- 1693 – The first issue of the Ladies’ Mercury was published in London, the first periodical published exclusively for women.
- 1807 – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is born.
- 1827 – Masked and costumed students dance through the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana, marking the beginning of the city’s famous Mardi Gras celebrations.
- 1860 – Matthew Brady photographs presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln, the first candidate ever photographed.
- 1872 – Charlotte Ray graduates from Howard Law School and becomes the first Black female lawyer in the US.
- 1890 – Mabel Staupers is born. A graduate of Freedman’s Hospital of Nursing (now Howard University) in 1917,she led the Harlem Committee of the New York Tuberculosis and Health Association and was instrumental in ending the US Army’s policy of excluding Black nurses in WWII.
- 1897 – Marian Anderson, opera singer is born. She was the first Black member of the New York Metropolitan Opera. Check out this video from @PBS: American Experience, Extended Trailer | Voice of Freedom | American Experience https://www.pbs.org/video/extended-trailer-voice-freedom-american-experience
- 1902 – John Steinbeck is born.
- 1922 – U.S. Supreme Court upholds the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees women the right to vote.
- 1932 – Elizabeth Taylor is born.
- 1936 – Ivan Pavlov, Russian pioneer in psychology dies at 86.
- 1951 – The states ratified the 22nd Amendment, creating term limits for presidents.
- 1956 – Meena Keshwar Kamal is born. As a student in 1977, she founded the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), giving a voice to women fighting for human rights and social justice in Afghanistan. On February 4, 1987, Kamal was kidnapped and murdered.
- 1964 – The Italian government asks for suggestions for how to fix the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
- 1971 – Sara Blakely is born.
- 1974 – People magazine begins sales.
- 1981 – Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder record the single “Ebony and Ivory.”
- 1988 – Debi Thomas becomes the first Black athlete to win a medal at the Winter Olympic games when she won bronze in figure skating.
- 1998 – Britain’s House of Lords agrees to end 1,000 years of male precedence by giving a monarch’s first-born daughter the same claim to the throne as any first born son. Took ‘em long enough.
- 2003 – Fred Rogers dies at age 74.
- 2010 – 8.8 earthquake hits Chile.
- 2015 – Leonard Nimoy dies at age 83.
