This week in Black history

Jet, March 3, 2003

February 5, 1870--

Hiram R. Revels, politician, became the first Black senator in the U.S. Congress on this day. A Republican legislator from Mississippi, he served from Feb. 25, 1870, to March 3, 1871. A native of Fayetteville, NC, born of free parents in a slave state, which helped him escape some of the hardships and deprivations of slavery. After he retired from politics, Revels was elected president of Alcorn University. He died on January 16, 1901, in his hometown.

February 25, 1948--

Martin Luther King, Jr., activist, civil rights leader, was ordained as a Baptist minister by the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on this day. King went on to head a group of Atlanta ministers to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and later direct the movement that won civil rights for Blacks and that made an indelible mark in world history.

March 2, 1962--

Wilt Chamberlain, famed NBA player, scored an NBA-record 100 points with the Philadelphia Warriors against the Knicks on this day. A native of Philadelphia, Chamberlain attended the University of Kansas. Later he joined the Warriors and became the rookie of the year and the Chamberlain's other records include points a game in 1961-62, scoring 50 prints or more 118 times, averaging 22.9 rebounds over his career and getting an astounding 55 rebounds in a single game. He was on two NBA championship teams, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Lakers. During his 14-year NBA career, he scored 31,419 points. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who is the league's career leader with 38,387 points, bested Chamberlain's record. Chamberlain died in 1999 of heart failure in L.A. at age 63.