This Month in History: February

yellow background with blue thumbs ups, facebook icon, mark zuckerberg and tree with social media logos for leaves

February 4, 2004 - Facebook was founded

When Mark Zuckerberg was a sophomore at Harvard, he created a social media website so his classmates could connect. In the first 24 hours, about 1,500 students signed up. Within the year it was expanded to include other Boston schools and then all of the Ivy League. Zuckerberg got funding and left Harvard to run Facebook from its new headquarters in California. In 2006, the site opened to anyone at least 13 years old that had a valid email address. The social network currently has over 2 billion active users. (Mark Zuckerberg picture by Anthony Quintano from Flickr)

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The Beatles arriving at Kennedy Airport

February 9, 1964 - Beatles' first performance in the United States

In January 1964, Capitol Records spent $50,000 on a promotional campaign. They released "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and it hit number one on the Billboard list. The Beatles arrived at Kennedy Airport on Feb. 7 to 110 police officers and 10,000 screaming fans. Beatlemania had begun. The Beatles had their debut American performance on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9. Two days later, they had their first public concert in the United States on Feb. 11, at the Washington, D.C. Coliseum. (Beatles image from Wikimedia Commons)

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Nelson Mandela with cheering crowd

February 11, 1990 - Nelson Mandela released from prison

At the age of 71, Nelson Mandela was released from prison after serving 27 years on charges of treason and attempting to overthrow the apartheid government. Rolihlahla Mandela was born on July 18, 1918. While in primary school he was given the name Nelson. Mandela attended several schools, practiced law, and protested against injustice. He was arrested several times in the 1950s and 60s. In June 1964, Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment and spent the majority of his incarceration in Robben Island. After his release, Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In April 1994, he was elected president of South Africa in the first multi-race elections. (Mandela image from the Large Norwegian Encyclopedia)

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Mister Rogers, King Friday, Rogers' shoes, the red trolley, the tree in the land of make believe

February 19, 1968 - Mister Rogers' Neighborhood goes national

Fred Rogers didn’t set out to be a star of a television show. He was a co-producer, puppeteer, and organist on The Children’s Corner, which aired on WQED in Pittsburgh from 1954-1962. In 1963, he moved to Canada, and there he was given the courage to come from behind the set to talk directly with his young viewers as Mister Rogers. He returned to Pittsburgh and launched the present-day version of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in 1966. The program aired for the first time nationally in 1968. The series ended in 1976 but was picked up three years later when Rogers felt as if his work speaking to children wasn’t done. The show continued from 1979 through 2001. Rogers passed away on February 27, 2003. In 2011, PBS created an animated spinoff of the show called Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood featuring the characters Rogers had created in his land of make-believe. (Mister Rogers and his neighborhood images from Flickr)

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Factual information adapted from: History, Gale in Context: Biography, The Nelson Mandela Foundation, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, and the Heinz History Center.

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By BethN on February 1, 2024