• February was chosen for Black History Month to coincide with Frederick Douglass’s and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays.
• One in four cowboys was black, despite the stories told in popular books and movies.
• Thurgood Marshall was the first African American appointed to the United States Supreme Court.
• At a time when universities did not typically offer financial assistance to black athletes, African-American football star Ernie Davis was offered more than 50 scholarships.
• Hall-of-Famer Jackie Robinson helped establish the African American-owned and -controlled Freedom Bank.
• Quincy Jones is the most Grammy-nominated artist in the history of the awards with 76 nominations and 26 awards.
• Inventor of the three-way traffic signal, Garrett Morgan, became the first African American to own a car in Cleveland, Ohio.
• Satchel Paige was the first African-American pitcher to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
• Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on Maya Angelou’s 40th birthday.
• Phillis Wheatley was only 12 years old when she became the first female African American author published.

Sources: workplacediversity.com and explorethearchive.com