BLACK HISTORY MONTH...

... is annually celebrated in February as a remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African Diaspora. The United States and Canada are celebrating February as Black History Month, while in the UK it is held in the month of October. How did this celebration come to be, and why does it take place in February?

A Harvard-trained historian, Dr. Carter G. Woodson believed that publishing scientific history about the black race would produce facts that would prove to the world that Africa and its people had played a crucial role in the development of civilization. Wwith Rev. Jesse E. Moorland, Woodson co-founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) in 1915 with the goal of bringing awareness to the largely ignored, yet crucial role black people played in American and world history. The following year, Woodson published and distributed his findings in The Journal of Negro History with the hope that it would dispel popular mistruths and to educate black people about their cultural background and instill in them a sense of pride in their race.

The son of former slaves and the second black person to receive a degree from Harvard University, Carter Woodson understood the value of education. He felt the importance of preserving one’s heritage and, upon his urgings, the fraternity Omega Psi Phi created Negro History and Literature Week in 1920. Later on in 1926, Woodson changed the name to Negro History Week. His background of selecting the month of February for the celebration is that it is a way to honor the birth of two men whose actions drastically altered the future of black Americans:

1. Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. President who issued the Emancipation Proclamation who was born on February 12th.
2. Frederick Douglass, one of the nation’s leading abolitionists who was born on February 14th.

Dr. Carter G. Woodson died in 1950, but his legacy continued on as the celebration of Negro History Week was adopted by cities and organizations across the country. This observance proved especially important during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, a time when the inhumane and unequal treatment of black people in America was being challenged and overturned. The ASNLH, now called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, has changed Negro History Week to Black History Week and in 1976, they extended the week to a month-long observance.

Black History Month is now recognized and widely celebrated by the entire nation on both a scholarly and commercial level. (Excerpted from www.biography.com. To see details & other info on Black History Month, please go to http://www.biography.com/blackhistory/black-history-month.jsp)