On this day in 1833, Maria W. Steward delivered one of the four speeches which confirmed her place in history as the first American-born woman to give public lectures. Stewards lectures focused on encouraging African-Americans to attain education, political rights, and public recognition for their achievements. Her speech on thi day delivered at the African Masonic Hall in Boston, Massachusetts, was titled On African Rights and Liberty. Sixty-seven years later in Boston on this same day, African-American teacher and poet Angelina Weld Grimke was born. Grimke was a descendant of the famous white abolitionist and feminist sisters Angelina and Sarah Grimke.

Marian Anderson was a highly renowned classical singer who became the first African American to perform at the Metropolitan Opera. She was born on February 27, 1897 to John and Annie Anderson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her father ran an ice and coal business and his mother was a babysitter. She came from a devout Christian family, and her earliest exposure to music was through the Union Baptist Church in South Philadelphia. Her family recognized her vocal talents and encouraged her to sing and perform. They bought her a piano but could not afford to pay for lessons, so Marian taught herself to play and joined the church choir at the age of six. Her aunt Mary was also a choir singer, and she encouraged her niece by taking her along to performances at church, the YMCA and any other benefits and community events. Marian was paid 25 cents for her performances as a child, which increased to $5 by the time she was a teenager.

As her exposure and interest in music grew, Marian became more confident as a performer. Her father died in a mining accident when she was 12, so the family moved in with her grandparents. Her grandfather had been a slave who had been emancipated in the 1860s, and Marian was very close to him. She attended Stanton Grammar School, from where she graduated in 1912. She could not afford formal lessons, but joined various groups such as the Baptists’ Young People’s Union and the Camp Fire Girls where she got opportunities to develop her talents. She attended South Philadelphia High School, from which she graduated in 1921.

She was denied admission to the Philadelphia Music Academy due to racial segregation, but this left her undaunted. She took private lessons with the noted teacher Giuseppe Boghetti, for whom she auditioned and he was duly impressed and agreed to take her on as a student. She received immense support from the Philadelphia black community, who raised funds for her to be able to continue her musical education. In 1925, she won the first prize in a singing competition sponsored by

Opera singer Marian Anderson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Anderson was entered in the New York Philharmonic Competition at age 17 by her music teacher, and placed first over 299 other singers. Awarded a Rosenwald Fellowship in 1930, Anderson went to Europe for a year of study. She returned briefly to the United States but went back to Europe in 1933 to debut in Berlin and again, in 1935, in Austria. In 1933, Anderson performed 142 concerts in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. On Easter Sunday in 1939, Anderson performed an open air recital at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The performance was scheduled for the concert hall controlled by the Daughters of the American Revolution but was cancelled when the DAR refeused to allow Anderson to sing there. In 1955, Anderson signed with New Yorks Metropolitan Opera Company.

Yityish “Titi” Aynaw was crowned Miss Israel on February 27, 2013.  She made history when she became the first Miss Israel of African ancestry.  Born in Gondar Province, Ethiopia, Aynaw arrived in Israel in March 2003 along with her older brother and grandparents at the age of 12 after the death of her mother in 2002.  Her father died when she was two years old.

Aynaw lived in the hardscrabble immigrant town of Netanya.  Despite having no knowledge of spoken or written Hebrew, she was transported to a Hebrew boarding school in Haifa that catered to newly arrived immigrants.  Over time her competency in Hebrew steadily increased and she eventually became fluent in Yiddish as well.  Aynaw was a standout student in high school who distinguished herself from the outset.  She was student council president, excelled in track and field, and won first place in a national film competition that was loosely based on her own life experiences.

After graduating from high school, Aynaw—like all school graduates, male and female—served in the Israeli Defense Forces.  She was a Lieutenant in the Military Police Corps of the Israel Defense Forces and served as a military police commander responsible for fellow soldiers.  In this position, she instructed soldiers how to fire weapons, perform security checks at checkpoints, and detect and detonate bombs.

