why is black history month important essay

Black History Month: What is it and why is it important?

Black History Month is an opportunity to understand Black histories. Image:  Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko

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This article was originally published in February 2021 and has been updated .

• A continued engagement with history is vital as it helps give context for the present.
• Black History Month is an opportunity to understand Black histories, going beyond stories of racism and slavery to spotlight Black achievement.
• This year's theme is African Americans and the Arts.

February is Black History Month. This month-long observance in the US and Canada is a chance to celebrate Black achievement and provide a fresh reminder to take stock of where systemic racism persists and give visibility to the people and organizations creating change. Here's what to know about Black History Month and how to celebrate it this year:

Have you read?

Black history month: key events in a decade of black lives matter, here are 4 ways businesses can celebrate black history month, how did black history month begin.

Black History Month's first iteration was Negro History Week, created in February 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, known as the "father of Black history." This historian helped establish the field of African American studies and his organization, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History , aimed to encourage " people of all ethnic and social backgrounds to discuss the Black experience ".

“Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.” ― Carter G. Woodson

His organization was later renamed the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) and is currently the oldest historical society established for the promotion of African American history.

Why is Black History Month in February?

February was chosen by Woodson for the week-long observance as it coincides with the birthdates of both former US President Abraham Lincoln and social reformer Frederick Douglass. Both men played a significant role in helping to end slavery. Woodson also understood that members of the Black community already celebrated the births of Douglass and Lincoln and sought to build on existing traditions. "He was asking the public to extend their study of Black history, not to create a new tradition", as the ASALH explained on its website.

How did Black History Month become a national month of celebration?

By the late 1960s, thanks in part to the civil-rights movement and a growing awareness of Black identity, Negro History Week was celebrated by mayors in cities across the country. Eventually, the event evolved into Black History Month on many college campuses. In 1976, President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History month. In his speech, President 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”.

Since his administration, every American president has recognized Black History Month and its mission. But it wasn't until Congress passed "National Black History Month" into law in 1986 that many in the country began to observe it formally. The law aimed to make all Americans "aware of this struggle for freedom and equal opportunity".

Why is Black History Month celebrated?

Initially, Black History Month was a way of teaching students and young people about Black and African-Americans' contributions. Such stories had been largely forgotten and were a neglected part of the national narrative.

Now, it's seen as a celebration of those who've impacted not just the country but the world with their activism and achievements. In the US, the month-long spotlight during February is an opportunity for people to engage with Black histories, go beyond discussions of racism and slavery, and highlight Black leaders and accomplishments.

What is this year's Black History Month theme?

Every year, a theme is chosen by the ASALH, the group originally founded by Woodson. This year's theme, African Americans and the Arts .

"In the fields of visual and performing arts, literature, fashion, folklore, language, film, music, architecture, culinary and other forms of cultural expression, the African American influence has been paramount," the website says.

Is Black History Month celebrated anywhere else?

In Canada, they celebrate it in February. In countries like the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Ireland, they celebrate it in October. In Canada, African-Canadian parliament member Jean Augustine motioned for Black History Month in 1995 to bring awareness to Black Canadians' work.

When the UK started celebrating Black History Month in 1987, it focused on Black American history. Over time there has been more attention on Black British history. Now it is dedicated to honouring African people's contributions to the country. Its UK mission statement is: "Dig deeper, look closer, think bigger".

Why is Black History Month important?

For many modern Black millennials, the month-long celebration for Black History Month offers an opportunity to reimagine what possibilities lie ahead. But for many, the forces that drove Woodson nearly a century ago are more relevant than ever. As Lonnie G. Bunch III, Director of the Smithsonian Institution said at the opening of the Washington D.C.'s National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2016: “There is no more powerful force than a people steeped in their history. And there is no higher cause than honouring our struggle and ancestors by remembering".

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How Negro History Week Became Black History Month and Why It Matters Now

By Veronica Chambers and Jamiel Law Feb. 24, 2021

• Share full article

Black History Month has been celebrated in the United States for close to 100 years. But what is it, exactly, and how did it begin?

In the years after Reconstruction, campaigning for the importance of Black history and doing the scholarly work of creating the canon was a cornerstone of civil rights work for leaders like Carter G. Woodson. Martha Jones, a professor of history at Johns Hopkins University and the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, explained: “These are men [like Woodson] who were trained formally and credentialed in the ways that all intellectuals and thought leaders of the early 20th century were trained at Harvard and places like that. But in order to make the argument, in order to make the claim about Black genius, about Black excellence, you have to build the space in which to do that. There is no room.” This is how they built the room.

