• About
  • Advertise
  • Contact us
  • Privacy Policy
Monday, May 19, 2025
  • Login
Go WhereItzAt
  • Latest Issue
  • Entertainment
    • All
    • Gaming
    • Movie
    • Music
    • Sports
    Congratulations to Nickie E. Robinson Recognized as a Hero Behind the Culture

    Congratulations to Nickie E. Robinson Recognized as a Hero Behind the Culture

    The ball is back in Jamaica’s Appeals Court as UK Privy Council quashes dancehall star Vybz Kartel’s conviction

    The ball is back in Jamaica’s Appeals Court as UK Privy Council quashes dancehall star Vybz Kartel’s conviction

    Kennedy Center to Present The 25th Mark Twain Prize for American Humor to Kevin Hart

    HBO Original Documentary GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT Debuts January 8

    Trending Tags

      • Gaming
      • Movie
      • Music
      • Sports
    • Celebrity
    • Lifestyle
    • Art & Culture
      J.E.S.A. NY Hosts Their 13th Annual Fundraising & Awards Event

      J.E.S.A. NY Hosts Their 13th Annual Fundraising & Awards Event

      Welcome to the Brunch With Sherls Experience 

      Welcome to the Brunch With Sherls Experience 

      The Weekly Pull-Up

      The Weekly Pull-Up

      Are You Going To Jerk Festival In NYC This Year?

      Are You Going To Jerk Festival In NYC This Year?

      Spirit of the Caribbean

      Spirit of the Caribbean

      BLACK PANTHER: A Review

      BLACK PANTHER: A Review

    • Business
    • Publisher’s Vibe
    • B.I.G. Awards
    • Advertise With Us
    No Result
    View All Result
    • Latest Issue
    • Entertainment
      • All
      • Gaming
      • Movie
      • Music
      • Sports
      Congratulations to Nickie E. Robinson Recognized as a Hero Behind the Culture

      Congratulations to Nickie E. Robinson Recognized as a Hero Behind the Culture

      The ball is back in Jamaica’s Appeals Court as UK Privy Council quashes dancehall star Vybz Kartel’s conviction

      The ball is back in Jamaica’s Appeals Court as UK Privy Council quashes dancehall star Vybz Kartel’s conviction

      Kennedy Center to Present The 25th Mark Twain Prize for American Humor to Kevin Hart

      HBO Original Documentary GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT Debuts January 8

      Trending Tags

        • Gaming
        • Movie
        • Music
        • Sports
      • Celebrity
      • Lifestyle
      • Art & Culture
        J.E.S.A. NY Hosts Their 13th Annual Fundraising & Awards Event

        J.E.S.A. NY Hosts Their 13th Annual Fundraising & Awards Event

        Welcome to the Brunch With Sherls Experience 

        Welcome to the Brunch With Sherls Experience 

        The Weekly Pull-Up

        The Weekly Pull-Up

        Are You Going To Jerk Festival In NYC This Year?

        Are You Going To Jerk Festival In NYC This Year?

        Spirit of the Caribbean

        Spirit of the Caribbean

        BLACK PANTHER: A Review

        BLACK PANTHER: A Review

      • Business
      • Publisher’s Vibe
      • B.I.G. Awards
      • Advertise With Us
      No Result
      View All Result
      Go WhereItzAt
      No Result
      View All Result
      Home Art & Culture

      The Origin of Black History Month—And Why it Still Matters

      WhereItzAt Staff by WhereItzAt Staff
      03/22/2021
      in Art & Culture
      0 0
      0
      The Origin of Black History Month—And Why it Still Matters
      0
      SHARES
      4
      VIEWS
      Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

      Lonnie G. Bunch III

      African American historian Carter G. Woodson, date unknown. Photo from Bettmann/Getty Images

      No one has played a greater role in helping all Americans know the Black past than Carter G. Woodson, the individual who created Negro History Week in Washington, D.C., in February 1926.

      Woodson was the second Black American to receive a Ph.D. in history from Harvard—following W.E.B. Du Bois by a few years. To Woodson, the Black experience was too important simply to be left to a small group of academics. Woodson believed that his role was to use Black history and culture as a weapon in the struggle for racial uplift. By 1916, Woodson had moved to D.C. and established the “Association for the Study of Negro Life and Culture,” an organization whose goal was to make Black history accessible to a wider audience. Woodson was a strange and driven man whose only passion was history, and he expected everyone to share his passion.

