- In 1961, Leontyne Price received a 42 minute ovation when she debuted with the Metropolitan Opera Company.
- The FIRST black settlers in the American colonies worked as indentured servants. John Rolfe’s diary records 20 black indentured servants in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619.
- The team which once featured the talents of Goose Tatum, Sweet Willie Oliver and Meadowlark Lemon is called The Harlem Globetrotters. Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, Wilt Chamberlain and Connie Hawkins were one-time team members.
- In 1965, the American Medical Association’s Distinguished Service Award went to surgeon Jane C. Wright. She succeeded her father, Louis T. Wright, as Harlem Hospital’s Director of Cancer Research and pioneered the field.
- The LARGEST country in Africa is the country of Sudan which covers 967,500 square miles of northeast Africa.
- Approximately 20% of the cowboys on the American frontier were black. As pioneers they played a major role in settling the new west.
- The FIRST African American to receive the National Medal of Technology was Frederick M. Jones in 1991, which was 30 years after his death.
- The FIRST black Pony Express riders were George Monroe and William Robinson. Their westward route began in the state of Missouri.
- The singer featured on Motown label’s FIRST gold record was William “Smokey” Robinson in 1960. He later became the company’s Vice President under Berry Gordy Jr.
- The FIRST black Business Woman of the Year was Pearline Motley in 1993. She was the manager of the Federal Women’s Program of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service.
…and this hereby concludes the recognition celebration for Black History Month. Now that you know all that YOUR RACE has achieved, always always WALK WITH PRIDE.