THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: Music, baseball, and pawned islands

Feb. 21—THIS WEEK IN BLADEN COUNTY HISTORY

Five Years Ago: The "Have a Heart Stuffed Animal Drive" has entered the home stretch at the Bladen Journal, and the final 10 days' push will be used to complete the goal of filling a box with little furry friends for the Bladen County Sheriff's Office.

"Our hope was that we would fill the large box in our office window, and we are easily halfway there," said W. Curt Vincent, general manager and editor of the newspaper. "We are seeing almost daily visitors bringing in anywhere from a single stuffed animal to a couple of shopping bags full — and a few folks have made more than one visit to deliver stuffed animals." (From the Feb. 20, 2018 Bladen Journal, 'Have a Heart' drive winding down)

One Year Ago: The fight continues to save a volunteer fire department that ceased operation as of Jan. 1. East Arcadia Volunteer Fire Department Fire Chief James Freeman and Jimmie Monroe, chairman of the fire department's board of directors, came before the Bladen County Board of Commissioners on Monday night to ask the commissioners not to stand in the way of the department resuming operations.

Referencing a letter on fire department letterhead, Freeman said, "It was never our intent for the East Arcadia Fire Volunteer Department to be closed." The fire chief said Monroe never sent or signed the letter that stated former Fire Chief Horace Munn was to retire effective Dec. 31, 2021, and no one was available to fill the position, thus making the department ineffective. Freeman has since assumed the role at the inactive department. "Closing the East Arcadia Fire Volunteer Fire Department would be a detriment to the community," Freeman said. "We had to act on a letter that now is in question," Board Chairman Ray Britt said. (From the Feb. 22, 2022 Bladen Journal, County leaders hear plea from VFD

Source: Bladen Journal Archives

THIS WEEK IN NORTH CAROLINA HISTORY

On Feb. 21, 1933, Nina Simone, often called the "high priestess of soul," was born in the small town of Tryon in Polk County.

Determined to become one of the first highly-successful Black concert pianists, Simone spent a summer at the famed Julliard School after graduating high school in Asheville in 1950. Denied admission to music school in Philadelphia, Simone took menial jobs there.

While on a trip to Atlantic City, N.J. in the summer of 1954, Simone began to experiment with popular music. Word of her talent spread, and she became in high demand at nightclubs all along the Mid-Atlantic coast. After releasing her first album, Little Girl Blue, in 1958, her work began to reflect her increasing involvement in the civil rights movement and her close associations with leading Black intellectuals like Lorraine Hansberry and Langston Hughes.

After releasing 13 albums during the 1960s, Simone hit a rough patch in the 1970s, struggling with a divorce and mental illness. She toured extensively in Europe during the 1980s and her career began to wind down in the early 1990s. She died in France in 2003.

Source: North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

THIS WEEK IN NATION AND WORLD HISTORY

On Feb. 20, 1472, the islands of Orkney and Shetland were pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark

On Feb. 20, 1952, Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.

On Feb. 21, 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto.

On Feb. 21, 1952, The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to "set the people free".

On Feb. 21, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin declares the Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic as independent from Ukraine, and moves troops into the region.

On Feb. 22, 1994, Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.

Source: Wikipedia