      This impatience led Woodson to create Negro History Week in 1926, to ensure that schoolchildren would be exposed to Black history. Woodson chose the second week of February to celebrate the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

      It is important to realize that Negro History Week was not born in a vacuum. The 1920s saw the rise in interest in African American culture that was represented by the Harlem Renaissance, where writers such as Langston Hughes, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Claude McKay wrote about the joys and sorrows of Blackness. Meanwhile, musicians like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Jimmie Lunceford captured the new rhythms of the cities created in part by the thousands of Black Southerners who migrated to urban centers like Chicago. And artists like Aaron Douglas, Richmond Barthe, and Lois Jones created images that celebrated Blackness and provided more positive images of the African American experience.

      There is no more powerful force than a people steeped in their history.

      Woodson hoped to build upon this creativity and further stimulate interest through Negro History Week. He had two goals: One was to use history to prove to White America that Black people had played important roles in the creation of America and thereby deserved to be treated equally as citizens. By celebrating heroic Black figures—be they inventors, entertainers, or soldiers—Woodson essentially hoped to prove our worth, and by proving our worth, he believed that equality would soon follow. His other goal was to increase the visibility of Black life and history, at a time when few newspapers, books, and universities took notice of the Black community, except to dwell upon the negative. Ultimately Woodson believed Negro History Week—which became Black History Month in 1976—would be a vehicle for racial transformation forever.

      The question that faces us today is whether or not Black History Month is still relevant. Is it still a vehicle for change? Or has it simply become one more school assignment that has limited meaning for children? Has Black History Month become a time when television and the media stack their Black material? Or is it a useful concept whose goals have been achieved? After all, few—except the most ardent rednecks— could deny the presence and importance of African Americans to American society. Or as my then-14-year-old daughter, Sarah, put it: “I see Colin Powell every day on TV. All my friends—Black and White—are immersed in Black culture through music and television. And America has changed dramatically since 1926. Is not it time to retire Black History Month, as we have eliminated ‘White’ and ‘colored’ signs on drinking fountains?” I will spare you the three-hour lesson I gave her.

      I would like to suggest that despite the profound change in race relations that has occurred in our lives, Carter G. Woodson’s vision for Black history as a means of transformation and change is still quite relevant and quite useful. African American History Month, with a bit of tweaking, is still a beacon of change and hope that is still surely needed in this world. The chains of slavery are gone—but we are all not yet free. The great diversity within the Black community needs the glue of the African American past to remind us of not just how far we have traveled but lo, how far there is to go.

      The Power of Inspiration

      One thing has not changed: We still need to draw inspiration and guidance from the past. And through that inspiration, people will find tools and paths that will help them live their lives. Who could not help but be inspired by Martin Luther King’s oratory, commitment to racial justice, and his ultimate sacrifice? Or by the arguments of William and Ellen Craft, or Henry “Box” Brown, who used great guile to escape from slavery. Who could not draw substance from the creativity of Madam C.J. Walker or the audacity and courage of prize fighter Jack Johnson? Who could not continue to struggle after listening to the mother of Emmett Till share her story of sadness and perseverance?

      I know that when life is tough, I take solace in the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, or Gwendolyn Brooks. And I find comfort in the rhythms of Louis Armstrong, Sam Cooke, or Dinah Washington. And I draw inspiration from the anonymous slave who persevered so that the culture could continue.

      Let me conclude by re-emphasizing that Black History Month continues to serve us well, in part because Woodson’s creation is as much about today as it is about the past. Experiencing Black History Month every year reminds us that history is not dead or distant from our lives.

      Rather, I see the African American past in the way my daughter’s laugh reminds me of my grandmother. I experience the African American past when I think of my grandfather choosing to leave the South rather than continue to experience sharecropping and segregation, or when I remember sitting in the backyard listening to old men tell stories. Ultimately, African American History—and its celebration throughout February—is just as vibrant today as it was when Woodson created it 94 years ago. That’s because it helps us to remember there is no more powerful force than a people steeped in their history. And there is no higher cause than honoring our struggle and ancestors by remembering.

      This essay originally appeared in the “Our American Story” series published by the National Museum of African American History and Culture. It has been edited for length and clarity, and is republished here with permission.

      Lonnie G. Bunch III is the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian. As Secretary, he oversees 19 museums, 21 libraries, the National Zoo, numerous research centers, and several education units and centers. Previously, Bunch was the director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. A widely published author, Bunch has written on topics ranging from the Black military experience, the American presidency, and all-Black towns in the American West, to diversity in museum management and the impact of funding and politics on American museums. His most recent book, A Fool’s Errand: Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the Age of Bush, Obama, and Trump, which chronicle the making of the museum that would become one of the most popular destinations in Washington. Learn more about Bunch’s life and work at The Smithsonian.

