Here’s a GIF Look Back at How Black History Month Came to Be
98 years ago today, Dr. Carter G. Woodson announced the first Negro History Week, sparking a nationwide movement to learn Black history.
Who was Woodson? Woodson was a historian and the founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. He earned his doctorate in history from Harvard University, becoming the second African American to earn a PhD from the institution.
Woodson founded the ASNLH in 1915 after attending an event in Chicago marking the 50th anniversary of emancipation.
The event inspired Woodson; he founded the ASNLH soon after to document “neglected aspects of Negro history.”
In 1926, Woodson designated Feb. 7–15 as Negro History Week and urged teachers across the country to teach Black history.
Why Feb. 7–15? According to the NAACP, the week coincides with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
How did a week become a month? The push for a monthlong observation began with student activists at Kent State University in 1970. That year, Kent State’s Black United Students observed the first ever Black History Month with the support of faculty.
The observation caught on: in 1976, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (formerly the ASNLH) followed suit and expanded the week to a month.
In 1976, President Gerald Ford formally recognized February as Black History Month during the country’s bicentennial.
“[Americans should] seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history. I urge my fellow citizens to join me in tribute to Black History Month and the message of courage and perseverance it brings to all of us.”
Each year, the ASALH designates a new theme for Black History Month. This year’s theme? “African Americans and the Arts.”
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