On Feb. 20, Frederick Douglass, the most powerful civil rights advocate of his era, dies.

Douglass collapsed after attending a meeting with suffragists, including his friend Susan B. Anthony. A lifelong supporter of women’s rights, Douglass was among the 32 men who signed the Declaration of Sentiments at Seneca Falls, N.Y. He once said: “When I ran away from slavery, it was for myself; when I advocated emancipation, it was for my people. But when I stood up for the rights of woman, self was out of the question, and I found a little nobility in the act.”

Douglass was such an animated storyteller that, when he collapsed, his wife thought it was part of the story he was telling her about his day with the suffragists.

Washington, D.C., schools begin to celebrate what becomes known as Douglass Day.

On Jan. 12, 1897, Mary Church Terrell, an educator and community activist, proposed the idea of a school holiday to celebrate Frederick Douglass’s life at a school board meeting for the Washington-area “colored schools.” The school board agreed to set aside the afternoon of Feb. 14, 1897, the date Douglass celebrated as his birthday (he had been born enslaved and did not know his exact date of birth) for students to learn about his life, writing and speeches.

Terrell was an animal lover, and she and her husband had a beloved dog named Nogi. For years, she lobbied the Board of Education to set aside a day when Washington students would be taught and shown the importance of being kind to animals. Animal Day, as she called it, never passed.

Carter G. Woodson, the scholar now known as “the father of Black history,” was inspired to take his work nationwide.

Carter G. Woodson was born in 1875, the son of former enslaved people. He worked as a coal miner before receiving his master’s at the University of Chicago, and he was the second African-American to receive a Ph.D. at Harvard (after W.E.B. DuBois). In the summer of 1915, Dr. Woodson attended the Lincoln Jubilee celebration commemorating the 50th anniversary of emancipation in Chicago, featuring exhibitions that highlighted African-Americans’ recent accomplishments. After seeing the thousands of people who attended from across the country, Dr. Woodson was inspired to do more in the spirit of honoring Black history and heritage.

According to an article in The Broad Ax, a weekly Black newspaper in Chicago, the Jubilee celebration included musical performances, garment and furniture making, and a 16-foot statue of Abraham Lincoln.

The movement for Black History grows.

On Sept. 9, 1915, Dr. Woodson formed the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), an organization to promote the scientific study of Black life and history. (Today, the organization is known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, or ASALH.) In 1916, the association established The Journal of Negro History, the first scholarly journal that published researchers’ findings on the historical achievements of Black individuals.

Dr. Woodson believed that “If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.” To that end, he asked his Omega Psi Fraternity brothers to join him in the work of spreading the importance of Black history. The Omega Psi Fraternity created Negro History and Literature Week in 1924. But Dr. Woodson had even greater aspirations for Negro History to become a significant part of the culture across the country.

Dr. Woodson’s best-known book, “The Miseducation of the Negro,” inspired the title of the groundbreaking album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.”

In the 1920s, a decade of hope and possibility for Black Americans, Negro History Week begins.

Dr. Woodson believed deeply that a celebration of Black history would have lasting impact on future generations of leaders. As he reportedly told an audience of Hampton University students, “We are going back to that beautiful history and it is going to inspire us to greater achievements.” Determined to lead the charge to study that history, Dr. Woodson announced the first Negro History Week in February 1926.

He chose February because it was the month in which both Lincoln and Douglass were born. After Lincoln’s assasination, his birthday, on Feb. 12, had been celebrated by Black Americans and Republicans. Douglass Day, which was observed on Feb. 14, had grown in popularity since Mary Church Terrell had started it in Washington in 1897. Dr. Woodson saw Negro History Week as a way to expand the celebration of these two men and encourage Americans to study the little-known history of an entire people.

Every year since 1928, Negro History Week, and later Black History Month, has centered on a theme. This year's theme is “The Black Family: Representation, Identity and Diversity.”

Growing alongside the Harlem Renaissance, Negro History Week uses every platform at its disposal to spread its message.

Dr. Woodson and his colleagues set an ambitious agenda for Negro History Week. They provided a K-12 teaching curriculum with photos, lesson plans and posters with important dates and biographical information. In an article published in 1932 titled “Negro History Week: The Sixth Year,” Dr. Woodson noted that some white schools were participating in the Negro History Week curriculums and that this had improved race relations. He and his colleagues also engaged the community at large with historical performances, banquets, lectures, breakfasts, beauty pageants and parades.

