Black History Month

Harvard-trained historian Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), known today as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). The group sponsored a national Negro History week in 1926, choosing the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The event inspired schools and communities all across the nation to celebrate in local ways, create history clubs and hold performances and lectures.

The celebration was expanded to a month in 1976, which was also the nation's bicentennial. President Gerald R. Ford urged Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.

Every American president since 1976 has designated February as Black History Month with a specific theme. The ASALH maintains a list of the Black History Month Themes. In 2022, the theme was Black Resistance, which explores how "African Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression, in all forms, especially the racial terrorism of lynching, racial pogroms and police killings" since the beginning of the nation. It is also important to highlight the contributions of many Black Americans that have been critical to resistance efforts over the years. Here are a few of the many historical figures that demonstrated resistance:

• Coretta Scott King – Mrs. King’s work and passion is highlighted in a new film “Dear Coretta”
• Quock Walker – Learn about this local man who fled his enslavement and sued for his freedom on the Black Gems Unearthed YouTube channel maintained by Brandeis staff member, Jazz Dottin.
• Ida B. Wells – A journalist and activist for women’s rights who documented the widespread practice of lynching. Learn more about her at the Ida Wells Society Namesake page.

Additional resources

• The Association for the Study of African American Life and History founded Black History Month. The organization's mission is to promote, research, preserve, interpret and disseminate information about Black life, history and culture to the global community.
• The Black History Month Library of Congress site is a collaborative project of the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.