Every February, U.S. citizens celebrate African-Americans and their role in shaping our nation’s history by observing African-American/Black History Month. Although February is the selected month for remembrance and celebration, it wasn’t always a month long, but started out as just a week.

African -American historian Carter G. Woodson first established Black history Week on Feb. 12, 1926. According to Vicky Tonn, writer for Army Flier, Woodson selected the second week of February because it includes the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, two giants in the history of African Americans.  

Recognized as the father of the study of American black history, Woodson spent his young adult years in West Virginia. Woodson was the son of former slaves from Virginia and worked in the coal mines in Fayette County as a young man.

While there, Woodson got a job reading newspapers to miners who could not read. The experience had a deep impact on Woodson. Eventually he became the first son of slave parents to earn a Ph.D. in the United States. Woodson received a degree from Harvard University in 1912.

Woodson spent his life documenting the accomplishments of black Americans, many of which had been ignored. He wrote more than 20 books that detailed the contributions of blacks to the development of America.

He lectured at numerous colleges, established a scholarly journal, The Journal of Negro History, and a year later founded the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASAALH). When Woodson died in 1950, the ASAALH continued the celebration of Negro History Week.

The dedicated week had become a central part of African American culture, and substantial progress had been made in promoting awareness of the celebration, but the ASAALH continued to advocate devoting more time to Black History.

In 1976, fifty years after the first celebration, the ASAALH held the first Black History Month. Black History Month has served the broad purpose of educating all Americans about the roles African-Americans have played in the nation’s history.

Since Woodson’s contributions, there have been many strides toward making America racially equal. In 1971, the Supreme Court upheld busing as a legitimate means for achieving integration of public schools. In March 1988, Congress passed the Civil Rights Restoration Act, which expands the reach of the non-discrimination laws within private institutions receiving federal funds. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 strengthened existing civil rights laws as well as provided damages in cases of occupational discrimination.

In June 2003, the Supreme Court upheld the University of Michigan Law School's admissions policy in what probably signifies the most important affirmative action decision since the 1978 Bakke case. Their 5 to 4 vote, ruled that race can be a factor - though not the only one - considered by colleges when selecting their students.

Blacks have been in America at least as far back as colonial times, yet it wasn't until the 20th century that their history has been considered worthy of the study and celebration it deserves. Black History Month helps make American history ultimately one multi-colored, intertwining story.

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