L.D. Reddick, a historian, heard “the father of Negro history” speak as a child in his hometown, Jacksonville, Fla. Everything about Dr. Woodson, he remembered, produced an effect that was “electric.” As Mr. Reddick wrote, “He handled himself well upon the platform, I thought, moving about very much like a skilled boxer: never hurried, never faltering, sparring skillfully for openings, driving his blows deftly.” Mr. Reddick, who would later collaborate with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on his book about the Montgomery bus boycotts, marveled that Dr. Woodson was “easily ... the most impressive speaker that I had ever heard up to that time in my life.”

For rural schools, Dr. Woodson eventually introduced special kits for Negro History Week that could include a list of suggested reading material, speeches by and photos of famous African-Americans, and a play about Black history.

After gaining in renown, Negro History Week becomes Negro History Month and then Black History Month.

Dr. Woodson lectured often in West Virginia, and citizens in that state began celebrating what they called Negro History Month in the 1940s. Dr. Woodson’s organization, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, formed branches across the country and Negro History Clubs began to appear in high schools. By the time Dr. Woodson died in 1950, mayors across the country supported Negro History Week.

In the 1960s, growing political consciousness among Black college students led to a push for more opportunities to study Black history. In February 1969, students and educators at Kent State University proposed the first Black History Month — and celebrated it in February 1970.

President Gerald Ford supports Black History Month as an important element of the nation’s bicentennial celebrations.

In October 1974, just months after assuming the presidency following the resignation of Richard Nixon, Ford met with civil rights leaders, including Vernon Jordan, Bayard Rustin, Dorothy Height and Jesse Jackson. As The New York Times reported, the leaders were looking for the president to “make a ‘ringing reaffirmation’ of the nation’s commitment to racial justice and moral leadership.”

Less than two years later, in February 1976, Ford did just that. Drawing on the patriotic significance of the bicentennial he issued a statement on the importance of Black History Month to all Americans. “The last quarter-century has finally witnessed significant strides in the full integration of black people into every area of national life,” he said. “In celebrating Black History Month, we can take satisfaction from this recent progress in the realization of the ideal envisioned by our founding fathers. But, even more than this, we can seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

Every president since Ronald Reagan has issued a Black History Month proclamation.

In 2021, President Biden made his first proclamation in support of Black History Month, announcing: “We do so because the soul of our Nation will be troubled as long as systemic racism is allowed to persist. It is corrosive. It is destructive. It is costly. We are not just morally deprived because of systemic racism, we are also less prosperous, less successful, and less secure as a Nation.”

Why does Black History Month in particular, and the study of Black history overall, still matter so much? “There’s no question that history is and continues to be a battleground. The origin stories that we tell matter a great deal for where we set the bar and how we set the bar going forward,” noted Professor Jones, of Johns Hopkins. “So when you talk about people like Carter G. Woodson, these are men who knew that if you don’t rewrite the history of Africans and people of African descent, if you don’t rewrite the history of the United States through the lens of Black history, if you don’t make that record and if you don’t make that case, there are [false] stories that will expand and go toward rationalizing and perpetuating racism, exclusion, marginalization and more.”

Produced by Rebecca Lieberman, Deanna Donegan, Jeremy Allen, Veronica Chambers, Marcelle Hopkins, Adam Sternbergh, Dodai Stewart and Amanda Webster.

Additional reporting by Lauren Messman.

More from Black History, Continued

Do We Ask Too Much of Black Heroes?

Every year for a month, we celebrate the heroes of Black history. But these stories can obscure how change happens and who gets left behind.

By Imani Perry

Jan. 29, 2021

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Feb. 18, 2021

Black History Continued

By The New York Times

Feb. 24, 2021

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Black History Month

By: History.com Editors

Updated: January 29, 2024 | Original: January 14, 2010

Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Also known as African American History Month, the event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. Other countries around the world, including Canada and the United Kingdom, also devote a month to celebrating Black history.

Origins of Black History Month

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 (ASNLH), an organization dedicated to researching and promoting achievements by Black Americans and other peoples of African descent.

Known today as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), 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.

In the decades that followed, mayors of cities across the country began issuing yearly proclamations recognizing "Negro History Week." 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 such as Harriet Tubman , Sojourner Truth ,  Marcus Garvey ,  Martin Luther King Jr. ,  Malcolm X and Rosa Parks to leaders in industry, politics, science, culture and more. 

Did you know? The NAACP was founded on February 12, 1909, the centennial anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.

Black History Month 2024 Theme

Since 1976, every American president has designated February as Black History Month and endorsed a specific theme.

The Black History Month 2024 theme, “ African Americans and the Arts ,” explores the key influence African Americans have had in the fields of "visual and performing arts, literature, fashion, folklore, language, film, music, architecture, culinary and other forms of cultural expression."

