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Many of the ugly pages of American history have been obscured and forgotten....America owes a debt of justice which it has only begun to pay. If it loses the will to finish or slackens in its determination, history will recall its crimes and the country that would be great will lack the most indispensable element of greatness--justice.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - "Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?", 1967
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Every year during the month of February, we celebrate Black History Month.
For members of the NAACP family, the tradition of Black History Month goes back to the beginning of the 20th Century. NAACP leader and legendary historian and educator Carter G. Woodson originally founded “Negro History Week” in 1926, at a time when most history books simply omitted any African-American history and the central role African-Americans played in the birth of America as we know it. Woodson chose February because it coincided with the birthdays of two men who fought for freedom of American slaves: Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
In 1976, Negro History Week was expanded to Black History Month. Since then, Black History Month has offered an opportunity to study, reflect on, and redefine our ongoing legacy in American history.
Resources
Black History Timeline: Celebrate the historical icons of America's black community through this interactive journey.
Black History Facts: History and timelines, contemporary issues and facts, special features, holidays, education, quizzes and crosswords and much, much more.
Black History Month Quotes: Quotes from Mary McLeod Bethune, Maya Angelou, Muhammad Ali and many more.
Not in Our Town - Class Actions: Premiers on PBS in February 2012. Check local listings. How do we learn from the past? From tragedy? From our own mistakes? Three towns. Three lessons learned. Three stories of student leaders and their communities standing together to stop hate.
