1. On February 28, 1870, Hiram Revels became the first African American to speak in the United States Senate, after being elected as a senator from Mississippi during the Reconstruction era.

2. Mississippi native and civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer was born on February 28, 1917, in Montgomery County. Hamer is known for her work in voter registration and her powerful speeches and activism during the Civil Rights Movement.

3. On February 28, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Mississippi University for Women in the case of Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan, upholding its right to single-sex education.

4. Greenwood, Mississippi was the site of a historic event on February 28, 1966, when the Mississippi Delta Chinese restaurant officially desegregated by allowing black customers to dine alongside white customers. This was a significant moment during the Civil Rights Movement, as many restaurants in the South still enforced strict segregation policies.

5. In 1990, Mississippi State University officially named a dormitory after Richard E. Holmes, the first African American student to attend and graduate from the university in 1965. The dedication ceremony for Holmes Hall was held on February 28, 1990.