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Black History Month 2022

February is Black History Month in the U.S., and this year's theme is Black Health and Wellness. NPR has compiled a list of stories, music performances, podcasts and other content that chronicles the Black American experience.

Why does Black History Month matter?

Sandhya Dirks

Post racist attack in 1921 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. American National Red Cross Photograph Collection. GHI/Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images hide caption

Post racist attack in 1921 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. American National Red Cross Photograph Collection.

About 10 years ago, Shukree Hassan Tilghman tried to cancel Black History Month.

Outfitted in a sandwich board with the words "End Black History Month" written across the front, he walked the streets of New York City looking for people to sign his petition to do away with it.

To figure out what Tilghman was up to, it helps to know the other side of his placard read "Black history is American history." It also helps to know he was filming all this for a documentary he made, " More Than A Month ." That movie explored an ongoing question about Black History Month; rather than lifting up African American accomplishment, does it instead maintain a segregated history of America?

Here's the story behind Black History Month — and why it's celebrated in February

"Some people think it was a stunt," says Tilghman. In some ways it was one, but he was also being genuine.

Tilghman says the "core impulse" for his petition to end Black History Month was rooted in his childhood. Both of his parents were school teachers, and those posters of famous Black people that go up on classroom walls and in school hallways every February were in his house year round. When he was little, Black History Month was exciting, but as he kept hearing the same stories of a few sanitized heroes repeated just one month a year, it began to feel insulting. "We were invisible for 11 months out of the year, but now suddenly we were visible in February," he says.

"What did it mean that we had a Black History Month," he started to wonder.

"And what would it mean if we didn't?"

Why did Carter G. Woodson come up with it?

Talk to any group of historians about the meaning of Black History Month and they will all mention the same name: Carter G. Woodson.

"We call him the father of Black history," says Daina Ramey Berry, chair of the history department at The University of Texas, Austin.

In 1926, Woodson founded Negro History Week — which would grow into what we now know as Black History Month .

"The idea was to make resources available for teachers — Black teachers — to celebrate and talk about the contributions that Black people had made to America," says Karsonya Wise Whitehead, the founding executive director for the Karson Institute for Race, Peace, and Social Justice at Loyola University. Whitehead is also a former secretary of ASALH — the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, which Woodson founded in 1915.

Woodson picked the week in February marked by the birth of Abraham Lincoln and the chosen birthday of Frederick Douglass, because those days were celebrated in his community. In this way, Woodson built on a Black tradition that was already commemorating the past.

"He also understood that for Black students, to see themselves beyond their current situation, they had to be able to learn about the contributions that their ancestors had made to this country," Whitehead says.

A picture of U.S. democracy in action: Black people at work, rest and play

The historical context of the moment is also key, according to Berry. "African Americans were, 50 or so years outside of slavery and trying to figure out their space in the United States," she says.

That space was being violently demarcated by white supremacy. "We were experiencing segregation, lynchings, mass murders and massacres," says Berry. A few years before was 1919's so-called Red Summer , when white mobs attacked Black neighborhoods and cities. Then in 1921 came the Tulsa race massacre .

Alongside white supremacist violence was an attempt to whitewash U.S. history, excluding both the contributions and the realities of Black people. This was the period when statues of confederate soldiers were erected and the lost cause myth — the lie that the Civil War was about preserving a genteel way of life and that slaves were well treated — was becoming a dominant narrative. "Not just in the South," says Hasan Kwame Jeffries, a professor of history at The Ohio State University.

"A complete revision and distortion of the Civil War, of slavery, of emancipation, of reconstruction was being deeply embedded into the American public education system," he adds.

"Let's talk about Black people"

By the time he was growing up in New York City public schools in the 1980s, Jeffries says Black History Month felt very much like, "let's talk about Black people for a couple of days."

"It was the usual cast of characters," he says. Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, a couple of Black inventors — "and then we'd move on."

Says Whitehead, "In school, all of a sudden everything became about Black people, right?"

"So you're putting your Mac and cheese and collard greens into the cafeteria. You're lining the halls with all this Black art that would then get taken down when February ended," she says.

The Picture Show

Reflecting on the power of affirmations for black history month.

Black History Month may sometimes feel tokenizing, but it is still necessary, says Whitehead. "You can go to places," she says rattling off state names, "where if you didn't have Black History Month, there would be no conversations at all."

What we need is an inclusive — and accurate — American history, according to Berry. But American history remains a segregated space. "When you go into American history courses, many of those courses are taught from the perspective of just white Americans and students," Berry says.

