Operation Detachment, the U.S. Marines’ invasion of Iwo Jima,
was launched. Iwo Jima was a barren Pacific island guarded
by Japanese artillery, but to American military minds, it was
prime real estate on which to build airfields to launch bombing
raids against Japan, only 660 miles away.
When the American flag was finally raised on Iwo Jima, the
memorable image was captured in a famous photograph that
later won the Pulitzer Prize.
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed
Executive Order 9066, initiating a controversial World War II
policy with lasting consequences for Japanese Americans.
The document ordered the forced removal of resident "enemy
aliens" from parts of the West vaguely identified as military
areas.
On February 19, 1878, Thomas Edison was awarded U.S. Patent
No. 200,521 for his invention—the phonograph.
The technology that made the modern music business possible
came into existence in the New Jersey laboratory where Edison
created the first device to both record sound and play it back.
On February 19, 1992, 24-year-old recent film school graduate
John Singleton became the youngest and first Black film
director nominated for an Academy Award for his movie,
Boyz n the Hood.
The poignant coming-of-age drama set in gang-ridden South
Central Los Angeles brought inner-city realities to the screen
in a way not seen in Hollywood before. Its success created
opportunities for a generation of Black filmmakers to tell their
stories.
On April 17, 2019, Singleton suffered a stroke and was placed
under intensive care.
On April 25, it was reported that he was in a coma, and was
was removed from life support and he died on April 28 at the
age of 51 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Dozens of actors
and musicians paid tribute to him.
On February 19, 1847, the first rescuers reached surviving
members of the Donner Party, a group of California-bound
pioneers stranded by snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains
for nearly four months.
James Frazier Reed (1800 – 1874) was
an organizing member of the party.
William H. Eddy, survivor and chief
rescuer of the ill-fated Donner Party
