Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: lauring bog obaum here. America has officially celebrated Black History
Speaker 1: Month since February of nineteen seventy six, when President Gerald R.
Speaker 1: Ford established it as a national observance in an address
Speaker 1: that lauded its founder, African American historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson,
Speaker 1: and the quote impressive contributions of Black Americans to our
Speaker 1: national life and culture. But why February wasn't chosen willy nilly?
Speaker 1: Or does February have special significance? We owe the celebration
Speaker 1: of Black History Month to Woodson, who made it his
Speaker 1: life's work to increase public awareness of African American history
Speaker 1: and culture. Known as the Father of Black History, this
Speaker 1: son of former slaves worked his way out of the
Speaker 1: Kentucky coal mines to become a Harvard educated historian and journalist.
Speaker 1: Disheartened to discover that history books excluded the Black experience
Speaker 1: of American life beyond ways that portrayed black people as
Speaker 1: socially inferior, he took on the challenge of writing a proud,
Speaker 1: out and true African American history into America's national consciousness.
Speaker 1: Woodson wrote those who have no record of what their
Speaker 1: forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the
Speaker 1: teaching of biography and history. With that in mind, in
Speaker 1: nineteen fifteen, he founded the Association for the Study of
Speaker 1: Negro Life in History now the Association for the Study
Speaker 1: of African American Life and History and the Seminal Journal
Speaker 1: of Negro History in nineteen sixteen, later renamed the Journal
Speaker 1: of African American History. In February of nineteen twenty six,
Speaker 1: he introduced the celebration of negroh History Week as a
Speaker 1: way to shine a light on the myriad contributions of
Speaker 1: black people throughout American history. Woodson and the Association chose
Speaker 1: the second week in February to launch the celebratory week
Speaker 1: because it coincided with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln, whose
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three Emancipation Proclamation and its slavery and Frederick Douglas,
Speaker 1: the former slave turned social reformer who became a national
Speaker 1: force in the abolitionist movement. Other February events of historical
Speaker 1: merit included the birth of civil rights icon W. E. B.
Speaker 1: Du Bois and the passing of the Fifteenth Amendment on
Speaker 1: February third, eighteen seventy, which recognized the right of African
Speaker 1: American men to vote. The notion of expanding the week
Speaker 1: to a month evolved over the decades leading up to
Speaker 1: and during the Civil Rights movement of the nineteen sixties.
Speaker 1: Freedom schools in the South incorporated the week into their curricula,
Speaker 1: and by the mid nineteen sixties, many colleges and universities
Speaker 1: across the country began to transform the week long event
Speaker 1: into a month long celebration on their campuses. Leaders of
Speaker 1: the Black United Students Organization at Kent State University proposed
Speaker 1: expanding it to a month, and in nineteen seventy they
Speaker 1: celebrated Black History Month for the first time on their campus.
Speaker 1: By the time President Ford made it a national observance
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy six, many mayors had already endorsed it
Speaker 1: as a municipal celebration. Each iteration of the event since
Speaker 1: its inception in ninety six has had a specific theme,
Speaker 1: as stated by the association, The theme for twenty is
Speaker 1: African Americans and the Vote, marking the one and fiftieth
Speaker 1: Anniverse three of the Fifteenth Amendment and the one anniversary
Speaker 1: of the nineteenth amendment by which women gained the vote
Speaker 1: as well. This year's theme honors the struggles and triumphs
Speaker 1: of black citizens and elected officials in securing access to
Speaker 1: these rights and highlights the importance of the vote in
Speaker 1: this an important election year. Today's episode was written by
Speaker 1: Carrie Tatro and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is
Speaker 1: production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more on
Speaker 1: this and lots of other topics, visit our home planet,
Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com. And for more podcasts from
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