This Month in History – February

The world changes constantly. On any given day, people make history and in some cases even change the future. The human race occasionally absorbs themselves in the now and totally disregards the past which has shaped this town, state, country and world. A dig into the past reveals suppressed history that has often been forgotten or overlooked. This forgotten, overlooked, untaught history must be remembered if we are to be united.

February 1926:

CARTER WOODSON

ANNOUNCES THE BEGINNING OF NEGRO WEEK

(Previously published in Eagle Beat, February 9, 2018)

February as Black History Month takes it start all the way back to around the year 1915 in a history classroom at the University of Chicago.

Carter Woodson, a young black man who achieved his Masters Degree at the University of Chicago, realized that black society as a whole was under represented in many books and lessons. African American history was treated as a lesser part of history, even though it has shaped alot of America today. Woodson took matters into his own hands and in 1915 teamed up with black minister and civic leader Jesse E. Moorland to create the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, or the ASALH). Their organization helped promote the study of black history and give much needed celebration to African American accomplishments.

In 1926 Woodson and ASALH created “Negro History Week” in efforts to highlight their mission to put black history in the spotlight. He chose February specifically because the birthdays of both Frederick Douglass (February 14) and Abraham Lincoln (February 12) fell on that month. “Negro History Week” soon caught wave in schools and homes across America.

As the week continued to grow more  in popularity among schools and universities, “Negro History Week” soon became Black History Month. In 1976, President Gerald Ford declared Black History Month as a national observance and each president has delivered a national decree regarding Black History Month every year since.

Even in today’s day and age black history is still underrepresented in history books and lessons. Although Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks made pivotal moves in history, they are by no means where black history ends. People such as Angela Davis (political activist), Peter Salem (hero and patriot of the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill), Shirley Chisholm ( first black congresswoman since 50 years), Katherine Johnson (helped launch the first use of digital electronic computers at NASA) and many others are either forgotten during history lessons or skipped over.

From the man who created stop lights (Garrett Morgan) to the first woman millionaire (Madam C. J. Walker), black history is everywhere but nowhere at the same time.

One month is definitely not enough time to fully encompass the magnitude of black history, but while the month has caught attention, let’s use this time to really understand that black history has influenced so much of America.

This month in history, we accept all of the glory and underrepresented fame of Black History Month and never forget that black history is American history.