Black History Month

Article by Ravin Bhatia (Editor-in-Chief)

February, as most know, marks Black History Month, commemorating the achievements of and contributions made to American innovation and culture by the Black community. As the month comes to a close, let’s take a deeper dive into its history.

In 1915, after attending a national celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation in Washington, D.C., an inspired Dr. Carter G. Woodson co-founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASNLH). Their efforts included, most notably, the Negro History and Literature Week, which began through a press release in 1924,

Recognizing the absence of Black history from American textbooks, the ASNLH created educational materials, such as plays and lesson plans, to be distributed throughout American schools. As these grew in popularity, mayors across the country began to endorse Negro History Week as an official holiday.

In 1970, efforts from Black faculty and students at Kent State University would lead Negro History Week to become Black History Month, and in 1976, 200 years after “all men are created equal” was enshrined in the Declaration of Indepedence, President Gerald Ford recognized the month at the federal level. He encouraged Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

A month, of course, is hardly enough to acknowledge the contributions that Black Americans have made to the success and prosperity of our great country, nor should it be. To cram in lessons of influential Black Americans or stories of the Civil Rights Movement into one month is both disrespectful and disingenuous. Rather, we must ensure that learning about Black history becomes a consistent aspect of history classes, for all grades—Black history is American history, and it’s time we honor it as such.