Facts You Should Know About Black History Month

Here are some facts you should know about the tradition.

• The celebration of Black History Month began as “Negro History Week.” 
• Carter Goodwin Woodson, a noted African American historian, scholar, educator, publisher, and son of former slaves and second American American to earn a doctorate from Harvard, and minister Jesse E. Moorland, created Black History Month in 1926.
• February was chosen as the month to celebrate Black History Month to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.
• Woodson created Negro History Week to extend the public’s study of black history.
• Some schools incorporated Black history into the curriculum in hopes of promoting social change during the Civil Rights Movement in the South.
• In the 1960s colleges and universities started to expand the recognition of African American history to the full month of February.
• The movement began as one week and quickly spread throughout university and schools until Black History Month became a month-long celebration in 1976. 
• The United Kingdom celebrates Black History Month in October.
• A theme is chosen by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History every year. The theme for 2021 is The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity. The African diaspora will be explored