1 February
- 1902 Langston Hughes Is Born Poet Langston Hughes is born in Joplin, Missouri.
- 1926 Negro History Week Is First Observed Historian Carter G. Woodson launches Negro History Week during the second week of February, chosen to align with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.
- 1960 The Greensboro Sit-In Begins Four students from North Carolina A&T - Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond - sit at a whites-only Woolworth's lunch counter and refuse to leave when denied service.
2 February
- 1990 South Africa Unbans the ANC President F.W. de Klerk lifts the ban on the African National Congress and other liberation movements, opening the path to Nelson Mandela's release.
3 February
- 1870 15th Amendment Is Ratified The 15th Amendment is ratified, prohibiting the denial of the vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
4 February
- 1913 Rosa Parks Is Born Rosa Louise McCauley Parks is born in Tuskegee, Alabama.
5 February
- 1934 Hank Aaron Is Born Baseball legend Henry 'Hank' Aaron is born in Mobile, Alabama.
6 February
- 1993 Arthur Ashe Dies Tennis champion and activist Arthur Ashe dies of AIDS-related illness at 49.
7 February
- 1883 Eubie Blake Is Born Composer and pianist Eubie Blake is born in Baltimore, Maryland.
8 February
- 1968 The Orangeburg Massacre South Carolina highway patrolmen open fire on student protesters at South Carolina State College, killing three young men and wounding dozens.
9 February
- 1944 Alice Walker Is Born Writer Alice Walker is born in Eatonton, Georgia.
10 February
- 1927 Leontyne Price Is Born Operatic soprano Leontyne Price is born in Laurel, Mississippi.
11 February
- 1990 Nelson Mandela Is Released from Prison Nelson Mandela walks free after 27 years of imprisonment under apartheid.
12 February
- 1909 The NAACP Is Founded A coalition of Black and white reformers issues a call that founds the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, timed to the centennial of Lincoln's birth.
13 February
- 1920 The Negro National League Is Founded Andrew 'Rube' Foster organizes the Negro National League in Kansas City, the first enduring Black professional baseball league.
14 February
- 1818 Frederick Douglass Is Born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, later Frederick Douglass, is born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland; he chose February 14 as his birthday.
15 February
- 1851 The Rescue of Shadrach Minkins Abolitionists storm a Boston courtroom and free Shadrach Minkins, a fugitive from slavery seized under the Fugitive Slave Act.
16 February
- 1923 Bessie Smith Makes Her First Recording Blues singer Bessie Smith records 'Down Hearted Blues,' which becomes a runaway hit for Columbia Records.
17 February
- 1942 Huey P. Newton Is Born Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton is born in Monroe, Louisiana.
18 February
- 1931 Toni Morrison Is Born Novelist Toni Morrison is born Chloe Ardelia Wofford in Lorain, Ohio.
19 February
- 1919 The First Pan-African Congress Opens in Paris W.E.B. Du Bois convenes the Pan-African Congress in Paris alongside the post-war peace conference.
20 February
- 1895 Frederick Douglass Dies Frederick Douglass dies in Washington, D.C., hours after attending a meeting of the National Council of Women.
21 February
- 1936 Barbara Jordan Is Born Barbara Charline Jordan is born in Houston, Texas.
- 1965 The Assassination of Malcolm X Malcolm X is shot and killed while addressing the Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. He was 39.
22 February
- 1950 Julius Erving Is Born Basketball icon Julius 'Dr. J' Erving is born in East Meadow, New York.
23 February
- 1868 W.E.B. Du Bois Is Born Sociologist and activist W.E.B. Du Bois is born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
24 February
- 2020 Katherine Johnson Dies NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, whose calculations guided early American spaceflight, dies at age 101.
25 February
- 1870 Hiram Revels Becomes the First Black U.S. Senator Hiram Rhodes Revels of Mississippi takes the oath of office, becoming the first African American seated in the United States Senate.
26 February
- 2012 Trayvon Martin Is Killed Seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin is shot and killed in Sanford, Florida; the case and the 2013 acquittal of his shooter galvanized national protest.
27 February
- 1869 John Willis Menard Addresses Congress John Willis Menard becomes the first Black man to speak on the floor of the U.S. House, arguing for a contested seat he was ultimately denied.
28 February
- 1984 Michael Jackson Wins a Record Eight Grammys Michael Jackson wins eight Grammy Awards in one night for 'Thriller,' a record for a single ceremony.
29 February
- 1940 Hattie McDaniel Becomes the First Black Oscar Winner Hattie McDaniel wins the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for 'Gone with the Wind,' the first Oscar awarded to a Black performer - though she was seated apart at the segregated ceremony.