The paradox of Black History Month today, Whitehead says, is that we still need it, even if it is not enough. "We want Black history to be American history," she says. "But we understand that without Black History Month, then they will not teach it within the American history curriculum."

Which brings us back to Tilghman, and an answer to his question: What would it mean if we didn't have Black History Month?

"If, but for Black History Month, those stories wouldn't be told," Tilghman says, "then we have a larger problem that is not Black History Month. And that's not actually a reason to keep Black History Month."

"That's a reason to fight for something better than Black History Month."

Parallels to Woodson's Time

There have been efforts in some states , and in some curriculums to integrate American history across the year, making slow steps forward. But Hasan Jeffries says the moment we are in right now acutely parallels the time period in which Carter G. Woodson founded Negro History Week and January 6th. Once again, at the center of all of this, is a battle over who gets to control history.

"We see that same pushback now with this divisive subjects and divisive issues stuff," Jeffries says, referring to " divisive topics" laws in Republican-led states that ban acknowledging that America was founded on racist principles.

"If we can just trot out Rosa Parks sitting on a bus and then put her back on the bus and not talk about it, that's fine," says Jeffries. "But we don't want to talk about the society as a whole that supported and embraced Jim Crow. And the way in which inequality is literally written into the U.S. constitution."

Artwork from the Black Lives Matter memorial has a new home: the Library of Congress

Integrating Black history into American history isn't some simple act of inclusion, Jeffries says. You can't just insert Black people who invented things, or made notable contributions, into a timeline, he says.

"You start having to question what you assume to be basic truths about the American experience, the myth of perpetual progress and American exceptionalism — all that crumbles," Jeffries says.

But change is coming, he notes.

The undergraduates Jeffries teaches don't necessarily begin with a full grasp of U.S. history, but many are now showing up in his class precisely because they feel they haven't been told the whole story.

"They've been seeing all this happen over the last four or five years — the rise of racism, white supremacy and hate," he says of some of his white students. "And they're coming to college saying, okay, something ain't right."

Feeding the appetite for robust history

That hunger for Black history, for robust American history, is something high school teacher Ernest Crim III has tapped into on social media. His TikTok videos about Black figures in history have gone viral, racking up tens of thousands of views. One of those videos was about Carter G. Woodson , and the origins of Black History Month.

Crim is a Black teacher teaching Black, Latino and white students in a Chicago suburb, which means in a lot of key ways he is similar to the teachers Woodson created Negro history week to serve. "Woodson created Negro History Week with a particular purpose," Crim says. "So that we could come together and discuss what we've been doing all year round, not to celebrate it for one week, which eventually became a month."

Which is why in Crim's history classroom, February isn't the only time they talk about people of color. "In every unit of study I look for examples of what Black people and Latino people were doing at that time," he says.

"We'll get to the civil rights unit in my class, probably in March," he says. "They going to think it's February, with how much we're talking about Black people."

For Crim, in the teaching of history, separate is not equal.

Abraham Galloway is the Black figure from the Civil War you should know about

Illinois, where he teaches, does not have a divisive topics law, but even without an outright ban, he says a lot of his students aren't learning about systemic racism in American history. "Even though every state isn't banning it, there's no need to because most history teachers don't really do it at all," Crim says. You don't need to ban something that is not really taught in the first place.

Teaching history, teaching integrated honest history, can be transformative, Crim says. "It's about changing your thoughts and that can change your entire generation. That can change your family. That could change, just the trajectory of your entire life," he says.

"The story that we as Americans tell about who we were, that story tells us who we are," says Shukree Tilghman.

Tilghman's campaign to end Black History Month left him with a renewed respect for the rich history of the month itself. In the past few years it may seem like history has resurfaced as a battleground of American identity, but it's always been that way. "History is about power," Tilghman says, "and who has the power to tell the story."

Black History Month, at its best, has the ability to crack open the door to a kind of narrative reparations, says Hasan Jeffries. "I mean, that's part of the power of Black History Month. It holds America accountable for the narrative that it tells about the past."

Correction Feb. 27, 2022

A previous version of this story misspelled Daina Ramey Berry's name as Diana Ramey Berry.

• Black History Month

The Important Political History of Black History Month

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Many accept Black History Month as a special time of year, yet few recognize the role African American teachers played in establishing and popularizing this tradition during Jim Crow. Originally founded in 1926 as Negro History Week by the famed educator and groundbreaking historian Carter G. Woodson, Black History Month is the product of Black teachers’ long-standing intellectual and political struggles.

