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Dr. Carter G. Woodson started the first Negro History Week to “extend and deepen the study and scholarship on Black History” on this day in 1926. Decades later, it was expanded to cover the whole of February. He chose the middle of February because America celebrated the birthdays of former president Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, two towering figures in this history.

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Christopher ‘Chris’ Julius Rock, arguably one of the country’s funniest men, a great actor, television producer, and filmmaker, was born on this day in 1965 in Andrews, South Carolina.

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James Hubert ‘Eubie’ Blake was born on this day in 1887 in Baltimore Maryland. He was an accomplished pianist, lyricist, composer, and ultimate jazzman.