In August 1955 at the age of 20, Raven Wilkinson became the first African American woman to receive a contract to dance full time with a major ballet company, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo of New York City, New York. She was promoted to soloist during her second season with the troupe, and remained with the company for six years.
Anne Wilkinson was born in New York City on February 2, 1935 to Anne James Wilkinson and Dr. Frost Bernie Wilkinson, a dentist. Her family, which also included younger brother Frost Bernie Wilkinson Jr., lived in a middle-class neighborhood in Harlem.
The NeverEnding Story III: Escape from Fantasia- Feb. 2 1996
Wilkinson had been a fan of ballet since the age of five. On her ninth birthday an uncle gave her the gift of ballet lessons to the Swoboda School (later known as the Ballet Russe School), where she studied under the direction of well known dancers from Russias Bolshoi Theatre.
She later transferred to the Professional Childrens School in the Bronx where she continued her training, remaining there through her last two years of high school. Madame Ludmilla Shollar, formerly associated with the St. Petersburg Imperial Russian Ballet, also gave Wilkinson private classes in technique.
Seeking to become a professional dancer, Wilkinson first auditioned for a position with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1954. Twice she was rejected but Wilkinson persevered. On her third try, Sergei Denham, the companys director, informed her that she would be accepted into the Company. Performing with the Company also meant, as Wilkinson would soon discover, touring throughout the U.S. including the still racially segregated South.
On this day in:
1659 Jan van Riebeeck, the first governor of the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, planted a vineyard in 1655. On February 2, 1659 he made the first wine from grapes grown at the Cape.
1754 Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord was born. Known simply as Talleyrand, French statesman, diplomat and grand gourmet, called the 'first fork of France.' He served at the top levels of French governments for almost 50 years. During this time his chefs included Bouchee, Careme, and Avice. Many culinary preparations have been created or named for him.
1795 The French government offers a prize of 12,000 francs for a method of preserving food for transport to the French army. It was eventually won by Nicholas Appert who invented a successful method to can food.
1820 Jean Etienne Bore, died. Inventor of the sugar granulating process (1794 or 1795), founder of the sugar industry in Louisiana.
1826 Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin died. A French lawyer and politician, author of ‘La Physiologie du gout’ (‘The Physiology of Taste’) (1825). He was probably the greatest food critic that ever lived.
1852 The first public lavatory opened in London.
1869 A removable steel plow blade is patented by James Oliver of South Bend, Indiana.
1880 The first successful shipment of frozen mutton made it to London from Australia, aboard the SS Strathleven.
1887 The first Groundhog day is observed in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
1892 William Painter received a patent for the crown-cork bottle cap with a cork seal. It was used up until the 1970s, when the cork liner was replaced with a plastic liner.
1897 Alfred L. Cralle (1866-1920) of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania received U.S.patent No. 576,395 for an "Ice-Cream Mold and Disher" (ice cream scoop). His basic design is still used today.
Feb 2, 1862 :District of Columbia abolishes slavery
On February 2, 1955, New York Representative Adam Clayton Powell, then one of only three African Americans in the U.S. Congress, rose to argue that his colleagues should support two pending civil rights bills then before the House of Representatives. His speech appears below:
Mr. Speaker, the United States Congress is a 19th century body in a 20th century world. In the field of civil rights we are still conducting ourselves along the pattern of yesterdays world. Tremendous changes are taking place in our country eradicating the concept of second-class citizenship. Yet the United States Congress has done absolutely nothing in this sphere. We are behind the times. We are a legislative anachronism. In an age of atomic energy, our dynamic is no more powerful than a watermill.
The executive and the judicial branches of our Government have passed us by so completely and are so far ahead that the peoples of our Nation do not even look to the United States Congress any longer for any dynamic leadership in the field of making democracy real. So many changes, tremendous changes, have taken place under our Supreme Court and under the leadership of President Eisenhower that many of the civil rights bills which I used to introduce are no longer of any value. This year, for instance, I did not introduced the bill to abolish segregation in the Armed Forces--it was not needed. Nor did I introduce the bill to guarantee civil rights in the District of Columbia-it was not needed.
I think it highly significant to point out that the appointment of my distinguished colleagues, Representatives Diggs, of Detroit, Mich., and Dawson, of Chicago, Ill., to the Veterans Affairs Committee and the District of Columbia Committee, respectively, was due entirely to the changing climate.
Two years ago the leadership of this House, Republican or Democrat, would not have dared to place a Negro on either of these two committees because both were committees which dealt with segregation.
1897 Howard Deering Johnson was born (died June 20, 1972). Founder of Howard Johnson's chain of restaurants and motels.
1913 Carl Gustaf Patrik de Laval died. A Swedish scientist and inventor. Among his inventions was the centrifugal cream separator and a vacuum milking machine.
1925 Sears, Roebuck & Co. expanded it's catalog business by opening its first retail store in the Merchandise building (its headquarters in Chicago, Illinois).
1961 U.S. President Kennedy announces pilot food stamp programs would be initiated. The pilot programs would retain the requirement that the food stamps be purchased, but eliminated the concept of special stamps for surplus foods. A Department spokesman indicated the emphasis would be on increasing the consumption of perishables. (see also
1971 Richard Hellmann died (born 1876). New York deli owner and creator of Hellmann's Mayonnaise.
Feb 2, 1962 : Seven whites and four Blacks arrested after all-night sit-in at Englewood, N.J., city hall. Four Black mothers arrested after sit-in at Chicago elementary school. Mothers later received suspended $50 fines. Protests, picketing and demonstrations continued for several weeks against de facto segregation, double shifts and mobile classrooms.
1996 Ray McIntire died. A chemical engineer who worked for Dow Chemical Company, he invented Styrofoam.
2010 Kraft Foods announced that more than 71% of Cadbury shareholders had voted to approve Kraft's takeover bid of the British confectioner.
Truman sends Congress Anti-Lynching Message
Feb 2, 1948 : President Truman sent Congress a special message urging adoption of a civil rights program, including a fair employment practices commission and anti-lynching and anti-poll tax measures.