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Black Emphasis Program
Iowa
Program Manager:
Shaffer Ridgeway, (319) 296-3262
(Ridgeway is the district conservationist in Black Hawk County)
The Black Emphasis Program is designed to provide focus on
issues such as employment, promotion, training, and career enhancement affecting
Black employees and applicants in NRCS.
The program seeks to:
- Increase the number of Blacks
in professional, administrative, and technical occupations.
- Eliminate concentrations of
Blacks in single interval series to diversify and create advancement
opportunities throughout all occupational levels and all disciplines.
- Encourage the participation
of Blacks in all NRCS sponsored programs and activities.
- Provide a network of
professional support for Blacks in NRCS.
Black
History Month Poster (PDF, 699 KB)
Black
History Programs on PBS (PDF, 20 KB)
Black History Month Trivia
Flags from: Algeria, Congo, Benin, Burkina
Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa, Chad, Comoros, Botswana
Flags from: Morocco, Djibouti, Kenya,
Liberia, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia, Gabon, Western Sahara
USDA/1890 National Scholars Program Each year USDA provides
34 full 4-year scholarships to students attending any of the 17 historically
Black 1890 Institutions. Open to students completing their senior year of high
school, scoring a minimum of 1000 on the SAT, or a score of 21 or higher on the
ACT. Must maintain a 3.0 GPA or better. Scholars must major in agricultural
related fields, food or natural sciences, or other allied disciplines.
Application deadlines is January 15 of each year. This is a student employment
program with non-competitive conversion eligibility.
Black History Month Facts and Accomplishments
February
On February 1:
Feb. 1, 1865 - The 13th
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery, was adopted by
the 38th Congress..
Feb. 1, 1902 - Langston
Hughes, a famous poet, was born this day in Joplin, Mo.
Feb. 1, 1926 - What is now
known as Black History Month was first celebrated on this date as Negro
History Week by Carter G. Woodson. It became a month long celebration in
1976. |
On February 2:
Feb. 2, 1862 - District of
Columbia abolishes slavery.
Feb. 2, 1914 - Ernest Just,
genetic biologist, wins the Spingarn Medal. He received this same medal on
this day in 1915 for his pioneering in cell division and fertilization.
Feb. 2, 1948 - President
Truman sent Congress a special message urging the adoption of a Civil Rights
program, including the creation of a fair employment practices commission.
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On February 3:
Feb. 3, 1903 - Jack Johnson
wins the Negro Heavyweight title.
Feb. 3, 1920 - The Negro
Baseball League is founded.
Feb. 3, 1965 - Geraldine
McCullough, sculptor, wins the Widener Gold Medal Award. |
On February 4:
Feb. 4, 1913 - Rosa Parks
(born Rosa Louise McCauley) was born on this day.
Feb. 4, 1971 - National
Guard mobilized to quell rioting in Wilmington, N.C. Two persons killed.
Feb. 4, 1996 - J. C. Watts
becomes the first Black selected to respond to a State of the Union Address. |
On February 5:
Feb. 5, 1866 - Congressman
Thaddeus Stevens offered an amendment to Freedmen's Bureau Bill authorizing
the distribution of public land and confiscated land to freedmen and loyal
refugees in 40-acre lots.
Feb. 5, 1958 - Clifton R.
Wharton Sr. confirmed as minister to Rumania. This career diplomat was the
first Black to head a U.S. embassy in Europe.
Feb. 5, 1962 - Suit seeking
to bar Englewood, N.J., from maintaining "racial segregated" elementary
schools filed in U.S. District Court. |
On February 6:
Feb. 6, 1820 - "Mayflower
of Liberia" sailed from New York City with eighty six Blacks. Black
population: 1,771,656 (18.4%)
Feb. 6, 1993 - Arthur Ashe
dies. First African American tennis player to win at Wimbledon.
Feb. 6, 1867 - Robert
Tanner Jackson becomes first African American to receive a degree in
dentistry.
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On February 7:
Feb. 7, 1926 - Negro
History Week originated by Carter G. Woodson is observed for the first time.
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On February 8:
Feb. 8, 1944 - Harry S.
McAlphin, first African American to be accredited to attend the White House
press conference.
Feb. 8, 1986 - Oprah
Winfrey becomes the first African American woman to host a nationally
syndicated talk show. |
On February 9:
Feb. 9, 1944 - Novelist
Alice Walker was born in Eatonton, Ga.
Feb. 9, 1952 - Author Ralph
Ellison's novel Invisible Man wins the National Book Award.
Feb. 9, 1971 - Leroy
"Satchel" Paige is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Feb. 9, 1995 - Bernard
Harris, African-American astronaut, takes space walk. |
On February 10:
Feb 10, 1927 - Leontyne
Price, who became an internationally acclaimed opera singer, was born in
Laurel, Miss.
Feb. 10, 1964 - After 12
days of debate and voting on 125 amendments, the U.S. House of
Representatives passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by a vote of 290-130.
Feb. 10, 1966 - Economist
Andrew Brimer is appointed to the Federal Reserve Board. |
On February 11:
Feb. 11, 1961 - Robert
Weaver sworn in as administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Agency,
highest federal post to date by a black American.
Feb. 11, 1976 - Clifford
Alexander Jr. confirmed as the first black secretary of the United States
Army.
