AFRICAN AMERICAN

HISTORY MONTH
Black History Month
Black History Month

Every February, people in the United

States celebrate the achievements
and history of African Americans as
part of Black History Month.
How it started…
In 1915, in response to the lack of information
on the accomplishments of Black people
available to the public, historian Carter G.
Woodson co-founded the Association for the
Study of Negro Life and History.

In 1926, the group declared the second week

of February as “Negro History Week” to
recognize the contributions of African
Americans to U.S. history.
This week was chosen because it includes
the birthdays of both Frederick Douglass,
an abolitionist (someone who wanted to
end the practice of enslaving people), and
former U.S. president Abraham Lincoln.
President Lincoln led the United States during
the Civil War, which was primarily fought over
the enslavement of Black people in the country.
The week-long event officially became Black
History Month in 1976 when U.S. president
Gerald Ford extended the recognition to “honor
the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black
Americans in every area of endeavor throughout
our history.”

Black History Month has been celebrated in the

United States every February since.
BLACK
HISTORY
MONTH TODAY
 Since the first Negro
History Week in 1926, Canada
other countries have the United Kingdom
joined the United States
in celebrating Black Germany
people and their the Netherlands
contribution to history
and culture
Today Black History Month
continues the discussion of Black
people and their contributions
through activities such as museum
exhibits and film screenings, and
by encouraging the study of
achievements by African
Americans year-round.
Let’s get to know
some of the
celebrated African
American heroes!
 She was the first African-
American woman to obtain an
international pilot’s license,
soaring to new heights that
Black people in the United
States had never reached before.

She saved up money and applied

to U.S. flight schools. But every
school rejected her because she
Bessie Coleman was Black and a woman.
 Martin Luther King, Jr., is
known for his contributions
to the American civil rights
movement in the 1960s.

His most famous work is his

“I Have a Dream” speech,
delivered in 1963, in which
he spoke of his dream of a
United States that is void of
segregation and racism.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I have a dream that my
four little children will
one day live in a nation
where they will not be
judged by the color of
their skin but by the
content of their
character.”
 Rosa Parks

On December 1, 1955, she

boarded a city bus in Montgomery,
Alabama and sat in the middle,
where Black passengers in that
city were allowed to sit unless a
white person wanted the seat.

As the bus filled with new riders,

the driver told Parks to give up her
seat to a white passenger. She
refused. The driver called police,
and Parks was arrested.
 Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass escaped from

slavery, then spoke and wrote about his
experiences to inspire people to end the
practice.
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.

He commanded the
first all-Black unit
of military pilots,
called the Tuskegee
Airmen, who fought
during World War
II.
Katherine Johnson

One of her biggest

accomplishments at
NASA was helping
calculate the
trajectory of the
country’s first
human spaceflight in
1961.
 COLORED
RESTROOMS