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February 18: This Day in History

Featured Fact, 1688:
First formal protest against slavery by whites in English America -- Quakers of Germantown, PA -- denounce slavery and the slave trade in what comes to be known as the "Germantown Protest."

Also Today:
1849: East-coasters gain easier access to the gold rush when the first regular steamboat service to California begins.
1861: Jefferson Davis is sworn in as president of the Confederate States of America.
1908: U.S. postage stamps are sold for the first time.
1911: When an airplane carries six thousand letters from Allahabad to Naini Junction, India, air-mail is born.

February is Black History Month. Today:
1931: Writer Toni Morrison is born. Her given name was Chloe Anthony Wofford.