Feb. 11, 1990 - Nelson
Mandela is released from a South African prison after being detained for 27
years as political prisoner.
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On February 12:
Feb. 12, 1865 - Henry
Highland Garnet, first black to speak in the Capitol, delivered memorial
sermon on the abolition of slavery at services in the House of
Representatives.
Feb. 12, 1909 - The
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was
founded. The call for the organizational meeting was issued on 100th
anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth by 47 whites and six blacks.
Feb. 12, 1948 - First Lt.
Nancy C. Leftneant became the first black accepted in the regular Army
Nursing Corps. |
On February 13:
Feb. 13, 1923 - The first
black professional basketball team, "The Renaissance," was organized.
Feb. 13, 1957 - Southern
Christian Leadership Conference organized at New Orleans meeting with Martin
Luther King Jr. as president.
Feb 13, 1970 - The New York
Stock Exchange admits its first black member, Joseph Searles.
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On February 14:
Feb. 14, 1817 - Frederick
Douglass, "The Great Emancipator," is born.
Feb. 14, 1867 - Morehouse
College organized in Augusta, Ga. The institution was later moved to
Atlanta. New registration law in Tennessee abolished racial distinctions in
voting.
Feb. 14, 1936 - National
Negro Congress organized at Chicago meeting attended by 817 delegates
representing more than 500 organizations. |
On February 15:
Feb. 15, 1848 - Sarah
Roberts barred from white school in Boston. Her father, Benjamin Roberts,
filed the first school integration suit on her behalf.
Feb. 15, 1851 - Black
abolitionists invaded a Boston courtroom and rescued a fugitive slave.
Feb. 15, 1968 - Henry Lewis
becomes the first black to lead a symphony orchestra in the United States. |
On February 16:
Feb. 16, 1857 - Frederick
Douglass elected President of Freeman Bank and Trust.
Feb. 16, 1923 - Bessie
Smith makes her first recording, "Down Hearted Blues," which sells 800,000
copies for Columbia Records.
Feb. 16, 1951 - New York
City Council passes a bill prohibiting racial discrimination in
city-assisted housing developments.
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On February 17:
Feb. 17, 1870 - Congress
passed resolution readmitting Mississippi on condition that it would never
change its constitution to disenfranchise blacks.
Feb. 17, 1963 - Michael
Jeffrey Jordan, famed basketball player and former minor league baseball
player, born in New York, N.Y.
Feb. 17, 1997 - Virginia
House of Delegates votes unanimously to retire the state song, "Carry Me
Back to Old Virginia," a tune that glorifies slavery. |
On February 18:
Feb. 18, 1688 - First
formal protest against slavery by organized white body in English America
made by Germantown Quakers at monthly meeting.
Feb. 18, 1865 - Rebels
abandoned Charleston. First Union troops to enter the city included
twenty-first U.S.C.T., followed by two companies of the 54th Massachusetts
Volunteers.
Feb. 18, 1931 - Toni
Morrison (born Chloe Anthony Wofford), who will win the Pulitzer Prize for
her novel Beloved, was born on this day in Lorain, Ohio. |
On February 19:
Feb. 19, 1919 - Pan-African
Congress, organized by W.E.B. DuBois, met at the Grand Hotel, Paris. There
were 57 delegates--16 from the United States and 14 from Africa as well as
others from 16 countries and colonies. |
On February 20:
Feb. 20, 1895 - Death of
Frederick Douglass. Douglass was the leading black spokesman for almost 50
years. He was a major abolitionist, lecturer, and editor. |
On February 21:
Feb. 21, 1895 - North
Carolina Legislature, dominated by black Republicans and white Populists,
adjourned for the day to mark the death of Frederick Douglass. |
On February 22:
Feb 22, 1979 - Frank E.
Peterson Jr. named the first black general in the Marine Corps. |
On February 23:
Feb. 23, 1965 - Constance
Baker Motley elected Manhattan Borough president, the highest elective
office held by a black woman in a major American city. |
On February 24:
Feb. 24, 1864 - Rebecca Lee
became the first black woman to receive an M.D. degree. |
On February 25:
Feb. 25, 1870 - Hirman R.
Revels of Mississippi was sworn in as first black U.S. Senator and first
black Representative in Congress.
Feb. 25, 1948 - Martin
Luther King was ordained as a Baptist minister.
Feb. 25, 1971 - President
Nixon met with members of the Congressional Black Caucus and appointed a
White House panel to study a list of recommendations made by the group. |
On February 26:
Feb. 26, 1869 - Fifteenth
Amendment guaranteeing the right to vote sent to the states for
ratification.
Feb. 26, 1926 - Carter G.
Woodson started Negro History Week. This week would later become Black
History Month. |
On February 27:
Feb. 27, 1869 - John W.
Menard spoke in Congress in defense of his claim to a contested seat in
Louisiana's Second Congressional District. Congress decided against both
claimants. Congressman James A. Garfield of the examining committee said "it
was too early to admit a Negro to the U.S. Congress." Menard was the first
black to make a speech in Congress.
Feb. 27, 1988 - Figure
skater Debi Thomas becomes the first African American to win a medal
(bronze) at the winter Olympic Games. |
On February 28:
Feb. 28, 1859 - Arkansas
legislature required free blacks to choose between exile and enslavement.
Feb. 28, 1932 - Richard
Spikes invented/patented the automatic gear shift.
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Resources and Links
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