This Week in History, February 6-12:
Contributions of African-Americans
   
Note: Here, learn about some of the African-Americans who have influenced history and contributed to the culture we now enjoy. To learn more about each individual, click on that person's name. Information for "This Week in History" is taken from the African American Registry.

February 6
On this day in 1867, the Peabody Fund was established to provide monies for construction, endowments, scholarships, teacher education, and industrial education for newly freed slaves. It is considered one of the first truly modern philanthropies.

February 7
On this day in 1882, African-American surgeon and hospital administrator Emma Rochelle Wheeler was born. While maintaining long office hours as superintendent of the hospital she and her husband founded, she personally performed a number of the surgical procedures and also maintained a school for nurses for more than twenty years.

February 8
On this date in 1871, African-American physician and humanitarian Justina Ford was born. The first Black female licensed to practice medicine in Colorado, she was honored posthumously by the Colordao Medical Society “as an outstanding figure in the development and furtherance of health care in Colorado.”

February 9
On this day in 1907, African-American educator Hazel Browne Williams was born. She retired and was granted emeritus status after serving on the faculty of the University of Missouri at Kansas City for 18 years—the first Black person given that honor at the university.

February 10
On this day in 1927, African-American opera singer Leontyne Price was born. As one of the Metropolitan Opera's leading sopranos, she was always conscious of her role as a pioneering Black in opera and worked hard against racial prejudice, refusing what she considered inappropriate roles and investing her performances with dignity and grandeur.

February 11
On this day in 1809, African-American lawyer Jonathan Wright was born. The first Black man licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and the first Black man to practice law in South Carolina, he established Claflin College's law department and served a number of years as a Claflin College trustee.

February 12
On this day in 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded. An offspring of the Niagara Movement, the NAACP continues to seek a single class of citizenship for every American.