African-American (Black) History Month
African-American History Month has its origins in the early part of the 20th Century. The first "Negro History Week" was celebrated in 1926. This event, which would later evolve into "Black History Month," was the brainchild of Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Until that time, very little emphasis was placed on the study of African-Americans in history.Dr. Woodson was born to parents who were former slaves, James and Eliza (Riddle) Woodson, on a small farm in New Canton, Virginia. He spent his childhood in the coal mines of Kentucky, then enrolled in high school at the age of 20, earning his diploma in just 2 years. He graduated from Berea College in Kentucky in 1903 and later went on to earn a history Ph.D from Harvard, only the second African-American to do so.
Disturbed by the lack of history of African-Americans, Doctor Woodson 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. In 1916, he founded the widely respected Journal of Negro History. His crowning achievment, though, was probably Negro History Week. The second week of February was chosen because of the birthdays of two men with great influence on the history of African-Americans, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. However, the month of February has many other things going for it in African-American history, including:
- February 23, 1868, the birth of W. E. B. DuBois, important civil rights leader and co-founder of the NAACP.
- February 3, 1870, passing of the 15th Amendment, granting blacks the right to vote.
- February 25, 1870, when Hiram R. Revels, the first black U.S. senator, took his oath of office.
- February 12, 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded.
- Plus many others.