As a longtime public school teacher, Woodson witnessed white school leaders resist efforts to meaningfully transform curriculum and school policies, and while earning his doctorate from Harvard University, between 1908 and 1912, he learned how distortions about Black life were constructed at the highest levels of education. Recognizing these barriers, he decided to work from outside the classroom to partner with teachers. This began with Woodson founding the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915.

Woodson was particularly interested in using Negro History Week to infuse students’ learning with critical knowledge about racial domination as well as the long traditions of Black resistance and achievement. Negro History Week quickly became a cultural norm in Black segregated schools. According to surveys conducted by Black educator and journalist Thomas L. Dabney in 1934, it was celebrated in more than 80 percent of those high schools by the mid-1930s.

The creation of Negro History Week did not occur in a vacuum. It reflected a continuum of consciousness among Black educators, channeling an intellectual and political tradition long practiced in the private spaces of their classrooms. This class of teachers placed the needs of their students above protocols imposed by white school leaders.

This tradition stretched back as early as 1864, when Black abolitionist Charlotte Forten taught recently freed children in South Carolina about Toussaint L’Ouverture and the Haitian Revolution. Noticing the absence of such narratives in textbooks and materials supplied by white missionaries, Forten wrote that Black children “should know what one of their own color had done for his race.”

A decade before establishing Negro History Week, Woodson and his colleagues at the M Street School in Washington planned professional-development events for Black teachers, and they did so independent of the school district. These workshops during the 1915-16 academic year extended from previous strategies they employed to work around the official school curriculum. Woodson facilitated a history and civics workshop, which took place just after he published the inaugural issue of the Journal of Negro History—the first academic publication of its kind and one that Woodson founded and edited using the small salary he earned from teaching history, English, and French at the M Street School. W.E.B. Du Bois—who had visited the school in previous years at the invitation of Anna Julia Cooper, the school’s principal at the time and the author of A Voice from the South: By A Black Woman from the South —led workshops on Black history for teachers.

These educators insisted on the importance of providing students with cultural armor to repudiate the racial myths reflected in the nation’s laws, social policies, and American curriculum.

Such examples reflect a robust intellectual culture among Black schoolteachers. What’s more, these educators insisted on the importance of providing students with cultural armor to repudiate the racial myths reflected in the nation’s laws, social policies, and American curriculum.

But teaching about Black life and culture was not just about songs, poems, and a few good stories of successful Black people. Woodson emphasized the direct relationship between curricular content and the violent lived experiences of Black people in the world. When reflecting on Negro History Week in 1926, he wrote the following in the Journal of Negro History: “A Negro is passed on the street and is shoved off in the mud; he complains or strikes back and is lynched as a desperado who attacked a gentleman. And what if he is handicapped, segregated, or lynched? According to our education and practice, if you kill one of the group, the world goes on just as well or better; for the Negro is nothing, has never been anything, and never will be anything but a menace to civilization.”

Woodson argued that the official school curriculum cultivated anti-Blackness as a social competence, and its system of representation reflected and reproduced social hierarchies that plagued human society. Based on the American curriculum, Blackness and Black people represented the antithesis of human civilization and achievement. Thus, Negro History Week emerged from Black teachers’ political clarity about the ideological foundations of American schooling and their desire to disrupt such foundations.

The occasion arrived annually in February, yet teachers should not wait until February to study Black life and culture. Woodson emphasized this point again and again. “Some teachers and their students have misunderstood the celebration of Negro History Week,” Woodson explained in the February 1938 Negro History Bulletin. He observed how some schools “work up enthusiasm during these few days, stage a popular play, present an orator of the day, or render exercises of a literary order; but they forget the Negro thereafter throughout the year. To proceed in such fashion may do as much harm as good.”

At its best, Negro History Week dramatized and expressed an educational vision that shaped learning year-round. This caution offered in 1938 might also be applied to our 21 st -century present.

As we reflect on the importance of Black History Month in 2021—a time of unprecedented challenges—we might draw inspiration from the robust intellectual and political tradition of Black teachers from the past. The greatest among them were more than ordinary practitioners. They were scholars of the practice. We have Black History Month because of their long tradition of study and struggle.

A version of this article appeared in the February 03, 2021 edition of Education Week as The History of Black History Month

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Black History Essay Topics

• Writing Essays
• Writing Research Papers
• English Grammar
• M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
• B.A., History, Armstrong State University

Black history is full of fascinating stories, rich culture, great art, and courageous acts that were undertaken within unthinkable circumstances. While Civil Rights events are the most common themes in our studies, we should resist equating Black history only with Civil Rights-era history. This list contains 50 prompts that might lead you into some interesting and little-known information about Black American history.

