Mike Parker: Why is February ‘Black History Month’?
When I was still active in the classroom, one of my African American students approached me. He expressed concerns about Black History Month. According to information he heard, the nation observes Black History Month during February, the shortest month of the year, as a put-down. Choosing February was a way for the dominant culture to say, “We may have to set aside a month to focus on your history, but we can make sure it doesn't last all that long.”
This student’s concern saddened me. Good information was available, but young people are often willing to take what friends, family, and neighbors say as gospel truth. I looked at my student and asked:
“Have you researched this issue?”
“No,” he said, his eyes dropping.
“You might want to check into this issue before you take what other people tell you for the truth.”
The idea for establishing a time to focus on the study of Black History originated with Carter G. Woodson and other like-minded scholars. They belonged to what was then called the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Today the organization is the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
Before we get into what led to the establishment of Black History Month, we need to learn a little about Carter G. Woodson, the driving force behind this movement. He was born in 1875 – about a decade after the American Civil War. Once enslaved in Virginia, Woodson’s parents gained their freedom when the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect in the South after the war.
But the Emancipation Proclamation did not abolish slavery across this nation. Most people do not realize slavery still existed in some Union states even after the Civil War. On Dec. 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified. It abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime.
Woodson did not immediately jump into academic studies even though he was studious. Family circumstances demanded he work in the West Virginia coal mines to help his family. Later, he attended Berea College in Berea, Kentucky – the first college in the United States that was both coeducational and racially integrated.
Later, Woodson earned a graduate degree from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from Harvard, only the second African American to do so. The first was W.E.B Du Bois. To this day, Woodson is the only person ever to earn a Ph.D. whose parents were formerly enslaved people. He spent most of his academic career at Howard University.
In February 1926, Woodson launched Negro History Week to promote African American history. He chose February for two specific reasons. First, he chose February to honor Abraham Lincoln for the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln was born on Feb. 12, 1809. Second, he chose February because the articulate abolitionist Frederick Douglass was born in February 1816. So Woodson did not select February to slight anyone. February honors men who had worked to advance the cause of African American liberty.
Black History Month serves as a reminder and an incentive to study the myriad achievements African Americans have made to this nation. From medicine to music, from engineering to architecture, from literature to the silver screen, African Americans have made significant contributions to the life and culture of the United States. However, despite these contributions, most Americans of all ethnicities would be hard-pressed to name those who made these achievements.
We all need to understand that African American history is an essential part of the overall history of this nation. I study Black History just as I study any other history – to enlighten myself. Even more, I educate myself so I can take pride in what we have achieved together.
Mike Parker is a columnist for Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.
