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Here are a few more key players.<br>
<br>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span
style="font-size: 24pt;">BLACK HISTORY MONTH<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span
style="font-size: 24pt;">QUICK FACTS<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span
style="font-size: 24pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span
style="font-size: 24pt;">DID YOU KNOW?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style=""><i
style=""><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style=""><i
style=""><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Garrett
A. Morgan (1875-1963) was the first black to receive a patent for a
safety hood
and smoke protector.<span style=""> </span></span></i></b><span
style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style=""> </span>He demonstrated
its worth in 1916 by rescuing workers trapped in a smoke-filled tunnel
of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Cleveland</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">Ohio</st1:State></st1:place>,
waterworks.<span style=""> </span>Born on a farm near <st1:City
w:st="on">Paris</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Kentucky</st1:State>,
Morgan
became a very astute businessman and inventor in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Cleveland</st1:City></st1:place>.<span style="">
</span>Garrett A. Morgan liked to invent things.<span style=""> </span>In
1913, he discovered a material that
straightened hair.<span style=""> </span>The money he made
with this product let him work on other inventions. The Gas Mask was
one of his
most famous.<span style=""> </span>It helped save many lives
during World War I.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span
style="font-size: 18pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span
style="font-size: 18pt;">In
1923, Garrett Morgan patented a three-way automatic traffic signal
which he
sold to General Electric. The traffic lights that help you cross the
street
safely today evolved from this invention.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span
style="font-size: 18pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span
style="font-size: 18pt;">Later
he and his colleagues started the “Cleveland Call and Post” which is
today a
popular African-American newspaper.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style=""><i
style=""><span style="font-size: 18pt;">HENRY
“HANK” AARON (1934-<span style=""> </span>) </span></i></b><span
style="font-size: 18pt;">was a baseball player with the Atlanta Braves
who <b style=""><i style="">broke
Babe Ruth’s record</i></b> of 714 home runs.<span style="">
</span>Born in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Mobile</st1:City>,
<st1:State w:st="on">Alabama</st1:State></st1:place>, the third of
eight children, Aaron
began his professional career in 1952 with the Indianapolis Clowns of
the Negro
American League. The Clowns paid him $200 a month, and Aaron led the
league
with a .467 average his first season.<span style="">
</span>The Braves, than based in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Milwaukee</st1:place></st1:City>,
purchased his contract for $10,000 in 1954.<span style="">
</span>Three years later, he was named National League MVP.<span
style=""> </span>When it became clear that he would probably
break Babe Ruth’s record, Aaron received thousands of hate-filled
letters, some
of which threatened his life.<span style=""> </span>However,
he went on to hit his 715<sup>th</sup> home run on April 8, 1974, in a
game
against the Los Angeles Dodgers.<span style=""> </span>He
retired in 1976 with a home run total of 755.<span style="">
</span>Aaron became a vice president with the Atlanta Braves and was
elected to
the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982.<span style=""> </span>“I
had to break the record,” he said, “I had to do it for Jackie
[Robinson] and my
people and myself and for everybody who ever called me a nigger.” <b
style=""><i style=""><span style=""> </span></i></b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style=""><i
style=""><span style="font-size: 18pt;">In
1893 * Nancy Green (1831-1898) </span></i></b><span
style="font-size: 18pt;">a
former slave from Montgomery County, Kentucky, was the first Aunt
Jemima and
the world’s first living trademark. She made her debut at age
fifty-nine at the
Columbian Exposition in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Chicago</st1:place></st1:City>,
where she served pancakes in a booth.<span style="">
</span>The Aunt Jemima Mills Company distributed a souvenir lapel
button which
bore her photograph and the caption, “I’se in town honey.”<span style="">
</span>The slogan later became the slogan on the
company’s promotional campaign.<span style=""> </span>Green
was the official trademark for three decades.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style=""><i
style=""><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Gwendolyn
Brooks (1917-<span style=""> </span>), poet and novelist, was
the first black to win a Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry “Annie
Allen.”</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style=""> </span>She
became
established as a major American poet, and in 1976, she was the first
black
woman inducted into the National Institute of Arts and Letters.<span
style=""> </span>A sensitive interpreter of Northern ghetto
life, she began to write poetry at age seven; her poems were published
in the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><i style="">Chicago</i></st1:place></st1:City><i
style=""> Defender.<span style="">
</span></i>From 1969 on, she has promoted the idea that blacks must
develop
their own culture.<span style=""> </span>She changed her
writing style in an effort to become accessible to the ordinary black
reader.<span style=""> </span>She was poet laureate of <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Illinois</st1:place></st1:State> for
sixteen
years, and is poetry consultant to the Library of Congress.<span
style=""> </span>In 1989 she received a lifetime achievement
award from the National Endowment for the Arts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span
style="font-size: 18pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span
style="font-size: 18pt;">Gwendolyn
grew up in the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Chicago</st1:place></st1:City>
suburb of Bronzeville.<span style=""> </span>Education, art,
and music were very important to Gwendolyn’s family, and she was
encouraged to
express herself through writing.<span style=""> </span>Her
first poem was published when she was only 13 years old.<span style="">
</span>Her poems portray the lives and suffering of
inner-city African-Americans.<span style=""> </span>Some of
her poems are especially appealing to children.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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