DAY 1: Once known as "Negro History Week", Black History Month originated in 1926 by historian Carter G. Woodson. Woodson chose the second week of February because it marked the birthdays of two Americans who greatly influenced the lives and social condition of African-Americans: former President Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist and former slave Fredrick Douglass.
DAY 2: Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sr. (March 4, 1877 - August 27, 1963) was an African American inventor who originated a respiratory protective hood (similar to the modern gas masks), invented a hair-straightening preparation, and patented a type of traffic signal. He is renowned for a heroic rescue in which he used his hood to save workers trapped in a tunnel system filled with fumes. He is credited as the first African American in Cleveland to own an automobile.
DAY 3: Buffalo Soldiers is 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.
DAY 4: 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).
DAY 5: 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.
DAY 6 --- Maya Angelou's 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.
DAY 7 --- Charles Henry Turner (1867 - 1923), a zoologist and educator, was the first person to discover that insects can hear.
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