Today in Black history: Barry Bonds signs big contract, Janet Jackson performs at Super Bowl, MLK arrested in Selma and more

Feb. 1 is the beginning of Black History Month, and we are providing a daily dose of inspirational stories, videos and facts on the Black experience and Black identity in America.

1865 – John Swett Rock becomes first African American admitted to the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court. The teacher, doctor, dentist, lawyer and abolitionist was also one of the first African American men to earn a medical degree.

1960 – Four students from North Carolina A&T State University start a sit-in movement in Greensboro, North Carolina. By Feb. 10, the movement had spread to other Southern states.

1965 – More than 700 demonstrators, including Martin Luther King Jr., are arrested in Selma, Alabama.

1965 – Former world heavyweight boxing champion Floyd Patterson beats Canadian George Chuvalo by unanimous decision in 12 rounds at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

1978 – The first stamp of the U.S. Postal Service’s Black Heritage series honors Harriet Tubman, famed abolitionist and “conductor” of the Underground Railroad.

1990 – The U.S. Postal Service celebrates Ida B. Wells as part of the Black Heritage series.

1992 – Barry Bonds signs the highest single-year contract in MLB history for $4.7 million with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

1997 – The first 24-hour Black movie channel, BET Movies: Starz!, is launched.

2004 – Janet Jackson performs during the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII and her breast was exposed after her outfit was ripped, resulting in a shift in Federal Communications Commission censorship guidelines.