What is Black History Month? According to National Geographic Kids, Black History Month or African-American History Month was created to focus attention on the contributions of African Americans to the United States. Carter G. Woodson launched Negro History Week on February 7, 1926. It was not until 1976 that Negro History Week became Black History Month.
When you hear the term “black history month” and the people who contributed, you mainly think of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Christian Minister, activist, and political philosopher during the Civil Rights movement. He is known for his “I Have A Dream” speech and for being a part of many strikes and movements back in the late 1900s.
Rosa Parks is known for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus, where whites were the only people allowed to sit in the front and the “colored” had to sit in the back of the bus.
Black History Month is a time to come together to watch educational movies, read articles, do research and learn more about the time of such segregation and separation that people of color had to go through. Hundreds, maybe even thousands died because of racism, segregation, and just making people feel they do not belong just because of the color of their skin.
As we exit Black History Month, we need to acknowledge the things that once were and look at what is. We need to continue to expand our minds on the history that is Black History. We need to know about Shirley Chisholm, the First Black Woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress; Jane Bolin, the first Black Woman to graduate from Yale Law School, the first to join the New York City Bar Association and the first to join the New York City Law Department; Jackie Robinson the first African American to be in a major baseball league; Ruby Bridges, the first African- American child to attend a “white only” elementary school in Louisiana in 1960; Harriet Tubman an African American slave who later freed hundreds of enslaved people including her family and friends; Edmund Till an African-American boy who was, tortured, abducted, and lynched at 14 years old all because he was accused of offending a white woman.
Black History is much more than just a month. These people were few of many who lived a life of indifference just because of the color of their skin. Black History Month is a month filled with educational opportunities and is a great way for the world to know the meaning of Black History.
