Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. The story of Black History Month begins in 1915, half a century after the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. That September, the Harvard-trained historian Carter G. Woodson and the prominent minister Jesse E. Moorland founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, an organization dedicated to researching and promoting achievements by Black Americans and other peoples of African descent.
The group sponsored a national Negro History week in 1926, choosing the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The event inspired schools and communities nationwide to organize local celebrations, establish history clubs and host performances and lectures. By the late 1960s, thanks in part to the civil rights movement and a growing awareness of Black identity, "Negro History Week" had evolved into Black History Month on many college campuses.
President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month in 1976, calling upon the public to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” Today, Black History Month is a time to honor the contributions and legacy of African Americans across U.S. history and society—from activists and civil rights pioneers to leaders in industry, politics, science, culture and more.
Since 1976, every American president has designated February as Black History Month and endorsed a specific theme. This year's Black History Month theme is “Black Resistance,” exploring how African Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression in all forms, especially the racial terrorism of lynching, racial pogroms and police killings, since the nation's earliest days.
This Week in Black History
February 1
- Black college students staged a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, NC, 1960.
- Langston Hughes, poet and author, born 1902-1967
February 3
- Geraldine McCullough wins Widener Gold Medal for Sculpture, 1965
- 15th Amendment (Black suffrage) passed 1870
February 4
- 24th Amendment abolished Poll tax, 1864
February 6
- First organized emigration of U.S. Blacks back to Africa, from New York to Sierra Leone, 1820
- Peabody Fund established to promote Black education in South, 1867
February 7
- President Truman appointed Irwin C. Mollison judge of the US Customs Court, 1945
- Eubie Blake, famed pianist, born in Baltimore 1883-1983
- Freedman’s Aid Society founded to promote education among African Americans.