107 Jamz Celebrates Black History Month – Today In Black History February 6th [VIDEO]

This Black History month we salute African American who made American history.

On this day in black history America lost one of the greatest tennis players to ever play the game.  His name....Arthur Ashe.

Arthur Ashe died on this day in 1993 from AIDS-related pneumonia at New York Hospital. He was only 49 years old.  Ashe and his doctors believed he contracted the virus from blood transfusions he received during his second heart surgery.

Arthur Ashe Kids' Day began the year he died and is an annual tennis/children’s event that takes place in the end of August at the United States Tennis Association at Arthur Ashe Stadium.  This event also begins the U.S. Open, which officially starts one day later.  It is a celebration of the memory of Arthur Ashe and his efforts to help young people through tennis.

Here's a look back at last years events.

Also on this day in black history reggae legend Bob Marley was born.

Bob Marley was born in the village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica as Nesta Robert Marley.  He died May 11th 1981 and was only 36 years old.  In July 1977, Marley was found to have a type of malignant melanoma under the nail of one of his toes. Contrary to urban legend, this lesion was not primarily caused by an injury during a football match in that year, but was instead a symptom of the already existing cancer. Marley turned down doctors' advice to have his toe amputated, citing his religious beliefs.

On this day in 1870, Jonathan Jasper Wright an African American lawyer, was elected to serve as a judge on the Supreme Court of the State of South Carolina during Reconstruction from 1870 to 1877. Wright was born on February 11, 1840 in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

On this day in 1898 Melvin Beaunorus Tolson was born.  He was an American Modernist poet, educator, columnist, and politician. His work includes several long historical poems. Although he spent nearly all of his career in Texas and Oklahoma. In 1947 Liberia named Tolson its poet laureate.  In 2007 the story of his life was told through the portrayal of Denzel Washington in the blockbuster his 'The Great Debaters'.  He died after at the age of 68 after cancer surgery in Dallas, Texas, on August 29, 1966.