Feb. 21, 1965: Malcolm X Assassinated
El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X) was assassinated, just weeks after speaking in Selma.
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This Day in People's History
Welcome to the This Day in People's History (#tdih) series. Search people’s history events by date, theme, state, or keyword.
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Feb. 20, 1960: Patricia Stephens Due Called for “Jail, No Bail”
Patricia Stephens Due refused to pay bail after being arrested for a sit-in in Florida.
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Feb. 20, 1884: Indian Industrial School Opens in Nebraska
The Indian Industrial School of Genoa, Nebraska, the fourth non-reservation boarding school, was established by the Office of Indian Affairs.
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Feb. 20, 1865: Black Town of Princeville, N. Carolina Founded
Princeville, North Carolina originated as a resettlement community for freed people and became the oldest incorporated city chartered by African Americans in the United States.
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Feb. 19, 1968: Florida Teachers’ Strike
Teachers and administrators from the Florida Education Association (FEA) walked out in what is reported to be the first statewide teachers’ strike.
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Feb. 19, 1942: Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066 issued by President Roosevelt authorized the incarceration (internment) of U.S. citizens of Japanese descent.
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Feb. 18, 1946: Courts Ruled in Favor of the Mendez Family
The courts ruled in favor of the Mendez family and their co-plaintiffs in California, finding segregated schools to be unconstitutional.
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Feb. 18, 1865: Black Soldiers March into Charleston
The Union Army moved into Charleston, South Carolina, the city where the Civil War had begun four years earlier.
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Feb. 18, 1797: Hercules Escapes from Enslavement by George Washington
Hercules, the head cook at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate and slave labor camp, escaped to freedom in Pennsylvania.
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Feb. 17, 1942: Huey P. Newton Born
Huey P. Newton was co-founder of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense.
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Feb. 16, 1936: Akron Rubber Strike
Rubber workers began a sit-down strike at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. in Akron, Ohio.
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Feb. 15, 1851: Shadrach Minkins Arrested by U.S. Marshals Under Fugitive Slave Act
U.S. Marshals arrested Shadrach Minkins, who had escaped from slavery in Norfolk, Virginia.
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Feb. 15, 1848: Benjamin Roberts Filed the First School Desegregation Suit
Benjamin Roberts, African American, filed the first school desegregation suit after his daughter Sarah was barred from a public school because of her race in Boston, Massachusetts.
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Feb. 14, 2011: Wisconsin Workers Strike
The Wisconsin Workers strike involved as many as 100,000 protesters opposing the 2011 Wisconsin Act 10.
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Feb. 14, 1783: Belinda Sutton Petitions for a Pension as Reparations
Belinda Sutton petitioned the Massachusetts legislature for a pension as reparations for the wealth she produced and was stolen from her while she was enslaved.
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Feb. 13, 2013: Keystone Pipeline Protesters Circle White House
Activists circled the White House to protest the Keystone Pipeline, an oil system that transports crude oil from Canada to various locations in the United States.
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Feb. 13, 1937: Founding of Southern Negro Youth Congress
The first Southern Negro Youth Conference (SNYC) conference was held in Richmond, Virginia.
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Feb. 12, 1971: Raiford Florida State Prison Uprising
Prisoners at Florida State Prison in Raiford, Florida, staged a sit-down strike to protest prison conditions. The 700 incarcerated protesters were met with gunfire by prison guards, leaving 63 prisoners injured.
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Feb. 12, 1968: Sanitation Workers Strike in Memphis
Over 1,100 sanitation workers strike and march for better wages, conditions, and safety with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee.
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Feb. 12, 1958: Popular TV Program Warns of Global Warming
The popular, educational Bell Laboratories Science series aired a new chapter in the series on prime-time television which warned that CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel use could warm the earth to a degree that melts the polar ice caps and creates a catastrophic rise in sea levels.
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