30
Osceola (1800-1838): American Indian (Seminole). Military leader. Osceola organized the Seminoles to resist the U.S. government's takeover of their ancestral lands and led the guerrilla resistance to federal forces from 1835 until his imprisonment in 1837. He died in captivity on this date.

30
Granville T. Woods (1856-1910): African American. Inventor. An electrical engineer who formed his own company to make and sell electrical instruments, Woods patented more than 50 inventions, including the Induction Telegraph System a device for telegraphing messages from moving trains. By making it possible for engineers to communicate with trains ahead of or behind them, Woods' invention made train travel much safer. He also developed a system that freed electric railroads from the use of wires by introducing iron blocks that transmitted power through the rails. This was the prototype of the third rail system used in modern subways.

31
William Apess (1798-1840?): American Indian (Pequot). Writer and civil rights activist. A traveling Methodist preacher, Apess published in 1829 his autobiography, A Son of the Forest - the first book written and published by a Native American. In this and subsequent writings, and in his public life as a spokesman for the Pequots, Apess challenged the racial assumptions of European Americans and asserted the rights of all people of color to be considered the equals of whites.

31
Ella Cara Deloria (1889-1971): American Indian (Dakota Sioux). Researcher and writer. Deloria worked as a teacher and health educator and did extensive work as a research specialist in American Indian languages and cultures. Her novel, Waterlily - is a fictional portrait of traditional Sioux life.

31
Jack Roosevelt (Jackie) Robinson (1919-1972) : African American. An outstanding hitter and fielder known for his daring base runs, Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball when he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

01
African American History Month. In 1926 Dr. Carter Woodson instituted a week-long celebration of the contributions of African Americans to history. Dr Woodson chose the week of Abraham Lincolnis birthday (February 12). In recent years the observance has expanded, and now the entire month of February is celebrated as African American History Month. Because of the variation in terms used, this month is also known as Afro-American History or Black History and Black Experience Month. Each year, the Association for the Study of Afro- American Life & History, founded by Dr. Woodson, sets the theme for the month. For information contact the association at 202-667-2822.

01
Langston Hughes (1902-1967) : African American. Writer. Hughes emerged as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and became the most influential African American writer of his time. His poetry, which drew on the traditional Black art forms of spirituals, blues, jazz, won an especially wide audience, but Hughes also distinguished himself as a writer of fiction, drama, essays, and history.

01
African American History Month. In 1926 Dr. Carter Woodson instituted a week-long celebration of the contributions of African Americans to history. Dr Woodson chose the week of Abraham Lincolnis birthday (February 12). In recent years the observance has expanded, and now the entire month of February is celebrated as African American History Month. Because of the variation in terms used, this month is also known as Afro-American History or Black History and Black Experience Month. Each year, the Association for the Study of Afro- American Life & History, founded by Dr. Woodson, sets the theme for the month. For information contact the association at 202-667-2822.

02
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848): Mexico. This treaty, which marked the end of the Mexican War, established U.S. sovereignty over 1,193,061 squares miles of formerly disputed of Mexican territory including the present states of Texas Arizona, California, and Utah, and parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming.

02
Candlemas : Christian. This religious holiday originated with the ancient Jewish custom that required mothers to present their first male child in the temple. As a Jewish mother, Mary would have presented Jesus on February 2. The day is associated with light and purification. The holiday takes its name from the custom of blessing the churchis candles for the year on this date.

03
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946): Lesbian. Author. An avant-garde American writer whose Paris home became a salon for the leading artists and writers of the period between World Wars I and II, attended Radcliffe Collage, studying psychology with the philosopher William James. After further study at Johns Hopkins medical school, she went to Paris where she lived with her lifelong companion, Alice B. Toklas. Stein was among the first collectors of works by the Cubists and other experimental painters of the period, such as Pablo Picasso (who painted her portrait), Henry Matisse, and Georges Braque. These painters were introduced to expatriate American writers, such as Sherwood Anderson and Ernest Hemingway, and other visitors drawn by her literary reputation. Her first published book, Three lives (1909), the stories of three working-class women, has been called a minor masterpiece. Her only book to reach a wide public was The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933), actually Steinsis own autobiography. The performance in the United States of her Four Saints in Three Acts (1934), which the composer Virgil Thompson had made into an opera, led to a triumphal American lecture tour in 1934-35.

04
Bean Scattering Festival (Setsubun): Japan. This festival expresses everyoneis desire for good health and good fortune in the new year. At home, children throw beans at the idevili and shout iout with the devil, in with good lucki.

04
Outbreak of Philippine revolt against the United States (1899) : Philippines. During the Spanish American War the United States encouraged the Philippine people to organize an army of resistance against Spanish rule. When the treaty ending the war transferred control from Spain to the United States, the rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo called for the people to declare their independence. On February 4, they rose in armed insurrection. An American force of 700,000 men succeeded in the ending organized resistance by the end of the year. However many influential Americans denounced the governmentis policies.

05
Constitution Day: Mexico. On this day in 1917 Mexico adopted its first constitution. November 20 marks the anniversary of this holiday.