On this Day in Black History

1860 - Texas secedes from the Union, as the South unifies to defend slavery.
1868 - William Edward Burghardt DuBois born
1869 - Louisiana governor signed public accommodations law
1892 - The Tuskegee Institute in Alabama holds its first annual conference to discuss their agricultural and business problems
1895 - William H. Heard named minister to Liberia
1915 - Robert Smalls died
1942 - Haki Madhubuti (Don L. Lee) born
1943 - Gen-Maj Bradley arrived in Dakar and Marrakesh
1943 - German troops pulled back through Kasserine-pass Tunisia
1951 - Ed ‘Too Tall’ Jones born
1956 - Jackie Robinson signed a contract to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers
1963 - The 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified.
1965 - New York State Senator Constance Baker Motley was elected Borough President of Manhattan
1966 - Premier Obote took power in Uganda
1970 - Guyana became a republic.
1972 - Angela Davis was released from prison after being held for 16 months, accused of kidnapping, conspiracy and murder.
1979 - Frank E. Petersen, Jr. named the first African American general in the U.S. Marine Corps.
1990 - Comer J. Cottrell pays $1.5 million for the campus of Bishop College in Dallas, TX. Paul Quinn College moves from Waco, TX to the site.
1993 - Little Richard received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy.
1997 - Tony Williams died
1999 - John William King was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering James Byrd, Jr.