Black Historical past Month defined: Its origins, celebrations, myths

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By HAYA PANJWANI, Related Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Starting Feb. 1, faculties, museums and communities throughout the nation will mark the beginning of Black Historical past Month –- a celebration of Black historical past, tradition and schooling.

The historical past of the month dates again virtually a century, and the best way it’s celebrated and advanced has created historical past in itself.

The origins of the month

Black Historical past Month wasn’t all the time a monthlong celebration. In February 1926, historian and creator Carter G. Woodson created Negro Historical past Week. It was a weeklong celebration in an effort to show folks about African-American historical past and the contributions of Black folks.

This effort was made beneath the umbrella of a company he based in September 1915 referred to as the Affiliation for the Examine of African American Life and Historical past, or ASALH.

“I believe Black people understood what they’d contributed to America’s historic narrative, however nobody was speaking about it,” stated Kaye Whitehead, the group’s president. “Nobody was centralizing it till Dr. Carter G. Woodson was in 1926.”

After he handed away in 1950, the members of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, which Dr. Woodson was a member of, did numerous groundwork to encourage celebrating the week. The fraternity was additionally answerable for the push to increase the celebrations to a full month. Ultimately, in 1976, President Gerald Ford grew to become the primary president to difficulty a message recognizing the month.

Since then, presidents have made annual proclamations for Nationwide Black Historical past Month, a practice that President Donald Trump plans to proceed, in line with White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Celebrating Black historical past

The Affiliation for the Examine of African American Life and Historical past releases a theme for every year, which is a observe Woodson began.

This 12 months’s theme is African Individuals and Labor. The group plans to make use of the month, and the remainder of the 12 months, specializing in the function of Black labor in constructing the nation by means of trade or group work.

Black historical past can be celebrated inside communities and households. Price Ok. Hayes, an affiliate professor of historical past and Africana research at Morehouse School, stated some households might use the month to discover their family tree, find out about their ancestors or come collectively to eat a meal and make household timber.

“We could also be extra accustomed to the extra public methods, however there are additionally much more intimate methods by which these messages are unfold and the best way that the vacation is propagated,” Hayes stated.

At some faculties, assemblies or gatherings are held to honor Black leaders, in line with the nonpartisan group the Heart for Racial Justice in Schooling.

“Some faculties invite elders to share their knowledge and lived experiences, permitting younger folks to study from them, ask questions, and construct significant connections throughout generations,” the middle stated in an e-mail to The Related Press. “Moreover, some communities choose particular subjects or rules for in-depth exploration in the course of the month.”

Myths about Black Historical past Month

Myths round Black Historical past Month proceed, Whitehead stated, together with the concept the U.S. authorities purposely selected the shortest month of the 12 months. In actuality, Woodson selected February as a result of two outstanding figures within the civil rights motion — Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass — had birthdays within the week he selected.

Whitehead additionally stresses that Black historical past shouldn’t simply be taught for the month of February, however slightly taught and celebrated for all the 12 months.

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