The Origin of Black History Month
I think it’s safe to say that everyone that resides in the United States of America is aware of Black History Month. Whether they celebrate it as devotedly as the African Americans within the country do or not, they at least are aware of its significance to the African American community and that it is celebrated in February. However, do they know the origin of how it came to be? Probably not but have no fear, Book of Melanin is here!
Image of Dr. Carter G. Woodson
The idea of Black History Month came from the beautiful mind of Carter Goodwin Woodson, son of a slave, graduate of Berea College and University of Chicago, the second African American to obtain a PhD from Harvard University, a member of Omega Psi Phi, and former Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Howard University. Despite being the son of illiterate parents, Woodson developed a great passion for reading and history. So much so, that he became a member of the American Historical Association. However, he quickly realized that that organization, along with the primarily white dominated historian profession, had no interest in learning, sharing, and preserving African American history.
In his efforts to learn, share, and preserve, he, and others, formed the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). He also established The Journal of Negro History in 1916, where he encouraged other black historians to join him in publishing findings on their history and culture. As the researchers began to uncover the amazing facts about Black history, he began calling on the help of Black civic organizations, including his Omega Psi Phi brothers, to help him share their achievements. In 1924, his fraternity brothers created Negro History and Literature Week, which was later renamed to Negro Achievement Week. While pleased with the reception to Negro Achievement Week, he demanded more. He wanted African Americans to be proud of their history and he wanted White Americans to acknowledge the role that people of African descent had on American history. With that, he began pushing for the concept of Negro History Week in 1926, which was to be held during the second week of February to extend the tradition of the time from commemorating the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas to also extending one’s knowledge of Black history.
The reception to Negro History Week was overwhelmingly exceptional. Schools across the country were participating, Negro History Clubs began to spring up in communities across the nation, and mayors began to issue proclamations to celebrate Negro History Week annually. Woodson always envisioned that the celebration of African American history would transition from more than just an annual acknowledgement for a week to a daily study. To his appreciation, and likely surprise, this transition began to take place n the 1940s, as the study of Black history began to infiltrate the curriculum in the public school system nationwide. Additionally, African Americans around the nation began taking it upon their self to expand their celebration to the entire month of February. Finally, in 1976, 26 years after Woodson’s died from an unfortunate heart attack in his home office, President Gerald Ford officially recognized the month of February as Blac History Month, and every president has honored that proclamation since then.
With that the Book of Melanin would like to thank Mr. Woodson for pioneering a celebratory month that encourages all to learn, share, and preserve our African American history. We will continue to take our history seriously and we will not confine our celebrations to just a month, but rather a daily acknowledgment of our ancestors and their achievements, as he intended.
