Celebrating Black History Month

2/9/2023 9:01 pm

The History of Black History Month Black History Month is a federally recognized event that is celebrated nationwide. Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875–1950) is credited with creating this opportunity to recognize and reflect on the important roles of African Americans in this country. The son of former slaves, Woodson spent little time in school. Working in coal mines and quarries, his formal education was intermittent, but he studied when he could. By the time he was 17, he had taught himself basic English and math skills. When he was able to enroll in high school at the age of 20, he completed a four-year curriculum in two years. He went on to earn a master’s degree from the University of Chicago and a doctorate degree in history from Harvard. Disturbed by the fact that history textbooks largely ignored the contributions of black Americans, he went about trying to correct this oversight. In 1926, he established Negro History Week. He summed up its intent by saying, “We should emphasize not Negro history but the Negro in history. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race, hate, and religious prejudice.” In 1976, the week was expanded to a month-long celebration. For his extraordinary efforts, Dr. Woodson has been called “The Father of Black History.”

To Name Just a Few...

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) Frederick Douglass, who started life as a slave, became one of the foremost leaders of the abolitionist movement. The movement was founded in the decades prior to the Civil War by a dedicated group of people who fought to end slavery within the United States. Taught to read by the wife of one of his owners, Douglass went on to become a brilliant, eloquent speaker. Because of his skills, he was asked by the American Anti-Slavery Society to participate in a series of lecture tours throughout the country. Lecture by lecture, his fame grew, and today he is recognized as one of America’s first great black orators. Worldwide fame would come to him after his autobiography was published in 1845. President Abraham Lincoln used him as an advisor during the Civil War. Douglass helped shape and fight for the adoption of constitutional amendments related to voting rights and other civil liberties for blacks. He is remembered for his passionate voice for human rights and his dedicated crusade against racial injustice.

Harriet Tubman (1820–1913) Tubman was born a slave in Dorchester County, Maryland, and at the age of five or six, she became a house servant. Her courage was evident early on. In her teens, she shielded a field hand from an angry overseer, resulting in a two-pound weight striking her in the head. For the rest of her life she would suffer from episodes in which she would fall into deep sleep for extended periods of time. She married fellow slave John Tubman but left him behind in 1849 when, fearing she was about to be sold, she escaped from the plantation. She set out on foot and followed the North Star all the way to Philadelphia. There she found a job and saved her money. Within the year, she was back in Maryland to rescue her sister and her sister’s two children. Her life’s work had begun. Tubman became one of the best-known conductors of the Underground Railroad. She was given the name Moses and made 19 trips to the South over a 10-year period, leading over 300 slaves to freedom in the North. At one point, she had a $40,000 price on her head.

Medgar Evers (1925–1963) Medgar Evers was born in Decatur, Mississippi, to a farming family. Evers enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1943 and fought in France and Germany during World War ll. After receiving an honorable discharge from the Army in 1946, he attended the Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College, where he married Myrlie Beasley during his senior year. They became the parents of three children— two boys and a girl. What was it about this seemingly typical life history that caused Medgar Evers to become such a renowned civil rights activist? The Mississippi in which Medgar Evers grew up was a place of blatant discrimination against blacks. As the civil rights movement gained momentum, Evers joined in with a calm, measured commitment. He became the Mississippi Field Secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He wanted to help change his ©ActivityConnection.com – Celebrating Black History Month – Page 3 of 5 native state to a place where blacks would be free to think, speak, and live as equals with their white counterparts. Evers paid a high price for his convictions. At the age of 37, on June 12, 1963, Evers was shot in the back in the driveway of his home after returning from a late-night meeting. He was the first major civil rights leader to be killed in the turbulent ’60s. The assassination of Evers prompted then President John F. Kennedy to petition Congress for a comprehensive civil rights bill. President Lyndon Johnson, after the assassination of Kennedy himself, signed the bill into law the following year.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) Michael Luther King Jr. (he later changed his name to Martin) was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the son and grandson of pastors at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. An excellent student, he skipped grades in both elementary school and high school. When he was only 15 years old, he enrolled in Morehouse College in Atlanta. From there he went on to study for three years at the Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. King received his doctorate in 1953 from Boston University. It was in Boston that he met and married Coretta Scott. They had two daughters and two sons. After his ordination, Dr. King moved to Alabama. During the 1950s, he became active in the movement for civil rights and racial equality. He participated in the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott and other peaceful demonstrations to protest the unfair treatment of African Americans. Over time, he became the recognized leader among many individuals and groups involved in the movement. He spent considerable time in jail but, like Gandhi, never wavered in his conviction that the movement resist any and all forms of violence. In 1964, at the age of 35, he became the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize. On the evening of April 4, 1968, King stood on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee. He was there to lead a protest march in support of striking city garbage workers. A shot rang out, and King, at the age of 39, was felled by an assassin’s bullet. We lost the man that day, but his words and beliefs—and his impact on civil rights in the United States—live on. His memorable “I Have a Dream” speech is played often every February.