Home Home Home About Us Home About Us About Us About Us /links/index.html /links/index.html /links/index.html /advertising/index.html /links/index.html /advertising/index.html /advertising/index.html /advertising/index.html About Us About Us /archives/index.html About Us /archives/index.html About Us /archives/index.html /archives/index.html /subscribe/index.html /archives/index.html /subscribe/index.html /archives/index.html /subscribe/index.html /subscribe/index.html /survey/index.html /subscribe/index.html /survey/index.html /subscribe/index.html /survey/index.html /survey/index.html /survey/index.html /links/index.html /survey/index.html /links/index.html /links/index.html /links/index.html
Home About Us About Us /links/index.html /advertising/index.html /advertising/index.html
About Us /archives/index.html /archives/index.html /subscribe/index.html /subscribe/index.html /survey/index.html /survey/index.html /survey/index.html /links/index.html

Cover Story
Spotlight On Schools
Featured Columnists
Letters
Books
Business of Education
Careers
Children's Corner
Colleges & Grad Schools
Commentary
Continuing Education
Editorials
Languages
Law & Education
MEDICAL UPDATE
MetroBEAT
Movies & Theater
Museums
Music, Art & Dance
Politics In Education
Special Education
Sports & Camps
Technology in Education
Travel
June 2001
May 2001
April 2001
1997-2000
 
New York City
February 2002

February in History
compiled by Chris Rowan


The Romans added February to their calendar around 700 B.C. February is named after Februus, the Roman god of Purification.

Valentine’s Day
During the middle ages, February 14th was believed to be the day when birds started to mate. Valentine’s Day was named after Valentine of Rome, a Christian martyr thought to have been executed February 14, 269 A.D.

President’s Day
The third Monday in February is President’s Day (Feb. 18th, 2002), a legal holiday honoring our first President, George Washington (born on February 22, 1732) and Abraham Lincoln, our sixteenth president, (born on February 12, 1809).

 Freedom Day
In 1865 (on February 1) President Lincoln approved the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, abolishing slavery. This day is commemorated as “Freedom Day.”

On Lincoln’s Birthday
In 1909 the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded by W.E.B. Dubois and Ida Wells-Barnett. Dubois, author of Souls of Black Folk, was born on February 23, 1868.

In 1939 black contralto Marian Anderson (born Feb. 27, 1897), was prevented from singing at the Lincoln Memorial by the Daughters of the American Revolution because of her race. Her performance was rescheduled, and 75,000 people heard her sing on the steps of the Memorial on April 9 (Easter Sunday).

Other Events in Black History
On February 3, 1870, the 15th Amendment was ratified, guaranteeing the right of citizens to vote, regardless of race, color or “previous condition of servitude.”

In 1895 (on February 20) abolitionist writer and former slave Frederick Douglass died.

In 1956 (on February 22) Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks (born February 4, 1913) were placed under arrest for organizing a three-month-old bus boycott in Montgomery,
Alabama.

In 1960 (on February 1) black students in Greensboro, North Carolina, sat down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter and were refused service. This event sparked a protest across southern states that resulted in more than 1,600 people being arrested before the end of the year for participating in sit-ins.

In 1965 (on February 21) Malcolm X, black leader and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, was assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.

Other Events in U.S. History
In 1848 (on February 2) the Mexican War formally ended when Mexico and the U.S. signed the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo.

On February 6, 1911, Ronald Reagan, fortieth President, was born.

On February 19, 1945, Marines landed on Iwo Jima, to begin fighting the bloodiest battle in U.S. Marine Corps history.

On February 20, 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth.

On February 21, 1972, Richard Nixon became the first U.S. President to visit China.

World History
In 1950 (on Valentine’s Day) Communist Dictators Joseph Stalin (of the Soviet Union) and Mao Tse-tung (of China) formed a military alliance.#

 

Education Update, Inc., P.O. Box 20005, New York, NY 10001. Tel: (212) 481-5519. Fax: (212) 481-3919. Email: ednews1@aol.com.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express consent of the publisher. © 2001.




SPOTLIGHT on SCHOOLS

DIRECTORIES