Celebrating BHM: 101 facts pt.1

Wassup ya'll?! Hope everyone's doing well and being pro-ductive! What a month though huh? For such a short one, alot has been happening and the media circus has been in constant rotation...How about a recap?

Earthquake relief efforts for Haiti

Saints win the Superbowl

Tiger Woods leaked pics at Sex-Rehab center in Hattiesburg, Mississippi

Obama's healthcare/job reform dreams seemingly too large for deficit

The "Miracle on Ice" Anniversary

NBA All-Star game sets record attendance in new Dallas Stadium

The iPad

Heidi Montag goes nip/tuck

Record snowstorms and snowfall, especially in Midwest/New England/Atlantic states

Tiger Woods' Apology

The Winter Olympics

John Mayer's racist comments for Play Boy mag

Some more Tiger Woods just because

...and the list goes on...as of today, Cheney suffered a mild heart attack and Brian Westbrook is being released by the Philadelphia Eagles

But one headline that didn't quite make the cut, was any issue related to the celebration of Black History Month. Adding insult to injury, there aren't many articles addressing the fact that its not being celebrated as it has in years' past. If it's not going to be celebrated, lets at least act like its a big deal, rather than a non-issue, as is currently the case. So far, the only heavily saturated BHM commercials I've seen are all from McDonald's....smh. My logic on this is simple: for the main media networks, celebrating Black History Month with a "black" man as President must seem, well, racist. Ironically, for a conservative nation, the Gay Pride parade got more coverage...

Amidst my hectic schedule, I'll chip in by posting 101 facts in a 4 part set over the next 4 days about Black history, each with a particular subject heading. Hopefully I can find something on the 28th to close off BHM with a bang. But back to the facts/personnel...some you'll know, some you won't. But nonetheless, its good to know where you came from as an aide to truly understand where you're going. (Shouts to Nike for the artwork)

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Facts: 101-70

"Firsts"

Fact #101

Black Swan Records, founded in 1921 by Harry Pace in Harlem, was the first U.S. record label owned and operated by African-Americans. It was originally the Pace Phonograph Corporation and was renamed Black Swan Records after the 19th century opera singer Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, who was known as the Black Swan.

Fact #100

Deford Bailey (1899 - 1982) was a "wizard" at playing the harmonica and was most notable for mimicking the sound of locomotives. He was the first African-American to perform at the Grand Ole Opry and one of the first African-American stars of country music.

Fact #99

Charley Pride (1938 - ) is one of the most successful African-American country singers of all time, with a career spanning over 40 years and 36 number one hits. He is also the first African-American to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000. Pride was a baseball player with the Negro League and the Memphis Red Sox before becoming a successful musician.

Fact #98

Maurice Ashley ( 1966 - ) is the first and only African-American to be crowned International Grand Master of chess in 1999. He opened the Harlem Chess Center in 1999, where he coaches young chess players.

Fact #97

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American pilots in the U.S. armed forces. Beginning in 1941, select groups of extensively tested and rigorously trained African-Americans were trained at The Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The Tuskegee Airmen are depicted in the G.I. Joe action figure series.

Fact #96

Edmonia Lewis (1844? - ?) was the first professional African-American sculptor, often sculpting courageous and inspirational people such as Cleopatra, Phillis Wheatley, President Ulysses S. Grant, etc…

Fact #95

Nathaniel Adams Cole “Nat King Cole” (1919 - 1965), a singer, song writer and pianist, was the first African-American to host a national television program, The Nat King Cole Show, in 1956

Fact #94

Marian Anderson (1898 - 1993), a gifted contralto singer, was the first African-American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1955.

Fact #93

Debi Thomas (1967 - ), the talented figure-skater, is the first African American to win a medal (bronze) at the Winter Olympic games (1988). In 2002 Vonetta Flowers (1973 - ) became the first African-American to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympic games.

