Did you know? Black History Facts

Black History Month originated in 1926 by Carter Godwin Woodson as Negro History Week. The month of February was chosen in honor of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, who were both born in that month.

Muhammad Ali (1942 - ) the self-proclaimed "greatest [boxer] of all time" was originally named after his father, who was named after the 19th century abolitionist and politician Cassius Marcellus Clay.

Jesse Ernest Wilkins Jr. (1923 - ), a physicist, mathematician and an engineer, earned a Ph.D. in mathematics at age 19 from the University of Chicago in 1942.

Lewis Howard Latimer (1848 - 1928) drafted patent drawings for Alexander Graham Bell's telephone, while working at a patent law firm. He also patented an improved way to produce carbon filaments for light bulbs.

The banjo originated in Africa and up until the 1800s was considered an instrument only played by blacks.

Jesse Jackson (1941 - ) successfully negotiated the release of Lieutenant Robert O. Goodman, Jr., an African-American pilot who had been shot down over Syria and taken hostage in 1983.

Jack Johnson (1878 - 1946), the first African-American heavyweight champion, patented a wrench in 1922.

Lewis and Clark were accompanied by York, a black slave, when they made their 1804 expedition from Missouri to Oregon. York's presence aided in their interactions with the Native Americans they encountered.

Buffalo Soldiers, the name given to the all-black regiments of the U.S. Army started in 1866. More than 20 Buffalo Soldiers received the highest Medal of Honor for their service -- the highest number of any U.S. military unit. The oldest living Buffalo Soldier, Mark Matthews, died at the age of 111 in 2005.

"Strange Fruit," the song about black lynching in the South, made famous by blues singer Billie Holiday, was originally a poem written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish schoolteacher from the Bronx.

Mayme Clayton (1923 - 2006), a Los Angeles librarian and historian, amassed an extensive and valuable collection of Black Americana, including a signed copy of the first book published by an African-American, a collection of poems by Phillis Wheatley.

Thomas Andrew Dorsey (1899 - 1993) was considered the "Father of Gospel Music" for combining sacred words with secular rhythms. His most famous composition, "Take My Hand Precious Lord" was recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley, Mahalia Jackson and many others.

Paul Cuffee, (1759 - 1817) an African-American philanthropist, ship captain and devout Quaker, transported 38 free African-Americans to Sierra Leone in 1815 in the hopes of establishing Western Africa. He also founded the first integrated school in Massachusetts in 1797.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968) was stabbed by an African-American woman in 1958 while attending his book signing at Blumstein's department store in Harlem. The next year King and his wife Coretta Scott King visited India to study Ghandi's nonviolence philosophy.

Nat Love "Deadwood Dick" (1854 - 1921) a renowned and skilled cowboy, was the only African-American cowboy to write his autobiography, "The Life and Adventures of Nat Love, Better Known in the Cattle Country as Deadwood Dick," published in 1907.

Jazz, an African-American musical form born out of the blues, ragtime and marching bands, originated in Louisiana during the turn of the 19th century. The word "jazz" is a slang term that at one point referred to a sexual act.

The "306 Group" was a guild-like club that provided support and apprenticeship for African-American artists during the 1940s. It was founded by the artist Charles Alston at 306 W. 141st St. in Harlem and served as a studio and meeting place for some of the 20th century's most prominent African-American artists such as the poet Langston Hughes, the sculptor Augusta Savage, the painter Jacob Lawrence and the collage artist Romare Bearden.

In the mid 1800s, Philadelphia was known as "The Black Capital of Anti-Slavery," because of the strong abolitionist presence there and such groups as The Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, The Philadelphia Young Men's Anti-Slavery Society and The Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society.

Wally Amos "Famous Amos" (1936 - ) creator of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies, was a talent agent at the William Morris Agency where he worked with the likes of The Supremes, Simon & Garfunkel and various child stars. He founded his cookie company in 1975 with a recipe from his aunt.