Celebrating Black History Month

During Black History Month, we pause to celebrate and understand Black histories. This year’s theme is African Americans and Labor. This year’s theme focuses on the various and profound ways that work and working of all kinds – free and unfree, skilled, and unskilled, vocational and voluntary – intersect with the collective experiences of Black people.

The 1950s and 1970s in the United States was defined by actions such as sit-ins, boycotts, walk outs, strikes by Black people and White allies in the fight for justice against discrimination in all sectors of society — from employment to education to housing. Black people have had to consistently push the United States to live up to its ideals of freedom, liberty, and justice for all.

Systematic oppression has sought to negate much of the dreams of our griots, like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, and our freedom fighters, like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Septima Clark, and Fannie Lou Hamer fought to realize. Black people have sought ways to nurture and protect Black lives, and for autonomy of their physical and intellectual bodies through armed resistance, voluntary emigration, nonviolence, education, literature, sports, media, and legislation/politics. Black-led institutions and affiliations have lobbied, litigated, legislated, protested, and achieved success.

Important Facts 

• Black History Month is celebrated in February to honor the contributions of African Americans, and was established by historian Carter G. Woodson who initially created “Black History Week” in 1926, choosing February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass
• Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were established to provide higher education opportunities to Black Americans. Established in 1837, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania was the very first HBCU. Today, over 100 HBCUs exist.
  HBCUs, established before 1964, honor their mission to educate Black Americans. HBCUs teach Black history, recognize and honor Black American experiences, and uplift the rights of and needs within Black communities.
• The month-long celebration may have started in the United States, but it’s recognized in Canada as well. Additionally, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands celebrate it in October.