On this day in Black History: Ice cream scooper, Adam Clayton Powell Jr.’s “Speech on Civil Rights” and more

On this day in Black history, February 2:

— In 1897, Alfred L. Cralle, a businessman and inventor, received a patent for his invention, the “ice cream mold and disher,” known today as the ice cream scooper. 

— In 1915, biologist Ernest Everett Just became the first recipient of the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal for his pioneering science efforts in cell division and fertilization.

— In 1955, New York Representative Adam Clayton Powell Jr., then one of the only African Americans in the U.S. Congress, gave his “Speech on Civil Rights” in support of civil rights legislation. 

— Happy Birthday to Williams Ellisworth Artis, Anne Raven Wilkinson, Carl Wright, Joshua “Southside” Luellen and Raynell “Supa Cent” Steward.