FPMS Black History Month Heroes
Daily Hero
Every morning on the announcements we are highlighting a hero of Black History Month. Below you have the opportunity to learn more about the individuals being highlighted during the announcements. Enjoy, learn, and use the information to make an impact on your life, your school and your home communities.
February 1st:
Martin Luther King Jr.
“The time is always right to do the right thing.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15th, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968.
Martin Luther King Jr. Video Biography March on Washington Video
February 2nd:
Dr. Mae Jemison
“Never be limited by other people’s imaginations.”
Dr. Mae Jemison was born on October 17, 1956. She is an American engineer, physician and former NASA Astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel to space when she served as a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Endeavor in 1992.
February 3rd:
Colin Powell
“Have a vision. Be demanding.”
Colin Powell was born on April 5, 1937. He is a politician, diplomat and retired 4 star-general in the United States Army. He was the first African-American Secretary of State; serving from the years of 2001 to 2005.
February 4th:
Rosa Parks
“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear.”
Rosa Parks was born on February 4th in Tuskegee Alabama. She was an American activist in the civil rights movement, best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress called her “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement”
February 5th:
Jesse Owens
“The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself, the invisible, inevitable battles inside us all, that’s where it’s at.”
Jesse Owens was born in Oakville, Alabama on September 12, 1913. He was a track and field athlete and four time gold medalist in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany. He is recognized as “perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history.”
February 8th:
Thurgood Marshall
“In recognizing the humanity of our fellow human beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.”
Thurgood Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 2, 1908. He was a lawyer and civil rights activist, who served as the Supreme Court’s first African American justice from October 1967 until October 1991.
February 9th:
Susan L. Taylor
“Whatever we believe about ourselves, and our ability, comes true for us.”
Susan L. Taylor was born in Harlem, New York in 1946. She is a journalist who in 1994 was referred to as “the most influential black woman journalist today.” .
February 10th:
Wilma Rudolph
“Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.”
Wilma Rudolph was born in Clarksville, Tennessee in June 23, 1940. She was a sprinter, and became a world record holding Olympic champion and international icon in track and field.
February 11th:
Booker T. Washington
“Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life, as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.”
Booker T. Washington was born in Virginia in 1856. He was an educator, author, orator, and advisor to multiple Presidents. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African American community in the United States.
February 12th:
Michael Jordan
"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
Michael Jordan was born on February 17, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York, but grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina. He is a former professional basketball player, Olympic athlete, businessperson, actor and current NBA Franchise owner. He is considered one of the best basketball players ever, and dominated the sport from the mid-1980’s to the late 1990’s winning six championships with the Chicago Bulls
February 16th:
Ella Fitzgerald
"Just don't give up what you're trying to do. Where there is Love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong."
Ella Jane Fitzgerald was born on April 25th, 1917 in Newport News Virginia. She was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the First Lady of Song, Queen of Jazz, and Lady Ella.
February 17th:
Oprah Winfrey
""I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism."
Oprah Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi. She is a talk show host, media executive, actress and billionaire philanthropist. Oprah is best known for being the host of her own talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, which aired for 25 seasons, from 1986 to 2011. In 2011, Winfrey launched her own TV network, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).
February 18th:
Nelson Mandela
"A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."
Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 in Mvezo, South Africa, He was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. Nelson Mandela was South Africa’s first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election
February 19th:
Muhammed Ali
"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life."
Muhammad Ali was born on January 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. He was an American professional boxer, activist, entertainer and philanthropist. Nicknamed The Greatest, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated figures of the 20th century and as one of the greatest boxers of all time.
February 22nd:
Arthur Ashe
"One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation."
Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. was born on July 10, 1943 in Richmond, Virginia. He was an American professional tennis player who won three Grand Slam singles titles. Arthur Ashe was the first black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team and the only black man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. He retired in 1980.
February 23rd
Desmond Tutu
"My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together."
Sir Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born on October 7, 1931 in Klerksdorp. He is a South African Anglican cleric and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist.
February 24th:
Coretta Scott King
"Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated."
Coretta Scott King was born on April 27, 1927 in Heiberger, Alabama. She was an American author, activist, civil rights leader, and the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. An advocate for African-American equality, she was a leader for the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Coretta Scott King was also a singer who often incorporated music into her civil rights work.
February 25th:
George Washington Carver
"Where there is no vision, there is no hope."
George Washington Carver was born on January 1,1864 in Diamond, Missouri. He was an American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton, and methods to prevent soil depletion. George Washington Carver was the most prominent black scientist of the early 20th century.
February 26th:
Langston Hughes
"Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly."
James Mercer Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. He was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. One of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance.
