Malcolm X stands in front of Egypt's pyramids.
Gunmen murdered him 46 years ago this month.
See story below.

This Week In Black History

The Week of February 19 to February 25

February 19

1919 – The “first” Pan African Congress is held bringing together prominent blacks from throughout the world to chart a program for black unity and betterment. African American scholar and activist W.E.B. DuBois was the chief organizer. The gathering was held in Paris, France and drew 57 distinguished delegates including 16 from the United States, 14 from Africa and others from the Caribbean, South America and Europe. [The 1919 Congress is considered by many the “first” but another such Congress had been organized in 1900.]

1942 – The Tuskegee Airmen are activated for service in World War II. The all-black pursuit squadron, later designated 99th Fighter Squadron, was organized and trained at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The squadron served with honors in Europe. During the war, the nearly 1,000 pilots who had been trained flew 15,000 sorties, destroyed 1,000 German aircraft and earned more than 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses.

Frederick Douglass

1895 – The great black leader Frederick Douglass dies at 78 in Washington, D.C. Douglas was the foremost black abolitionist struggling to end slavery in the mid-1800s. He used his great oratory skills and his abilities as a newspaper publisher on behalf of freedom and justice for blacks. Most of his early work emanated from the Rochester, N.Y., area. But after the Civil War, he moved to Washington, D.C. Douglass was the nation’s foremost black leader for nearly 40 years.

February 21

1965 – The most prominent black nationalist of the 20th century, Malcolm X, is assassinated on this day in Harlem, New York’s Audubon Ballroom while giving a speech which was to issue a call for black unity. Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Neb., on May 19, 1925, he graduated at the top of his high school class but had his dream of becoming a lawyer crushed when a teacher told him that was “not realistic for a Nigger.” He gradually drifted into the underworlds of first Boston and then New York where he became a drug dealer and gangster known as “Detroit Red.” He was friends with comedian and upcoming star Redd Foxx who at the time was known as “Chicago Red.” Malcolm was arrested and jailed for robbery at age 20. While in prison he converts to the Nation of Islam and after his release in 1952, he becomes the leading force building the Chicago-based group into a major national organization. He was a brilliant orator and organizer as well as a fierce opponent of racism, imperialism and the non-violent approach to combating the nation’s evils. But disagreements with Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad led to a split. He then forms the Organization for Afro-American Unity. However, 11 months after his split with the Nation of Islam he was assassinated. Many in the black community felt the New York City police and the FBI played a role in his death. But three man associated with the Nation of Islam were tried and convicted of his murder.

February 23

Dr. W.E.B. DuBois

1868 – Dr. W.E.B. DuBois is born William Edward Burghardt DuBois in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. DuBois can easily qualify as black America’s leading scholar and intellectual of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. He was also an educator and social activist fighting tirelessly against racial injustice and U.S. imperialism. He started the NAACP’s influential Crisis magazine. He organized what many consider the First Pan African Congress. [Actually, it was the second. The first took place in 1900.] However, in his later years DuBois became increasingly frustrated with American racism, injustice and hypocritical brand of democracy. He turned to socialism around 1927 and despaired of the NAACP’s legalistic approach to obtaining rights for blacks. He nevertheless authored several influential books including “The Souls of Black Folks.” He coined the phrase ‘talented tenth” to describe what he believed would have to be a class of educated and skilled blacks who would have to lead the race out of its oppression. DuBois finally went into self-imposed exile in the West African nation of Ghana saying, “In my own country for nearly a century I have been nothing but a nigger.” He died in Ghana’s capital, Accra, on August 27, 1963. He was 95.

February 24

1864 – Rebecca Lee Crumbler becomes the first African American woman to receive a medical degree. Born in 1833, she graduated from the New England Female Medical College. Prior to becoming a physician, she had worked as a nurse in Massachusetts for more than 6 years.

1868 – The U.S. House of Representatives voted 126 to 47 to impeach President Andrew Johnson. Johnson had run afoul of a group of pro-black legislators known as the Radical Republicans because of his opposition to full citizenship rights for former slaves. He survived being ousted as president by one vote in the U.S. Senate. As far as historical speculation goes, it would have been much better for black rights and the course of black history if Johnson had been ousted. His opposition to full rights, including voting rights, for blacks helped lay the foundation for the un-doing of Reconstruction and the many gains blacks had made during that period.

Kwame Nkrumah

1966 – Kwame Nkrumah is ousted in a military coup as president of Ghana. This was another event which changed the course of black history for the worse. Nkrumah, educated at predominantly black Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, had been a major intellectual and pragmatic force for Pan-Africanism and worldwide black unity. From the time he became the first president of Ghana in March 1957, he had worked tirelessly for international black advance and world peace. His ouster left a void which after 40 years has not been filled by any other African leader. Nkrumah died in 1972.

This Week in Black History is compiled for NorthStar News & Analysis: The Voice of Today's Black Man by Taylor Media Services - taylormediaservices@yahoo.com - 202-549-6872

The NorthStar News & Analysis - February 15, 2011

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This Week In Black History