Please DonateBlack History Month was established in 1976 by Afro-Americans for the Study of Afro-American Life and History. The month-long celebration was an expansion of Negro History Week, which was established in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, director of what was then known as the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Woodson selected the week in February that embraced the birthdays of both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. The celebration may have had its origins in the separate efforts of Mary Church Terrell and the African American collegiate fraternity Omega Phi Psi. The former had begun the practice of honoring Frederick Douglass on February 14, the date he used to mark his birth. The Omegas established a "Negro Achievement Week" in 1924. Woodson was friends with Mary Church Terrell and worked with her and the National Council of Colored Women to preserve Douglass' home and personal papers. Woodson was also a member of Omega Psi Phi. While Terrell's celebration of Douglass was a local event and the Omega Achievement Week was part of their community outreach, Woodson broadened the scope of the celebration in three significant ways. First, he conceived of the event as a national celebration, sending out a circular to groups across the United States. Secondly, he sought to appeal to both whites and blacks and to improve race relations. For this reason, he chose President Lincoln's birthday as well as Douglass'. Finally, Woodson viewed Negro History Week as an extension of ASNLH's effort to demonstrate to the world that Africans and peoples of African descent had contributed to the advance of history. Each year, ASNLH would select a national theme and provide scholarly and popular materials to focus the nation's "study" of Negro history. As such, Negro History Week was conceived as a means of undermining the foundation of the idea of black inferiority through popular information grounded in scholarship. The theme, chosen by the founders of Black History Month, for 2008 is "Carter G. Woodson and the Origins of Multiculturalism."
The Negro History Week Movement took hold immediately. At first it was celebrated almost exclusively by African Americans, taking place outside of the view of the wider society. Increasingly, however, mayors and governors, especially in the North, began endorsing Negro History Week and promoting interracial harmony. By the time of Woodson's death in 1950, Negro History Week had become a well-established cultural institution. Indeed, it was so established that Woodson had begun to criticize groups for shallow and often inaccurate presentations that did not advance the public's knowledge of Negro life and history.
With the rise of the Black Power Movement in the 1960s, many in the African American community began to complain about the insufficiency of a week-long celebration. In 1976, the ASNLH, having changed its name to The Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, responded to the popular call, citing the 50th annual celebration and America's bicentennial. For more on the association visit ASALH.org.
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What was the first Broadway play to be written by an African American woman?
A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry.
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Who is the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars trilogy?
James Earl Jones.
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Who was the first black performer to have a television show?
Nat "King" Cole.
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Who flew four space shuttle missions and served as mission commander on two of these flights?
African American astronaut Charles F. Bolden Jr. and U.S. Naval Academy graduate is also a brigadier general in the U.S. Marine Corps.
It raises awareness
It is just a token gesture
Not Sure
View Results Other Important Sites
African American Expo
African American History Guide
Afro American Almanac
Black Collegian
Black History Month
Black Men In America.com:
Blacksonville.Com
Black Women's Health
Black Refer.com
Daily Scripture Cards
Dusable Museum of African American History
EURweb.com
Family Education Network
Forging the Freedom Trail Foundation
Harlem Globetrotters
HBCU Connect
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (1)
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (2)
Internet African American History Challenge
Kwanzaa Information Center (Melanet)
Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History
Museum of African American History (Boston)
Myblackinfo.com
National Civil Rights Museum
Negro League Baseball
New England Informer
Nineteenth Century African American Women Writers
Prominent African Americans
Soul Food Advisor
The HBCU Network
United Negro College Fund
Yenoba's Sickle Cell Resource PageCelebrate Black 365 was formed in 2008. Here we believe that our history covers more then just one month. Here is the place where you can educate yourself about our history, and our future. With our history stretching across many years in politics, sports, science, literature, entertainment, and more, this should be a common visiting place for you. Please add us to your top friends, forward this page, and support black history. Whether you are white or black, Black History is your history.
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