Back in the Dayz

1. Back in the Dayz • February 2

2. The U.S. and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago in 1848, bringing the war between the two countries, which started in 1845, to an end.

3. Back in the Dayz • February 3

4. African American students in Charlotte, North Carolina, sat at a lunch counter of a Woolworth’s on this day in 1960 to protest the denying of counter service to African Americans unless they stood. Lunch counters of eight local businesses closed in fear.

5. Back in the Dayz • February 4

6. Free African Americans settled and established the new West African nation of Liberia. This began in 1815 when Paul Cuffe, a free African American, took 38 other free African Americans on a voyage to West Africa at his expense. The

7. transportation of the Africans was in response to demands by prejudiced European Americans that free African Americans were a disruptive force and should be deported to Africa.

8. Back in the Dayz • February 5

9. The first Chinese New Year celebration in the United States occurred during this month in 1851.

10. Back in the Dayz • February 6

11. In 1788, Massachusetts, named for the Native American tribe that lived near Milton River, was admitted to the union as a state.

12. Back in the Dayz • February 7

13. In 1974, Russell Means of the American Indian Movement was reelected as president of the Oglala Sioux tribe at the Pine Ridge, South Dakota,

14. reservation. At the same time, Joseph American Horse was defeated by incumbent David Long on the vice-presidential ballot.

15. Back in the Dayz • February 8

16. In 1519, Hernan Cortes left Cuba to sail for the Mexican Coast. Cortes was originally sent to explore Mexico by King Ferdinand of Spain.

17. reservation. At the same time, Joseph American Horse was defeated by incumbent David Long on the vice-presidential ballot.

18. Back in the Dayz • February 10

19. In 1907, delegates from the San Francisco Board of Education met with President Theodore Roosevelt at the White House to defend its policy of segregating children of Chinese, Japanese, Korean descent in separate ‘Oriental

20. Schools.’ The meeting resulted in several Japanese American students being able to attend the public schools in exchange for a more restricted emigration policy for Japanese wishing to come to the US.

21. Back in the Dayz • February 11

22. In 1909, the NAACP was founded in New York City. It is the oldest civil rights organization in the US and has fought against discrimination against African Americans in all aspects of life by bringing lawsuits and organizing rallies and protest marches.

23. Back in the Dayz • February 12

24. Dorothy Hamill emerged from the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, as a star after winning a gold medal on this day. Hamill won her gold medal in figure skating.

25. Back in the Dayz • February 14

26. On or around this date in 1950, Jim Thorpe was declared the greatest US athlete and football player of the half-century. Thorpe, of Native American descent, won gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics. He was an All-American college football player and a successful major league baseball player.

27. Back in the Dayz • February 15

28. The first known scalping of Native Americans by white settlers occurred in 1725. The scalpings, which were encouraged by a bounty offered by the city of Boston, took place in New Hampshire. A hunting party in search of

29. Native Americans came across ten sleeping Native Americans and scalped each of these people. They then took the scalps to Boston, where they were paid 100 pounds for each scalp.

30. Back in the Dayz • February 21

31. While speaking in New York City, Malcolm X (birth name: Malcolm Little; Muslim name: El Hajj Malik El Shabazz) was shot and killed in 1965. Malcolm X served as the spokesperson for the African American

32. Muslim movement, leading the struggle for human rights in the United States and around the world. He also traveled around the world to organize Africans around Muslim principles.

33. Back in the Dayz • February 19

34. During this month in 1968, Cesar Chavez, president of the United Farm Workers Union, began a fast as a symbolic act of rededication to the principles of nonviolence.

35. Muslim movement, leading the struggle for human rights in the United States and around the world. He also traveled around the world to organize Africans around Muslim principles.

36. Back in the Dayz • February 20

37. Japanese artist Yoko Ono accepted the Best Album Grammy Award for 1981 on behalf of her late husband, John Lennon, for Double Fantasy. The album was released shortly before his murder in New York City and was performed by both John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

38. Back in the Dayz • February 26

39. Hiram Revels of Mississippi became the first African American to be elected US senator. Under the Radical Reconstruction provisions of the federal and state governments (1865-1876), African Americans were given the opportunity for the first time to run for elective office.

40. Back in the Dayz • February 27

41. Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to win an Academy Award for a performance in a motion picture. McDaniel won the Oscar in 1939 in the Best Supporting Actress category for her

42. role in Gone with the Wind. In the movie, McDaniel played the role of a house servant in the Southern plantation home of Scarlett O’Hara.

43. Back in the Dayz • February 28

44. The 1992 Senate election opened the door for four female Democrats to take their historic place among US senators in 1993. By February, their second month in office, the impact of the female senators was being felt. The three European

45. Americans elected were Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer (both from California) and Patty Murray. Carol Mosely Brown, the fourth female elected, was the first African American woman to be elected to the senate.