Aynaw remained connected to her Ethiopian heritage even as she embraced her new Israeli national identity.  She consistently promoted the mores and customs of her native land.  In high school, she occasionally brought Ethiopian foods and wore clothing reflecting her nation of origin.  It was her history of ethnic and nationalistic pride that made Aynaw the target of criticism from fellow Ethiopian immigrants who were embarrassed by her actions and were more interested in assimilating into Israeli culture.  Aynaw dismissed these critics by asserting that she could recall her ethnic heritage in an increasingly multi-ethnic Israel while representing all Israelis during her reign. She

Congress adopted the 15th constitutional amendment, making it illegal for the US or any single government to deny or abridge the right to vote on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.

Rajo Jack died in California on February 27, 1956 from heart failure suffered while on Highway 395 near Inyokern.

Anna Julia Cooper , née Anna Julia Haywood (born August 10, 1858?, Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.—died February 27, 1964, Washington, D.C.), American educator and writer whose book A Voice From the South by a Black Woman of the South (1892) became a classic African American feminist text.

Cooper was the daughter of a slave woman and her white slaveholder (or his brother). In 1868 she enrolled in the newly established Saint Augustine’s Normal School and Collegiate Institute (now Saint Augustine’s University), a school for freed slaves. She quickly distinguished herself as an excellent student, and, in addition to her studies, she began teaching mathematics part-time at age 10. While enrolled at Saint Augustine’s, she had a feminist awakening when she realized that her male classmates were encouraged to study a more rigorous curriculum than were the female students. After that early realization, she spent the rest of her life advocating for the education of black women.

In 1877 Anna married her classmate George Cooper, who died two years later. After her husband’s death, Cooper enrolled in Oberlin College in Ohio, graduating in 1884 with a B.S. in mathematics and receiving a master’s degree in mathematics in 1888. In 1887 she became a faculty member at the M Street High School (established in 1870 as the Preparatory High School for Negro Youth) in Washington, D.C. There she taught mathematics, science, and, later, Latin.

During the 1890s Cooper became involved in the black women’s club movement. Women’s club members were generally educated middle-class women who believed that it was their duty to help less-fortunate African Americans. During that time Cooper became a popular public speaker. She addressed a wide variety of groups, including the National Conference of Colored Women in 1895 and the first Pan-African Conference in 1900.

In 1902 Cooper was named principal of the M Street High School. As principal, she enhanced the academic reputation of the school, and under her tenure several M Street graduates were

Prince Hall, Revolutionary War Veteran and founder of African Masonic Lodges, *may* have been born on this date. Though his accomplishments are well celebrated, little is known of Prince Halls early life.

The most common answer to the question, “Why was Africa called the Dark Continent?” is that Europe did not know much about Africa until the 19th century, but that answer is misleading. Europeans had known quite a lot, but they began ignoring earlier sources of information.

More importantly, the campaign against slavery and missionary work in Africa actually intensified Europeans’ racial ideas about African people in the 1800s.

  They called Africa the Dark Continent, because of the mysteries and the savagery they expected to find in the “Interior.

It is true that up until the 19th century, Europeans had little direct knowledge of Africa beyond the coast, but their maps were already filled with details about the continent. African kingdoms had been trading with Middle Eastern and Asian states for over two millennia. Initially, Europeans drew on the maps and reports created by earlier traders and explorers like the famed Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta who traveled across the Sahara and along the North and East coasts of Africa in the 1300s.

During the Enlightenment, however, Europeans developed new standards and tools for mapping, and since they weren’t sure precisely where the lakes, mountains, and cities of Africa were, they began erasing them from popular maps. Many scholarly maps still had more details, but due to the new standards, the European explorers who went to Africa were credited with discovering the mountains, rivers, and kingdoms to which African people guided them.

The maps these explorers created did add to what was known, but they also helped create the myth of the Dark Continent. The phrase itself was actually popularized by the explorer H. M. Stanley, who with an eye to boosting sales titled one of his accounts, Through the Dark Continent, and another, In Darkest Africa.

In the late 1700s, British abolitionists were campaigning hard against slavery. They published pamphlets described the horrid brutality and inhumanity of plantation slavery. One of the most famous images showed a black man in

Walter B. Purvis patented hand stamp.

