Black History Month: History of Black History Month

Black History Month has its roots in Negro History Week, a celebration of the African American in history developed by historian and author Carter G. Woodson in 1926. This was designed to be a weeklong time of appreciation for how African Americans have positively impacted the world around them. Stretching between Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays, Negro History Week was celebrated each year for the next half-century. On it’s bicentennial celebration, Negro History Week was extended to a month. Black History Month was thus born.

Negro History Week was a major shift in the way that people viewed blacks as well as the way blacks viewed themselves. In the mid-twenties, African Americans were considered to be less intelligent or capable than their white peers. This is due to the prejudice ingrained in the minds of white society for centuries. However, during the early twentieth century, people began to consider that African Americans were able to contribute more to society than backbreaking labor or menial service work. When slavery ended, African Americans began proving that they had a lot to contribute to society.

Today, organizations, academic institutions, and governments come together to recognize these contributions and remember the struggles that Civil Rights endured to help African Americans achieve equal footing with whites. Christian home school families can share in this time of celebration and remembrance by learning about influential African Americans. Feel free to use these resources in your home school curriculum. It’s important that students learn about Black History Month so that the injustices may never again be repeated.

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