Lincoln University in Pennsylvania is the first institution of higher education that was founded specifically for African-Americans. This was the building block for establishing the 104 other historically black colleges. These other colleges have produced alums such as Thurgood Marshall, Spike Lee, and even Oprah!
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X were two of the most influential leaders in the Civil Rights Movement, and what better way to honor someone than to name a location after them? Well, that’s exactly what happened with these two – in their honor, Malcolm-King College was created in Harlem, New York.
In 1967, Robert H. Lawrence, Jr. became the first African-American to be trained as an astronaut. Sadly, he died in a plane crash before his first mission. However, his legacy was carried on by Guion “Guy” Bluford, who, in 1983, became the first African-American to go to space.
Here in the US, Black History Month is celebrated in February. But how many other countries around the world celebrate Black History Month? In fact, there are three – the US, Canada, and the UK. In the US and Canada, it falls in February, but in the UK, it it observed in October instead!
We all know that February is black history month, but do you know why? February was made black history month because it includes the birthdays of two very important abolitionists – Abraham Lincoln on the 12th and Frederick Douglass on the 14th!
Fun fact of the day: Did you know that architect Paul Williams mastered the art of drawing upside down? His reasoning was so that if a white client didn’t want to sit next to a black man, he could sit across from them and draw his plans upside down, so that they would appear right side up to his clients.
I’m back with another daily fun fact! Did you know that Maya Angelou stopped celebrating her birthday? It’s true! Her reasoning was to commemorate the death of her friend Martin Luther King Jr., who died on her birthday. In years following, she even sent flowers to Mrs. King every year to commemorate that day.