23 February

Born in 1685 – George Frideric Handel, German-English organist and composer.

Above: Mid eighteenth-century manuscript, containing music from Handel’s Messiah.

Also: W. E. B. Du Bois, who said, “I believe in God, who made of one blood all nations that on earth do dwell. I believe that all men, black and brown and white, are brothers, varying through time and opportunity, in form and gift and feature, but differing in no essential particular, and alike in soul and the possibility of infinite development.”