It received generally positive reviews upon its release on
December 15, 1939. While the casting was widely praised,
the long running time received criticism.

At the 12th Academy Awards, Gone with the Wind received
ten Academy Awards (eight competitive, two honorary) from
thirteen nominations, including wins for Best Picture, Best
Director (Fleming), Best Adapted Screenplay (posthumously
awarded to Sidney Howard), Best Actress (Leigh), and Best
Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel, becoming the first
African American to win an Academy Award). It set records
for the total number of wins and nominations at the time.

Hattie McDaniel
(June 10, 1893 – October 26, 1952

Tony Dungy (68) of the Indianapolis Colts became the first Black
NFL head coach to win a Super Bowl (XLl). The victory marked
the first time a Black head coach had reached the National
Football League’s championship game—one that featured not
just one, but two Black head coaches.        

    
Hall of Fame head coach and NBC Football analyst Tony
Dungy.

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005)
was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known
for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United
States Congress has honored her as "the first lady of civil rights"
and "the mother of the freedom movement."

The Montgomery bus.

On this day in history, February 3, 1870, the 15th Amendment is ratified, granting Black males
the right to vote.

February 1, 1978: Antislavery crusader and Civil War veteran
Harriet Tubman became the first African American woman to
appear on a U.S. postage stamp, the first in the Post Office’s
Black Heritage Series. Tubman’s appearance on stamps was
emblematic both of the progress made in recognizing African

Americans’ contributions to American history and the ongoing
effort to put abolitionists on equal footing with slaveowners in
the nation’s historical canon.

Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross)
(c. March 1822– March 10, 1913)