Each February, National Black History Month serves as both a celebration and a powerful reminder that Black history is American history and Black culture, as much as any, is part of the fabric that makes up American culture. During this month-long focus on African American contributions to America, students are provided a chance to acknowledge, include, and celebrate the achievements of African American People. Each year we celebrate, we are provided a fresh reminder of the impact that African Americans have made to this country and around the world. Students learn that Black stories are essential to the ongoing story of America — our faults, our struggles, our progress, and our aspirations. In doing so, we aim to create a more understanding, empathetic, appreciative, and accepting society. Only through this understanding can we address the systemic racism that persists, give visibility to the people and organizations that have and are creating change, and begin to change the way we shape the future of America and the human race.
About Black History Month
Below is an excerpt from an essay by Daryl Michael Scott, Howard University, for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History)
The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society.
As a Harvard-trained historian, Carter G. Woodson, like W. E. B. Du Bois before him, believed that truth could not be denied and that reason would prevail over prejudice. His hopes to raise awareness of African American’s contributions to civilization was realized when he and the organization he founded, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), conceived and announced Negro History Week in 1925. The event was first celebrated during a week in February 1926 that encompassed the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The response was overwhelming: Black history clubs sprang up; teachers demanded materials to instruct their pupils; and progressive whites, not simply white scholars and philanthropists, stepped forward to endorse the effort.
By the time of Woodson’s death in 1950, Negro History Week had become a central part of African American life and substantial progress had been made in bringing more Americans to appreciate the celebration. At mid–century, mayors of cities nationwide issued proclamations noting Negro History Week. The Black Awakening of the 1960s dramatically expanded the consciousness of African Americans about the importance of black history, and the Civil Rights movement focused Americans of all colors on the subject of the contributions of African Americans to our history and culture.
The celebration was expanded to a month in 1976, the nation’s bicentennial. President Gerald R. Ford urged Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” That year, fifty years after the first celebration, the association held the first Black History Month. By this time, the entire nation had come to recognize the importance of Black history in the drama of the American story. Since then each American president has issued Black History Month proclamations. And the association—now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)—continues to promote the study of Black history all year.
Dedicated Web Sites
National Endowment for the Humanities – African American History and Culture in the United States
National Park Service – Black History Month
Smithsonian Institution – National Museum of African American History and Culture
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum – Black History Month
Executive and Legislative Documents
The Law Library of Congress has compiled guides to commemorative observations, including a comprehensive inventory of the Public Laws, Presidential Proclamations and congressional resolutions related to Black History Month.
