February is Black History Month

We have Carter G. Woodson to thank for Black History Month.  An African-American historian who earned his PhD from Harvard in 1912 (the second African-American to do so after W.E.B. DuBois), Woodson established the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASAALH)  in 1915 to record and preserve African-American history.  In 1926 he established Negro History Week, the second week of February that would fall between Lincoln and Frederick Douglass' birthdays.  Although Woodson passed away in 1950, ASAALH continued its work.  In 1976, ASAALH expanded Negro History week to Black History Month, and to this day assigns a theme to the month.  This theme serves as a focus for schools and community organizations that would like to plan events around the month. 

This year's Black History Month theme is "Black Women in American Culture and History".

For a list of future and past themes, click here.