February, 2023
By Jerald Herrera, Staff Reporter
A year after Carter G. Woodson and other notable figures founded the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH); he began one of the first journals to cover African-American history, The Journal of African-American History: a crucial step in increasing nationwide respect for the African-American community. This journal became the voice for influential Black Americans that helped contribute to achievement that helped them fight the systems that had previously held them back.
From 1916 to 1926, Woodson made great strides in expanding the effort to recognize achievement within the black community. Creating Black History Month: it spans the entire month of February, chosen because it is when President Abraham Lincoln’s and abolitionist Frederick Douglass’s birthdays are; but while Woodson understood that these two were significant American figures, he wanted to center a time to reflect on the past and current accomplishments of the entire African-American community instead of only a few. Woodson’s contribution and greater urbanization brought African Americans into a sphere of influence and more power within their respective communities.
And although founded in 1916, Black History Month was not officially recognized as an event until 60 years later, in 1976. There was a disconnect between the African-American community and everyone else, for it took too long for this event to be officially adopted. Though today, we may see Black History Month as a time for only the African-American community, when, in reality, it is the celebration and overcoming struggles and persevering past obstacles that held us as a society back.
Thanks to this commemoration, the February month is a dedicated time we can look back at the feats that figures like MLK Jr, Claudette Colvin, Rosa Parks, and many others were able to achieve as their impacts still reach us to this day.
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