Black History Month – February 26, 2016

We salutes African Americans who've made & continue to make American history. To the artists, entrepreneur, business moguls, doctors and educators from the canvas to the stage.  To the poets, the authors, the inventors, innovators and trailblazers, we honor and remember them all, this and every Black History Month.

1965 - Jimmie Lee Jackson dies of his injuries

Jimmie Lee Jackson was a deacon and civil rights activist from Marion, Alabama.  On this day in 1965, while participating in a non-violent and peaceful voting rights march.  Lee was unarmed when he was beaten and shot by police and Alabama State Trooper James Bonard Fowler.

Lee's murder would single handedly inspire the Selma Montgomery marches in March 1965.

1964 - Cassius Clay changes name to Muhammad Ali

After beating Sonny Liston and winning the World Heavyweight Championship at age 22 in 1964 Cassius Clay, changed his name to Muhammad Ali and joined the Nation of Islam.  Ali would be officially converted to Sunni Islam in 1975.

1926 - Carter G. Woodson created Negro History Week

Best known as the "Father of Black History", Dr. Carter G. Woodson, was a historian, author, journalist and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. In addition to being one of the first African American scholars in history, Woodson also founded The Journal of Negro History in 1915.  That idea, would inspire Woodson start "Negro History Week" better known as Black History Month today.

1869 - The 15th Amendment is entered into the Constitution

Though it would be ratified a year later and never fully honored for almost a century, the 15th Amendment was entered into the Constitution.  The amendment would grant all African American men the right to vote.  It simply declared the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

Black voters faced much opposition and many of forms of voter intimidation such as poll taxes and literacy tests.  The passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 put a stop to most Southern states being able to effectively disenfranchise African Americans.

For even more Black facts, click here.  Other sources on information found at Blackinventor.com, Wikipedia.com, and Biography.com