This Week In Black History February 28-March 5, 2024

GARRETT A. MORGAN FEBRUARY 28 1708—One of the first recorded slave revolts in American history takes place on Newton, Long Island (New York). Seven Whites are killed. In retaliation, two Black male slaves and one Indian male slave were hung, while one Black female slave was burned alive. 1879—A date considered by many to mark the beginning of the great “Exodus of 1879,” when thousands of Blacks begin fleeing racism, violence and economic exploitation in the South for new lives in the Midwest, especial­ly Kansas. One of the most prominent organizers of the exodus was former Tennessee slave Benjamin “Pap” Sin­gleton. An estimated 20,000 Blacks took part in the exodus. They were driven in part by the Homestead Act which promised free land. But by 1880, efforts had already begun to curtail the movement of Blacks to the Midwest. In 1881, Pap Singleton was hauled before a Senate investigative committee look­ing into his role in the exodus. 1989—Philip Emeagwali is awarded the Golden Bell Prize for solving one of the 20 most difficult problems in computer science. The prize is widely considered the “Nobel Prize of Com­puting.” The feat of the Nigerian-born computer scientist involved, at the time, the world’s...