Important figures in history are celebrated during the month of February for their work in preserving the culture of African-Americans.
Photo by Rock Creek Free Press, Artwork by Mia Nogueira
Black History Month comes to the attention of all during February and celebrates the study and glory of the African-American figures and cultures that have defined the race throughout the years. For The United States and Canada it is the month of February, while the UK celebrates during October.
Black History Month started with the second African-American to graduate with a degree from Harvard, Dr. Carter Woodson. He first had an entire week entitled Negro History Week that was established in 1926. The week was dedicated for African-Americans to be educated on what their cultural history included. By doing this, Carter hoped a sense of pride would develop within the African-Americans about their own culture.
Woodson chose the month of February for the Negro History Week because two of the greatest abolitionists of Slavery were born during this month. The first one was President Abraham Lincoln, born February 12th 1809. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation under his powers during wartime. The Civil War was already halfway through when Lincoln signed this order in 1862, which took effect in 1863. The proclamation stated that all slaves in Confederate States were to be free if these states did not join the union by January 1st 1863. Throughout history this has been the main thing associated with Lincoln and his time as president.
The second man is abolitionist Frederick Douglass, whose birthday is in February (with Douglass adopting February 14th 1817 as his official birthday, while later information on his owners’ records changed the year to 1818). In 1845 Douglass wrote an autobiography entitled Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. It immediately became an international bestselling book, which was very detailed on the slave life Frederick Douglass had to endure. Douglass had the opportunity to work with President Lincoln on many issues regarding African-American rights.
After Lincoln’s death, Douglass became President of the Freedman’s Savings Bank. He also worked with Ulysses S. Grant on disrupting the Ku Klux Klan and other racist groups in South Carolina and other states in the South. He was also chosen as the running mate to Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to ever run for the Presidency. He never was informed of his nomination, but he is regarded as an important figure in the abolition of slavery.
The year 1926 saw the start of Negro History Week, in due time as the renowned Harlem Renaissance was happening. This was the new movement of the African-Americans, first starting in Harlem, New York, who were beginning to establish a sense of artistic and emotional identity in the world. This new ideological wave can be seen in direct correlation to the renaissance that happened in Europe 470 years earlier. Patrons, painters, writers, and philosophers of African-American descent were beginning to dedicate their work for the benefit of equality between races in America. The increased intellect of the time frame helped bring music styles like jazz and blues to the modern world.
Many students who have taken American Literature as a class might know about the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, which was written by author Zora Neale Hurston, a famous author to be recognized due to Harlem Renaissance. Poet Langston Hughes also started writing because of the new intellectual ideology at this time. Musician Louis Armstrong brought his talented harmonies to the world during this same time frame, as well.
The celebrated figures are not just from the time frame of the Harlem Renaissance, but due to this change of intellect more African-Americans began to rise up into society, with ideas to change the world forever. Malcolm X was a minister preaching towards African-Americans. He was a strong civil rights activist and was born during the age of the Harlem Renaissance in Omaha, Nebraska in 1925. When he was drafted to World War II in 1945, he found his way out of joining the military, becoming classified as not mentally stable enough. He then began robbing houses that belonged to rich white families as a form of protest. He was caught and sent to jail. After jail, he went to the Nation of Islam to become an Islamic minister, and when he came back to the United States in 1965, was assassinated. Malcolm X preached for equality between the two races.
Dr. Martin Luther King is one of the largest names celebrated today during Black History Month. Public schools celebrate a day off of school to remember the birth of King, the third Monday of January, (which usually falls close to his actual birthday, January 15th). Martin Luther King was a strong advocate for equal rights among the society of America. He worked closely with John F. Kennedy to get bills establishing equal protection for not only African-Americans, but also all races. He made the famous I Have A Dream speech on August 28th, 1963. In this speech Dr. King called for racial equality and the elimination of discrimination in America. It is a 17-minute-long powerful speech, and regarded as one of the greatest speeches ever made.
A new figure to soon join the celebration of Black History Month will be the current President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama. His presidency came quickly, with only one senate term served before he decided to run for the presidency. He won and in 2009, and he began his first term as the first African-American president of the United States.
1976 is the year the weeklong study of African-American study and preservation turned into a full month. People are reminded to remember important figures who shaped the history of African-Americans, like Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and any others who helped preserve the culture of African-Americans.
