Black History Month
February marks the beginning of Black History Month - an annual celebration that has existed since 1926. But what are the origins of Black History Month? Much of the credit can go to Harvard Scholar Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who was determined to bring Black History into the mainstream public arena. Woodson devoted his life to making “the world see the ‘Negro’ as a participant rather than as a lay figure in history.“
In 1926 Woodson organized the first annual Negro History Week, which took place during the second week of February. Woodson chose this date to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln - two men who had greatly impacted the black population.
Over time, Negro History Week evolved into the Black History Month that we know today - a four-week-long celebration of African American History.
Some Important Moments in History
Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. From its Galveston, Texas origin in 1865, the observance of June 19, as the African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States and beyond. Today Juneteenth commemorates African American freedom and emphasizes education and achievement.
1900 – Booker T. Washington organizes the National Negro Business League.
1905 – W.E.B. DuBois and others meet in Niagara Falls, NY, to discuss actions on behalf of blacks. This and subsequent meetings lead to the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
1933 – NAACP begins seeking civil rights through legal suits.
1936 – NAACP sues to make pay for black and white teachers equal.
1938 – U.S. Supreme Court rules that states must provide equal educational facilities for blacks. The plaintiff, Lloyd Gaines of Missouri, mysteriously disappears after the court's decision.
1939 – NAACP begins seeking one million signatures supporting an anti-lynching bill
1941 – U.S. Supreme Court rules that separate facilities on railroads must be equal.
Union organizer A. Philip Randolph proposes a march on Washington to protest discrimination in federal programs. The march is called off after President Franklin D. Roosevelt forbids racial and religious discrimination in defense industries and government training programs.
1948 – President Harry Truman creates the Fair Employment Board, to eliminate racial discrimination in federal jobs.
President Harry Truman issues Executive Order No. 9981 directing “equality of treatment and opportunity” in the armed forces, which effectively desegregates the United States military
1950 – Ralph Bunche wins Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the 1948 Arab-Israeli truce.
1954 – U.S. Supreme Court rules in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (Kansas) that segregated schools are "inherently unequal." Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, MD., begin desegregating schools.
1955 – Supreme Court prohibits segregation of recreation facilities like playgrounds. Interstate Commerce Commission bans segregation in interstate buses, waiting rooms and railroad coaches. Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, AL, spurring a boycott lasting more than a year.
1957 – Civil Rights Act, permitting the federal government to sue on behalf of citizens and creating the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Nine students integrate Central High School in Little Rock, AR. Eisenhower sends federal troops to prevent interference with the desegregation.
1960 – President Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960, giving federal government responsibility in civil rights issues.
1964 – 24th Amendment, which outlaws the poll tax requirement, is ratified and added to U.S. Constitution.
U.S. Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting discrimination in public places, schools, lodging, federal programs and employment.
Martin Luther King Jr. receives the Nobel Peace Prize.
1965 – King leads 200 marchers from Selma to Montgomery, AL to protest racial discrimination.
Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965, eliminating illegal deterrents to African-American voters.
Malcolm X is assassinated.
1966 – Edward Brooke elected Senator from Massachusetts. He is the 1st African-American Senator since Reconstruction.
1967 – Thurgood Marshall becomes 1st African-American Supreme Court Justice
Carl Stokes elected mayor of Cleveland, OH, becoming the 1st African-American mayor of a major U.S. city.
1968 – Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated after addressing striking garbage workers in Memphis, TN.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the 1968 Housing Act prohibiting discrimination in sale, rental or lease of housing.
1973 – Coleman Young (Detroit), Maynard Jackson (Atlanta) and Tom Bradley (Los Angeles) all elected mayor, becoming the 1st African-American mayors of those cities.
1977 – Andrew Young becomes ambassador to the UN.
1983 – President Ronald Reagan approves law making Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday.
Vanessa Williams is crowned first black Miss America.
Guion S. Bluford Jr. becomes the first black American astronaut in space.
1984 – Robert N.C. Nix Jr. of Pennsylvania is voted first black to head a state Supreme Court.
1985 – Congressman John Conyers pushes part of Anti-Apartheid Act, to impose sanctions on South Africa for its refusal to grant civil rights to its black residents.
1988 – Juanita Kidd Stout of Pennsylvania elected first black woman to serve on a state Supreme Court.
1988 – Colin Powell becomes first black Chief of Staff for U.S. Armed Forces. In 1995, he considers and then rejects a run for U.S. President.
1990 – David Dinkins becomes mayor of New York City.
1990 – Douglas Wilder becomes governor of Virginia.
2000 – Colin Powell becomes the 1st African-American U.S. Secretary of State.
2004 – Barack Obama elected to the U.S. Senate from Illinois.
2005 – Condoleeza Rice becomes 2nd African-American U.S. Secretary of State.
2006 – Keith Ellison elected to the U.S. Senate from Minnesota.
Deval Patrick elected governor of Massachusetts.
