Black History Month
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Black History Month is a remembrance of important people and events in African American history. It is celebrated annually in the United States and Canada in the month of February, while in the UK it is held in the month of October.
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History
Black History Month was established in 1976 by The Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History.[1] The month-long celebration was an expansion of Negro History Week, which was established in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, director of what was then known as the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Woodson selected the week in February that embraced the birthdays of both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. This contradicts a common misconception about black history month; the celebration was not intentionally limited to the shortest month of the year. The celebration may have had its origins in the separate efforts of Mary Church Terrell and the African American collegiate fraternity Omega Phi Psi. The former had begun the practice of honoring Frederick Douglass on February 14, the date he used to mark his birth. The Omegas established a "Negro Achievement Week" in 1924. Woodson was friends with Mary Church Terrell and worked with her and the National Council of Colored Women to preserve Douglass' home and personal papers. Woodson was also a member of Omega Psi Phi. While Terrell's celebration of Douglass was a local event and the Omega Achievement Week was part of their community outreach, Woodson broadened the scope of the celebration in three significant ways. First, he conceived of the event as a national celebration, sending out a circular to groups across the United States. Secondly, he sought to appeal to both whites and blacks and to improve race relations. For this reason, he chose President Lincoln's birthday as well as Douglass'. Finally, Woodson viewed Negro History Week as an extension of ASNLH's effort to demonstrate to the world that Africans and peoples of African descent had contributed to the advance of history. Each year, ASNLH would select a national theme and provide scholarly and popular materials to focus the nation's "study" of Negro history. As such, Negro History Week was conceived as a means of undermining the foundation of the idea of black inferiority through popular information grounded in scholarship. The theme, chosen by the founders of Black History Month, for 2007 is "From Slavery to Freedom, Africans in the Americas."
The Negro History Week Movement took hold immediately. At first it was celebrated almost exclusively by African Americans, taking place outside of the view of the wider society. Increasingly, however, mayors and governors, especially in the North, began endorsing Negro History Week and promoting interracial harmony. By the time of Woodson's death in 1950, Negro History Week had become a well-established cultural institution. Indeed, it was so established that Woodson had begun to criticize groups for shallow and often inaccurate presentations that did not advance the public's knowledge of Negro life and history.
With the rise of the Black Power Movement in the 1960s, many in the African American community began to complain about the insufficiency of a week-long celebration. In 1976, the ASNLH, having changed its name to The Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, responded to the popular call, citing the 50th annual celebration and America's bicentennial. For more on the association visit ASALH.org.
Purpose
History books had barely begun covering black history when the tradition of Black History Month was started. At that point, most representation of blacks in history books was only in reference to the low social position they held, with the exception of George Washington Carver. Black History Month can also be referred to as African-American History Month, or African Heritage Month. One of the few U.S. history works at that time told from an African American perspective was W.E.B. DuBois' 1935 work "Black Reconstruction."
In the United Kingdom (UK), Black History Month is celebrated in the month of October. The official guide to Black History Month in the UK[] is published by Sugar Media, Ltd., who produce 100,000 copies nationwide.[2]
Part of the aim of Black History Month is to expose the harms of racial prejudice and to cultivate black self-esteem following centuries of socio-economic oppression[citation needed]. It is also an opportunity to recognize significant contributions to society made by people with African heritage.
Debate
| African Americans | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| W.E.B. Du Bois • Martin Luther King, Jr. • Edward Brooke Malcolm X • Rosa Parks • Frederick Douglass |
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| Total population | |||
|
39,500,000 |
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| Regions with significant populations | |||
|
|||
| Languages | |||
| Predominantly American English | |||
| Religions | |||
| Christianity (predominantly Baptist), Islam | |||
| Related ethnic groups | |||
|
Sub-Saharan Africans and other African groups, some with Native American groups. |
Black History Month sparks an annual debate about the continued usefulness of a designated month dedicated to the history of one skin colour. Critical op-ed pieces have appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer [1] and USA Today [2].
Some African American radical/nationalist groups, including the Nation of Islam, have criticized Black History Month. Other critics contend that Black History Month is irrelevant because it has degenerated into a shallow ritual.[3]. Some, like Morgan Freeman, contend that it serves to undermine the contention that black history is American history.
Woodson, creator of Negro History Month, hoped that the week would eventually be eliminated, when African-American history would be fully integrated with American history.
See also
- African American history - Black History
- African-Americans
- American Civil Rights Movement (1896-1954)
- American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)
- Civil rights
- Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement
- Racial segregation in the United States
- Great Migration (African American)
- History of slavery in the United States
- African American newspapers
- Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
- National Hispanic Heritage Month
- List of commemorative days
External links
- Black History - Timeline and many videos to watch at the Biography Channel website
- The Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History
- Center for Contemporary Black History at Columbia University
- Hidden Black History Resource (requires Macromedia Flash player)
- It's more than History (requires Macromedia Flash player)
- Black History Month
- Black History Collection
- Black History Month resources provided free for public use by the State Archives of Florida
- Black biographies cited in MS Encarta 2006
- Return to Glory: The Powerful Stirring of the Black Man
- African Holocaust: Celebrating history and culture
- Ancient Egyptian Photo Gallery
- The Washington, DC Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Project Foundation
- The Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History
References
- ^ The Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History
- ^ "Black History Month UK". "Black History Month UK".
- ^ "Black History Month Matters". "Salim Muwakkil".
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