Almanac - Tuesday February 20, 2024

Samuel “Sambo” Anderson died on this day February 20 in 1845. He was one of the enslaved people on George Washington’s Virginia plantation, Mount Vernon. Anderson was emancipated in 1801, two years after Washington’s death. As a free man Anderson earned enough money to purchase and free some of his still enslaved family members including his daughter, his grandchildren In the 1830s, Anderson and his grandson William, along with 12 other former slaves and their descendants, returned to Mount Vernon to help with the construction of the new tomb for George Washington. Anderson remained at Mount Vernon and died there on February 20, 1845.

On this day on February 20, 1874 The Texas Senate confirmed Walter Moses Burton’s election as a State Senator. Walter Moses Burton also holds the distinction of being the first black elected sheriff in the United States.

Frederick Douglass died February 20, 1895

On February 20, 1900, Black inventor John F. Pickering (1892-1940) of Gonaives, Haiti, was granted a patent for the “Air Ship” what we would call The Blimp.

Feb 20, 1936 Death of John Hope (67), president, Atlanta University.

Feb 20, 1929 Writer Wallace Thurman's play Harlem opens in NYC. It is the first successful play by an African American playwright.

1952 – Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.

Charles Wade Barkley basketball player, born Leeds, AL, February 20, 1963

Feb 20, 1968 State troopers used tear gas to stop demonstrations at Alcorn A&M College in Mississippi

African Americans win eight Grammys Feb 20, 1991

Natalie Cole, James Brown, Luther Van Dross, Oscar Peterson and posthumous awards for lifetime achievement went to Muddy Waters, Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, and Thomas A Dorsey

Katie Beatrice Hall died on February 20, 2012 in Gary, Indiana. She was 73.

She was an American educator in Gary, Indiana, and a politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Indiana from 1982 to 1985.

Also on this day in history…

1792 – The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by United States President George Washington.

1816 – Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville premieres at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.

1872 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City

1877 – Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake receives its premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

1905 – The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of Massachusetts's mandatory smallpox vaccination program in Jacobson v. Massachusetts.

1909 – Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal Le Figaro.

1931 – The U.S. Congress approves the construction of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California.

1935 – Caroline Mikkelsen becomes the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.

1971 – The United States Emergency Broadcast System is accidentally activated in an erroneous national alert.

Today’s birthdays also include….

1358 – Eleanor of Aragon, queen of John I of Castile (d. 1382)

1756 – Angelica Schuyler Church, American socialite, sister-in-law to Alexander Hamilton (d. 1814)

1784 – Judith Montefiore, British linguist, travel writer, philanthropist (d. 1862)

1792 – Eliza Courtney, French daughter of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (d. 1859)

1867 – Louise, Princess Royal of England (d. 1931)

1874 – Mary Garden, Scottish-American soprano and actress (d. 1967)

1893 – Elizabeth Holloway Marston, American psychologist and author (d. 1993)

1895 – Louis Zborowski, English race car driver and engineer (d. 1924)

1898 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur, founder of Scuderia Ferrari and Ferrari (d. 1988)

1899 – Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1992)

1902 – Ansel Adams, American photographer and environmentalist (d. 1984)

1906 – Gale Gordon, American actor (d. 1995)

1914 – John Charles Daly, South African–American journalist and game show host (d. 1991)

1916 – Jean Erdman, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2020)

1918 – Leonore Annenberg, American businesswoman and diplomat (d. 2009)

1923 – Rena Vlahopoulou, Greek actress (d. 2004)

1924 – Gloria Vanderbilt, American actress, fashion designer, and socialite (d. 2019)

1925 – Robert Altman, American director and screenwriter (d. 2006)

1926 – Gillian Lynne, English ballerina, choreographer, and director (d. 2018)

1926 – María de la Purísima Salvat Romero, Spanish Roman Catholic nun; later canonized (d. 1998)

1927 – Roy Cohn, American lawyer and political activist (d. 1986)

1928 – Jean Kennedy Smith, American diplomat, 25th United States Ambassador to Ireland (d. 2020)

1929 – Amanda Blake, American actress (d. 1989)

1934 – Bobby Unser, American race car driver (d. 2021)

1935 – Ellen Gilchrist, American novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 2024)

1936 – Marj Dusay, American actress (d. 2020)

1936 – Larry Hovis, American actor and singer (d. 2003)

1941 – Buffy Sainte-Marie, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer

1946 – Brenda Blethyn, English actress

1946 – Sandy Duncan, American actress, singer, and dancer

1946 – J. Geils, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)

1949 – Ivana Trump, Czech-American socialite and model (d. 2022)

1950 – Walter Becker, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2017)

1954 – Patty Hearst, American actress and author

1966 – Cindy Crawford, American model and businesswoman

1967 – Kurt Cobain, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1994)

1973 – Andrea Savage, American actress and comedian

1978 – Lauren Ambrose, American actress

1978 – Chelsea Peretti, American actress, comedian, writer, and singer-songwriter

1981 – Majandra Delfino, American actress and singer-songwriter

1985 – Julia Volkova, Russian singer and actress

1987 – Daniella Pineda, American actress

1988 – Jiah Khan, Indian singer and actress (d. 2013)

1991 – Angelique van der Meet, Dutch tennis player

2003 – Olivia Rodrigo, American actress and singer