Fact #92

Richard Theodore Greener (1844 - 1922), was the first African-American graduate from Harvard in 1870. He started out at Oberlin college, the first American college to admit African-Americans and went on to become a lawyer.

Fact #91

Henry Ossian Flipper (1856 - 1940) was the first African-American to graduate from West Point academy in 1877 and became the first black commander when he was assigned to the 10th Cavalry, a Buffalo Soldier regiment.

Fact #90

Charles Henry Turner (1867 - 1923), a zoologist and educator, was the first person to discover that insects can hear.

Fact #89

The African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), founded by Richard Allen (1760 - 1831) became the first national black church in the United States in 1816.

Fact #88

Ralph J. Bunche (1904 - 1971), a politician and a U.N. diplomat, was the first African-American to win the Nobel Peace prize in 1950 for mediating the Arab-Israeli truce.

Fact #87

Alain Locke (1886 - 1954), a writer, philosopher and intellectual, was the first African-American Rhodes Scholar. A strong supporter of African-American arts, he wrote about the Harlem Renaissance in The New Negro (1925).

Fact #86

Diahann Carroll (1935 - ) was the first African-American woman to have her own television series, "Julia" in 1968. It was a controversial, yet Nielsen top ten rated show about a single working mother raising her child .

Fact #85

Robert L. Johnson (1946 - ), founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET) is the first African-American billionaire.

Fact #84

Madame C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove) (1876 - 1919) invented specialized hair products for African-American hair and became the first American woman to become a millionaire.

Fact #83

Lee Elder (1934 - ) was the first African-American golfer to play in the Masters Tournament in 1975. He has won 4 PGA tournaments and 8 Senior PGA tournaments in his career.

Fact #82

Ben Carson (1951 - ) a skilled neurosurgeon, led the first successful operation to separate a pair of Siamese twin infants who were joined at the back of the head in 1987.

Fact #81

Alexa Canady became the first female African-American neurosurgeon in the United States. She graduated from medical school in 1975.

Fact #80

Arthur Ashe (1943 - 1993) was the first African-American to not only be named to the U.S. Davis Cup team in 1963, but to also win the U.S. Open in 1968, to win the men's singles at Wimbledon in 1975, and the first to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985.

Fact #79

Althea Gibson (1927 - 2003) was the first African-American tennis player to compete in the U.S. Championships in 1950 and at Wimbledon in 1951. In 1957 she won the women's singles and doubles at Wimbledon in 1957, which was celebrated by a ticker tape parade when she returned home to New York City.

Fact #78

Matthew Henson (1867-1955) was a part of the first successful U.S. expedition to the North Pole in 1909.

Fact #77

Maya Angelou's (1928 - ) autobiographical, "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" is the first non-fiction work by an African-American woman to make the best-seller list.

Fact #76

Minnie Jocelyn Lee Elders ( 1933 - ) was the first African-American and the second woman to serve as the United States Surgeon General. Her term lasted for 15 months (1993 - 1994)

Fact #75

George Washington Carver (1864 - 1943) who made agricultural advancements and inventions pertaining to the use of peanuts and Percy Julian, who helped create drugs to combat glaucoma, were the first African-Americans admitted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1990.

Fact #74

Booker T. Washington (1856 - 1915) was the first African-American to be honored on a U.S. stamp, in 1940.

Fact #73

Bessie Coleman (1893-1926) was the first licensed African-American pilot in the world. She received aviation instruction in France.

Fact #72

The African Free School in New York City was the first free school for African-Americans. It was started by the abolitionist group the New York Manumission Society in 1787.

Fact #71

Judy W. Reed was the first African-American woman to receive a patent in 1884 for a hand-operated machine used to knead and roll dough.

Fact #70

Thomas L. Jennings (1791 - 1859) was the first African-American to receive a patent in 1821. It was for a dry-cleaning process in 1821. He used the money earned from the patent to purchase relatives out of slavery and support abolitionist causes.