African American History Month

African American History Month African American History Month is an annual observance in the United States held each February to highlight the histories, struggles, and achievements of people of African descent in the United States. Originating from Negro History Week founded by Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, it expanded during the late 20th century into a month-long recognition supported by presidents, lawmakers, cultural institutions, and community organizations. The observance intersects with commemorations such as Juneteenth and connects to broader diasporic histories involving places like Haiti, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

Origins and Development

Carter G. Woodson, a graduate of Harvard University who worked with figures such as W. E. B. Du Bois and institutions including the Howard University faculty, established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915 to promote scholarship on African-descended peoples. In 1926 Woodson launched Negro History Week to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass; the initiative drew on precedents from organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Urban League. Local historians, educators at schools such as Tuskegee Institute and Spelman College, and civic groups including the NAACP chapters and the National Council of Negro Women promoted weeklong programs. The movement expanded after the Civil Rights Movement, with activists, scholars from Columbia University and Yale University, and legislators in the United States Congress advocating for a month-long observance; in 1976 President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month, and subsequent proclamations by presidents including Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden reinforced federal recognition.

Themes and Annual Observances

Since 1996 the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) has designated annual themes to focus scholarship and public programming, building on earlier topical emphases set by scholars like John Hope Franklin and public intellectuals such as bell hooks. Themes have highlighted subjects including Reconstruction Era, Great Migration, and movements connected to leaders and organizations like Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, the NAACP, the Black Panther Party, and the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Cultural institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and museums like the National Museum of African American History and Culture mount exhibitions and partner with universities including Howard University and Morehouse College to mark themes. Annual observances often coordinate with events such as celebrations at Montgomery, Selma, Birmingham (Alabama), and historical sites tied to Harriet Tubman, Nat Turner, and Sojourner Truth.

Historical Significance and Impact

African American History Month has influenced public memory by foregrounding the contributions of figures like Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Ida B. Wells, Thurgood Marshall, and Shirley Chisholm alongside lesser-known actors such as Fannie Lou Hamer, Bayard Rustin, Ella Baker, A. Philip Randolph, and Claudette Colvin. The observance catalyzed archival efforts at institutions including the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Historically Black Colleges and Universities consortium, and state historical societies, prompting preservation of documents related to events like the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Red Summer of 1919, and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It has shaped curriculum debates in school systems in cities such as New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, and Detroit, influenced museum practice at venues like the Studio Museum in Harlem, and affected commemorative policy in legislatures and local governments.

Cultural Contributions and Notable Figures

The month spotlights artistic achievements from performers and creators such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, August Wilson, Gwendolyn Brooks, Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Prince (musician), Michael Jackson, Katherine Dunham, Alvin Ailey, Gordon Parks, and filmmakers like Spike Lee and Ava DuVernay. It also recognizes scientific and technological pioneers including George Washington Carver, Mae Jemison, Charles Drew, Lonnie Johnson, Granville T. Woods, and Percy Julian, along with business and civic leaders such as Maggie Lena Walker, Madam C. J. Walker, Reginald F. Lewis, Robert F. Smith, and Ulysses S. Grant (as connected via Reconstruction policies). Sports figures commemorated include Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Jesse Owens, Serena Williams, and Simone Biles. The observance alternates focus between widely known icons and underrecognized actors like Robert Smalls, Hiram Revels, James Weldon Johnson, Mary McLeod Bethune, Carter G. Woodson himself, Marian Anderson, Mabel Keaton Staupers, Benjamin O. Davis Jr., and Claiborne Pell-era supporters of cultural funding.

Education, Public Policy, and Institutional Recognition

African American History Month has prompted curricular initiatives in school districts, collaborations among universities such as Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, and HBCUs like Howard University and Morehouse College, and policy initiatives in state legislatures and municipal governments. Funding and program support from agencies including the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services have underwritten exhibitions, research grants, and teacher-training workshops. Legal and policy contexts tied to desegregation cases like Brown v. Board of Education, civil rights legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and federal proclamations by presidents and acts of United States Congress interact with observance practices. Museums, archives, schools, libraries, and media outlets—including networks that cover cultural history and public affairs—use the month to launch initiatives, digitization projects, publications, and commemorative events that aim to integrate scholarship by historians like Edna Bonhomme and Eric Foner into broader public understanding.

Category:Observances in the United States