The Spanish colony of Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic) would be the target of aggression from its Hispaniola neighbor, French-ruled Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), in the early nineteenth century culminating in a twenty-two year occupation which would have long term consequences for both nations. Haitian aggression began in late 1800 when Toussaint LOuverture, the general-in-chief of Saint-Domingue, invaded Santo Domingo in order to both expand his sphere of control and capture the port of Santo Domingo.

LOuverture’s troops crossed the border and easily captured and occupied the city of Santo Domingo for the entirety of 1801.  LOuverture did not end slavery in the colony despite abolition being one of his stated goals. In early 1802, LOuverture ended the occupation when he was forced to turn his attention back to the western third of the island to confront a newly-arrived French military expedition.  In 1805, Jean-Jacques Dessalines was named LOuvertures successor.

In 1809, Santo Domingo was returned to Spanish control. In 1822, Haitian president Jean-Pierre Boyer invaded Santo Domingo for the third time with the intent of unifying the island. The subsequent 22-year occupation would result not only in the economic and cultural deterioration of Santo Domingo but also in a resentment of Haiti by the Dominicans. Agriculture in Santo Domingo was for the most part reduced to a sustenance level and exports dramatically declined.

The emigration of Dominican landowners led to the redistribution of their property to Haitian officials and the practice of Haitian soldiers commandeering supplies from the countryside only made the situation worse. Culturally, the Haitians took steps to limit the Catholic Church’s influence. They confiscated church property, deported the foreign clergy and severed most remaining ties to Rome. To the pious Catholics who made up the majority of Dominicans, these practices were seen as a great insult and only deepened the hatred for the Haitians. The only positive reform

Hugo Black , in full Hugo La Fayette Black (born February 27, 1886, Harlan, Clay county, Alabama, U.

Journalist Charlayne Hunter was born this day in Due West, South Carolina.

2/27/1902: On this day Marian Anderson, who will become a world-renowned opera singer and the first African American soloist to perform at hte White House , is born in Philadelphia, PA.

Figure skater Debi Thomas becomes the first

African American to win a medal (bronze) at the

winter Olympic Games.

Marian Anderson, renowned contralto and one of the most celebrated singers of the 20th Century, was born on February 27, 1897 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

On February 27, 1833 Maria W. Stewart gave this speech before a racially integrated audience at the African Masonic Hall in Boston.

AFRICAN RIGHTS and liberty is a subject that ought to fire the breast of every free man of color in these United States, and excite in his bosom a lively, deep, decided and heart-felt interest. When I cast my eyes on the long list of illustrious names that are enrolled on the bright annals of fame amongst the whites, I turn my eyes within, and ask my thoughts, Where are the names of our illustrious ones? It must certainly have been for the want of energy on the part of the free people of color that they have been long willing to bear the yoke of oppression. It must have been the want of ambition and force that has given the whites occasion to say, that our natural abilities are not as good, and our capacities by nature inferior to theirs. They boldly assert, that, did we possess a natural independence of soul, and feel a love for liberty within our breasts, some one of our sable race, long before this, would have testified it, notwithstanding the disadvantages under which we labor. We have made ourselves appear altogether unqualified to speak in our own defence, and are therefore looked upon as objects of pity and commiseration. We have been imposed upon, insulted and derided on every side; and now, if we complain, it is considered as the height of impertinenance.  We have suffered ourselves to be considered as dastards, cowards, mean, faint-hearted wretches; and on this account, (not because of our complexion), many despise us and would gladly spurn us from their presence.

These things have fired my soul with a holy indignation, and compelled me thus to come forward, and endeavor to turn their attention to knowledge and improvement; for knowledge is power. I would ask, is it blindness of mind, or stupidity of soul, or the want of education, that has caused our men who are 60 or 70 years of age, never to let their voices be heard nor their hands be raised in behalf of their

Anna Julia Cooper, champion for the rights of black women, dies at the age of 105.

Joseph Dickinson was born in Canada in 1955 and moved to Michigan in 1870. He learned about various types of organs while working for the Clough and Warren Organ Company in Detroit in 1872. One of the organs he designed was awarded a prize at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1876 and Dickinson was quickly hired to build organs for major customers, including the Royal Family of Portugal.