Note: Your first challenge in studying some of the topics below is finding resources. When conducting an internet search, be sure to place quotation marks around your search term (try different variations) to narrow your results.

• Black American newspapers
• Black Inventors
• Black soldiers in the American Revolution
• Black soldiers in the Civil War
• Buffalo Soldiers
• Buying time
• Camp Logan Riots
• Clennon Washington King, Jr.
• Coffey School of Aeronautics
• Crispus Attucks
• Domestic labor strikes in the South
• Finding lost family members after emancipation
• First African Baptist Church
• Formerly enslaved business owners
• Freedom's Journal
• Gospel music
• Gullah heritage
• Harlem Hellfighters
• Harlem Renaissance
• Harriet Tubman
• Historically Black Colleges
• History of rock-and-roll
• Jumping the broom
• Manumission papers
• Maroon villages in the eighteenth century
• Motown Records
• Multi-cultural pirate ships
• Narratives by Enslaved People
• Otelia Cromwell
• Ownership of property by enslaved people
• Purchasing freedom
• Ralph Waldo Tyler
• Register of Free Persons of Color
• Secret schools in antebellum America
• Sherman's March followers
• Susie King Taylor
• The Amistad
• The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
• The Communist Party (involvement)
• The Great Migration
• The Haitian Revolution
• Tuskegee Airmen
• Underground Railroad
• Urban enslavement (related to buying time)
• Wilberforce College, Ohio
• Celebrating Black History Month
• Important Cities in Black History
• What Is Black History Month and How Did It Begin?
• Black History and Women's Timeline: 1900–1919
• Black History Timeline: 1700 - 1799
• Black History Timeline: 1910–1919
• Biography of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, Black Historian
• Black History Timeline: 1865–1869
• Black History Month Printables
• Black History Timeline: 1920–1929
• Little Known Important Black Americans
• Black History and Women's Timeline: 1920-1929
• Important Black Women in American History
• Black History and Women Timeline 1870-1899
• Black History Timeline: 1940–1949
• Black History from 1950–1959

Applications for 2024 Columbia Summer Session programs are now open!

Faculty, Staff, Student - February 19, 2021

What Does Black History Month Mean To You?

In celebration of Black History Month, the Student Life team asked students, faculty, alumni, and staff for quotes and thoughts about the importance of the season. Below is a compilation of the thoughts and experiences members of our community chose to share.

McSteve Ezikeoha, M.S. in Actuarial Science

"Black is beautiful, Black is excellent. Black is pain, Black is joy, Black is evident. Black is so much deeper than just African-American. Black is growing up around the barbershop. Black is stepping in for your mother because your father's gone. Black is being forced to leave the place you love because there's hate in it. Black is struggling to find your history or trace your roots. Black is being strong inside while facing defeat. Black is being guilty until proven innocent. But Black is all I know, there ain't a thing that I would change in it." Culled from Santan Dave's "Black"

Nia Hill, M.S. in Nonprofit Management

Black History Month is a reminder to all Americans that their country would not be as wealthy and sustainable today if it were not for the innovation, hard work, intellect, and courage of Black Americans that came before us. There are so many to give credit to! Just know that for me, because of the innumerable amount of Black folk that dedicated their lives to change, Black History Month re-affirms the fact that I, a proud Black woman, have no excuse to not impact my community, this nation, and ultimately the world.

Victor Oko, M.S. in Technology Management

Black History Month is about appreciating and recognizing key African American achievements.

Annette Parkins, M.A. in Social-Organizational Psychology

To me, Black History Month is a celebration of how far I've come in disappearing the shame around my identity, a season to honor our ancestors and their hidden contributions, and a time of reflection on the work still to be done.

Rachel Williams, '19SPS, M.S. in Strategic Communication

Black history month is a celebration of our ancestors and their excellence, motivation to always strive for the greatness that lies beyond our current circumstances, a sense of community, the task to create better paths for our successors, and the constant reminder that; without black history, there would be no history.

Rachel Oatis, '19SPS, M.S. in Nonprofit Management

Black History Month (BHM) for me is a reminder that Black is love and it has an undeniable unifying factor. With the outward exhibited forms of affection and love during the month of February, I reflect with others on why I’m so proud to be Black and love it. Don’t get me wrong..it’s always a good day to be Black and a Black woman but, during BHM there’s a special recognition universally that is bonded to this feeling. BHM is an invitation for others to join in the ongoing celebration of Blackness. It is unity in its highest form.

