[Eoscstudents] Black History Month

[Levenia Carey]

Good Morning:

We were recently discussing The History of Black History of it made us 
wonder how many of you know how this celebration came to be.  So today 
our focus is on
The History of Black History. 

Americans have recognized black history annually since 1926, first as 
"Negro History Week," and later as "Black History Month."  What you 
might not know is that black history had barely begun to be studied - 
or  even documented - when the tradition originated.  Although blacks 
have been in America at least as far back as colonial times, it was not 
until the 20th century that they gained a respectable presence in the 
history books.

We owe the celebration of Black History Month, and more importantly, the 
study of black history, to Dr. Carter G. Woodson.  Born to parents who 
were former slaves, he spent his childhood working in the Kentucky coal 
mines and enrolled in high school at age twenty.  He graduated within 
two years and later went on to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard. The scholar 
was disturbed to find in his studies that history books largely ignored 
the black American population -  and when blacks did figure into the 
picture, it was generally in ways that reflected the inferior social 
position they were assigned at the time.  Woodson, always one to act on 
his ambitions, decided to take on the challenge of writing black 
Americans into the nation's history.  He established the Association for 
the Study of Negro Life and History (now called the Association for the 
Study of Afro-American Life and History) in 1915, and a year later 
founded the widely respected Journal of Negro History.  In 1926, he 
launched Negro History Week as an initiative to bring national attention 
to the contributions of black people throughout American history.

Woodson chose the second week of February for Negro History Week because 
it marks the birthdays of two men who greatly influenced the black 
American population.  Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.  However, 
February has much more that Douglass and Lincoln to show for its 
significance in black American history.  Did you know:

February 23, 1868:  W.E. B. DuBois, an important civil rights leader and 
co-founder of the NAACP, was born.

February 3, 1870:  The 15th Amendment was passed, granting blacks the 
right to vote.

February 25, 1870:  The first black U.S. senator, Hiram R. Revels 
(1822-1901), took his oath of office.

February 12, 1909:  The National Association for the Advancement of 
Colored People (NAACP) was founded by a group of concerned black and 
white citizens in New York City.

February 1, 1960:  In what would become a civil-rights movement 
milestone, a group of black Greensboro, N.C., college students began a 
sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter.

February 21, 1965:  Malcolm X, the militant leader who promoted Black 
Nationalism, was shot to death by three Black Muslims.

These are some of the people and events that make February the perfect 
month to place a focus on Black History.  We wait for the day when Black 
History is given equal attention and distribution in public school 
textbooks and education is continual throughout the learning process, 
not a one month focus during a calendar year. 

Thanks for reading.
Marilynn, Brenton, Levenia, NAACP-Psycho Club
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