Dickinson also invented a roller mechanism for the player piano which made the piano more reliable and able to play the sheet music in forward or reverse mode.

After marrying Eva Gould in 1884, Dickinson formed the Dickinson-Gould Organ Company along with his father-in-law. The company manufactured reed organs and Dickinson received numerous patents for them, the last coming in 1912.

1 reply gregory brown sr says: February 27, 2015 at 5:00 pm

hello,glad to read about so many African American successes,but we need to continue to move forward in the progress of each!

anything about their ethics that were in slavery?

Independence Day for Dominican Republic

Sherry D. Harris was the first out black lesbian elected to public office in 1991 in the United States. This also gave her the distinction of being the first African American woman on the Seattle City Council in Washington State.

Harris was born on February 27, 1957 in Newark, New Jersey to a single mom, Dorothy Harris. An only child, she grew up in this community’s ghetto. She recalled witnessing the 1967 riots there. Dorothy Harris became her daughter’s role model with her emphasis on contributing to society and active community involvement.

Harris received a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Factors Engineering (Ergonomic Engineering) from the New Jersey Institute of Technology in 1978. She moved to Seattle shortly thereafter. As an engineer, she worked for Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company and Boeing. She engaged extensively in neighborhood activism through such organizations as Maple Leaf Community Club, Northwest Women’s Law Center, Association of Lesbian Professionals of Seattle, and Greater Seattle Business Association. She was appointed to five city boards and commissions in the 1980s.

In 1991, Harris ran for political office in Seattle. She became the first candidate endorsed by the then newly-founded Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, a national organization supporting LGBTQ (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgendered Queer) persons in politics. By a 70% majority, Harris defeated the 24-year incumbent, Sam Smith, who had been the first African American elected to the Seattle City Council. She served as an at-large City Council member from 1992 to 1995.

Harris chaired the Council’s Housing, Health, Human Services and Education Committee and served on the Transportation and Utilities Committees. She sponsored or co-sponsored several gay-positive initiatives. She also helped to raise over $1 million to fight anti-gay ordinances in the state. Growing up in Newark with its poverty and lack of investment spurred her to promote downtown Seattle projects like the expansion of the Washington State Convention and

Charlotte Ray graduates from Howard Law School. She is the first African American lawyer in the U.S.

John W. Menard spoke in Congress in defense of his claim to a contested seat in Louisianas Second Congressional District. Congress decided against both claimants. Congressman James A. Garfield of the examining committee said it was too early to admit a Negro to the U.S. Congress. Menard was the first Black to make a speech in Congress.

Lieutenant James A. Roston was a key organizer for the African American labor movement in Seattle in the early part of the 20th century. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1864.  Roston was commissioned (from the District of Columbia) as a first lieutenant in the 10th U.S. Volunteer Infantry (Tenth Immunes), Company K, during the Spanish American War, 1898-1899.  The regiment never served outside the United States.  After the War he enlisted a private in the 24th Infantry and seved in the Phillippines (1899-1902) rising to the rank of coporal.  While there he distinguished himself in the field when, as Chief of Scouts, he helped capture high-ranking rebel officers.

After his service ended in 1902, Roston settled in Brooklyn, New York where he sold real estate, lectured about the Philippines and Africa, and served as chairman and president of the 1903 Commercial American Negro Convention, a group whose goal was to tax African Americans and use the revenue to establish black-owned businesses. He also served as Exalted Ruler of Brooklyn Elks Lodge #32.

Roston moved to Seattle after a year as a Pullman porter in Spokane, Washington, and soon established himself as a realtor for the many African Americans that were moving to the area during the shipbuilding boom of the early 1900s. During the Longshoreman’s strike of 1916, he helped recruit 400 African American strikebreakers.  Roston established and became president of the Colored Marine Employees Benevolent Protective Association of the Pacific, the first African American labor organization in the Pacific Northwest, to “organize (black) workers and erase the false impression that the colored man...didn’t believe in organization.” The strike was marked by racial tensions and conflict with white workers attacking blacks who then retaliated in kind. On February 27, 1917 the Central Labor Council “by a practically unanimous vote” decided to include “negroes and whites in labor.” When the United States entered World War I in April, the strike was ended by