What is a Black History Month
Every February, the United States observe National African American
History Month--also known as 'Black History Month'--to celebrate
and honor the many achievements and contributions made by African
Americans to our economic, cultural, spiritual, and political
development
In
1915, Dr.
Carter Godwin Woodson founded The Association for the Study
of Negro Life and History. Through that Association, he began
pressing for the establishment of Negro History Week as a way
to bring national attention to the accomplishments of African
Americans. He hoped to neutralize the apparent distortions in
Black history and to provide a more objective and scholarly balance
to American and World history.
Dr. Woodson's dream became a reality in 1926. He chose the second
week of February for the observance because of its proximity to
the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, two individuals
whom Dr. Woodson felt had dramatically affected the lives of African
Americans. In the early 1970's, the event was called Black History
Week; and in 1976, the Association succeeded in expanding the
observance, which then became Black History Month.
Significant related February dates in American history:
· February 23, 1868:
W. E. B.
DuBois, important civil rights leader and co-founder of the
NAACP, was born.
· February 3, 1870:
The
15th Amendment was passed, granting blacks the right to vote.
· February 25, 1870:
The first black U.S. senator, Hiram
R. Revels (1822-1901), took his oath of office.
· February 12, 1909:
The
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) was founded by a group of concerned black and white citizens
in New York City.
· February 1, 1960:
In what would become a civil-rights
movement milestone, a group of black Greensboro, N.C., college
students began a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter.
· February 21, 1965:
Malcolm
X, the militant leader who promoted Black Nationalism, was
shot to death by three Black Muslims.
