See other Holidays » Black History Month
Black history cannot be separated from American history as a whole, from colonial times to the Civil War through the civil rights campaign and beyond. But it was Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson who essentially revolutionized the field, countering what he saw as the prevailing scholarly neglect or misrepresentation of his people. He established the second week of February 1926 as the first annual Negro History Week and fifty years later it expanded into a monthlong commemoration. The idea spread to South America, the West Indies, Africa, the Philippines, the Virgin Islands and the UK (where it is observed in October).
In some ways, the question of whether there should even be a Black History Month — and there are passionate black voices on both sides of the debate — is reminiscent of a question that has long been central to the African-American experience: should the community stress its African heritage and strive toward segregated churches and schools, or embrace its American identity and demand full political, social and educational integration?
Black Americans are activists and victims, martyrs and heroes — and even, as of January 2009, president of the United States — and their history is full of tragedy, triumph and ongoing struggle. Suggested topics for further study include: Atlantic slave trade, Amistad, Dred Scott v. Sandford, NAACP, Tuskegee experiment,