Damian Murray, M.S. in Technology Management

Black history month is celebrating the positive impact and the contributions that we have given to the world. It's black history month, real-life documentation of what our people are cable of accomplishing no matter the difficulties. Anything is possible.

Kayden Molock, M.S. in Sports Management

Black History Month means the appreciation and acknowledgement of Blackness and how it permeates all aspects of society. It’s the recognition of people and a culture that transcends the racist and imperial formations of the United States. It is a celebration of Black men, women, nonbinary, trans, disabled folx. It’s a reminder that the level of reverence shown during this month is something that needs to be consistent the entire year. It’s a call to action to continue to advocate for and uplift those within society who are often pushed to the margins.

Meghan Sowersby, M.S. in Strategic Communication

Black History cannot be contained or limited to a month. But it is a good reminder of Black peoples’ indelible imprint on world history.

Mydashia Hough, SPS Student Advisor

Black History Month is about our ancestors, change-makers, and revolutionaries -- whose names we know as well as those unheard of and forgotten. For many, the fruits of their labor were never seen or enjoyed, and we owe many of our freedoms to their efforts. We often relish the stories and legends but should gift our gratitude to the human side of the individuals who dedicated parts of themselves to better our world, and to have this be a regular practice that extends beyond a month in February, but penetrates the very fabric of our educational institutions and society.

Melissa Miller, SPS Leadership Coach

Black History Month is an opportunity to proudly shine a light on the Black diaspora's multifaceted histories and unsung historical figures. BHM encourages us to recognize our past, evaluate our present, and plan for our future. Lastly, it galvanizes and serves as a reminder of the tremendous work we have to continue to do all year long towards eradicating social injustices.

Andrea Stokes, M.S. in Nonprofit Management

Black History Month is the opportunity to engage with and embrace the contributions set forth by the African Diaspora. It’s also an opportunity to understand the struggles Black people around the world face, but also celebrate our resilience. Most importantly, this month reminds me of the beauty of being Black, and the diversity of our people and culture.

Clement Gibson, M.S. in Strategic Communication

Black History Month is a time when leaders and innovators of this country receive their flowers for their sacrifices, hard work, and creativity in the United States. It is a time shed light on shaded truths (and lies) of the past and acknowledge those who blazed trails we may not see in textbooks, or hear in lecture halls outside of HBCU's. It is a time to say thank you to those who labored for the fruits we enjoy today.

Erica Davis, '20SPS, M.S. in Strategic Communication

Black History means taking ALL that wasn't given then and making opportunities for today--honoring those who entrenched themselves on the battlefield for me. Sign up! Sign up! Serve today as Black History Month is a precious reminder that there is still so much work to be done in our communities and identifiable progress that my brothers and sisters must make. 

Black History has a sharp edge of holding myself accountable to continue to build bridges between law enforcement and the community. 

Black History teaches me new ways to strategically communicate with someone who doesn’t look like me... understand me.

Black History will always be the book I read.

Chelsea Hannah, M.S. in Strategic Communication

Black History Month is an important time to celebrate the impact of African American culture in the past, present and reminds us of hope and opportunity for the future. This year, it means so much to me because my position as the Chair of the Youth Task Force for Meaningful Change at Universal Music Group calls for taking time during this month to highlight and recognize all of the achievements of African Americans within the music industry and inspiring others to carry on the legacy. Coming from a family of pioneers, this month also reminds me of the endless possibilities in the world to be so much greater. I look forward to matching the same energy of those that came before me and leaving an impact that is greater than myself.

Kandis Thorpe, M.S. in Social Work, School of Social Work 

Black History Month to me is about Black liberation and getting closer to my roots by acknowledging and highlighting the pioneers who came before us. It means to look at our past, present, and future as a collective and continuing the work our ancestors has started. BHM means an emphasis on literacy. It’s very important in learning Black history. To dig into the depths of what was left out of the history books and class curriculums is empowering yet sparks drive within me to continue my work of dismantling oppressive systems within my field of social work.

Joshua Mackey, Assistant Director of Student Affairs, School of the Arts

Black History Month means acknowledging, honoring, and celebrating the history of Black folks. I also see it as a time to shed light on how the Black community continues to advance culture, industry, and society, even in the midst of all the injustices we still face as a community.

Home / Essay Samples / History / African American History / Knowing Your Past: Why is Black History Month Important

Knowing Your Past: Why is Black History Month Important

• Category: Sociology , Culture , History
• Topic: African American , African American Culture , African American History

Pages: 2 (903 words)

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What I Already Know About Our Past?

Why i belive that black history month is important.

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