written by: Amana Murphy – Maize Middle
Black history month honors African Americans for their achievements and recognizes the role of black people in U.S. history.
Black History Month has always been around but started with a different name. Before Black History Month was around “Negro History Week” was the substitute for now which we call “Black History Month”. Negro History Week was created by an African American historian, educator, and publisher by the name of Carter G. Woodson. It then became a wide month-long celebration in 1976.
Some people are wondering “Why does Black History Month have the shortest month?” And to answer your question, that’s because it occurred at the same time around both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday, and both of these dates the black community has celebrated together since the late 19th century.
There are many memorable times that we still remember to this day from our black citizens, such as when Sojourner Truth, who was born a slave in New York State in 1797, became a speaker dedicated to fighting for human civil rights, when Harriet Tubman escaped slavery in Maryland in 1849 and came back to rescue 300 plus people including her family which was known as the Underground railroad, December 1st, 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in Montgomery, AL which started a city-wide bus boycott, and the “I Have a Dream Speech” by Martin Luther King in 1963, and many more.
All these tragic events led to history and we remember the African Americans that spoke and strived for what was right, not knowing if it would get them killed or not, but knowing that it would be the right thing. To this day we remember the few that did just that, and now under their name, we call this Black History Month.
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