      Top of Form

      Bottom of Form

      Top of Form

      Bottom of Form

       

       

      WhereItzAt Staff

      WhereItzAt Staff

      • Trending
      • Comments
      • Latest
      100 Famous Short Men Everyone Can Look Up To

      100 Famous Short Men Everyone Can Look Up To

      02/11/2021
      8 Wealthiest and Most Influential People From Jamaica

      8 Wealthiest and Most Influential People From Jamaica

      02/11/2021
      Sherman’s 50th Birthday

      Sherman’s 50th Birthday

      02/11/2021
      Donovan Wilson, Union of Jamaican Alumni Associations U.S.A., Inc (UJAA) President is a 2023 B.I.G. Awards Honoree

      Naala Royale-Holder, Dunn’s River Lounge Owner is a 2023 B.I.G. Awards Honoree

      11/20/2023
      Melanated AI: A New Marketplace Celebrating AI Artists and Creators of Color

      Melanated AI: A New Marketplace Celebrating AI Artists and Creators of Color

      44
      New York City Releases 2021 Overdose Data Showing Unprecedented Overdose Levels

      New York City Releases 2021 Overdose Data Showing Unprecedented Overdose Levels

      37
      UJAA’s Commitment to Provide Devices for Students Continues

      UJAA’s Commitment to Provide Devices for Students Continues

      37
      5 Tips To Make Your Money Work For You All 2023

      5 Tips To Make Your Money Work For You All 2023

      36
      From Frustration to Formulation: How Keeshagaye Whitter’s My Emollient is Redefining Clean Beauty for Sensitive Skin

      From Frustration to Formulation: How Keeshagaye Whitter’s My Emollient is Redefining Clean Beauty for Sensitive Skin

      03/30/2025
      Colorectal Cancer: 10 Symptoms Black Men Should Never Ignore

      Colorectal Cancer: 10 Symptoms Black Men Should Never Ignore

      03/28/2025
      Publisher’s Vibe: A Legacy of Mental Anguish – They’re Driving Us Crazy!

      Publisher’s Vibe – Life Imitating Art – The Trump Show 2.0!

      03/28/2025
      Modern Black Girl: Tiffany James’ Mission to Empower Women Through Investing

      The Art of Representation: Nicola Vassell’s Mission to Transform the Industry

      03/28/2025

      Recent News

      From Frustration to Formulation: How Keeshagaye Whitter’s My Emollient is Redefining Clean Beauty for Sensitive Skin

      From Frustration to Formulation: How Keeshagaye Whitter’s My Emollient is Redefining Clean Beauty for Sensitive Skin

      03/30/2025
      Colorectal Cancer: 10 Symptoms Black Men Should Never Ignore

      Colorectal Cancer: 10 Symptoms Black Men Should Never Ignore

      03/28/2025
      Publisher’s Vibe: A Legacy of Mental Anguish – They’re Driving Us Crazy!

      Publisher’s Vibe – Life Imitating Art – The Trump Show 2.0!

      03/28/2025
      Modern Black Girl: Tiffany James’ Mission to Empower Women Through Investing

      The Art of Representation: Nicola Vassell’s Mission to Transform the Industry

      03/28/2025
      Go WhereItzAt

      At WhereItzAt our purpose is to help people discover the unique voices, narratives, personal experiences, and perspectives of the Caribbean-American and Urban Culture along with great local businesses like restaurants, bars, dentists, hairstylists, mechanics, and more. Time to Explore!

      For Inquiries Call: (516) 690-9060

      Follow Us

      Resources

      • The Magazine
      • Articles
      • Latest Issue
      • Entertainment
      • Celebrity
      • Lifestyle
      • Art & Culture
      • Business
      • Publisher’s Vibe
      • B.I.G. Awards
      • Advertise With Us

      Recent News

      From Frustration to Formulation: How Keeshagaye Whitter’s My Emollient is Redefining Clean Beauty for Sensitive Skin

      From Frustration to Formulation: How Keeshagaye Whitter’s My Emollient is Redefining Clean Beauty for Sensitive Skin

      03/30/2025
      Colorectal Cancer: 10 Symptoms Black Men Should Never Ignore

      Colorectal Cancer: 10 Symptoms Black Men Should Never Ignore

      03/28/2025
      • About
      • Advertise
      • Contact us
      • Privacy Policy

      © 2021 Copyright WhereItzAt Media Group Inc. All Rights Reserved.

      No Result
      View All Result
      • Latest Issue
      • Entertainment
        • Gaming
        • Movie
        • Music
        • Sports
      • Celebrity
      • Lifestyle
      • Art & Culture
      • Business
      • Publisher’s Vibe
      • B.I.G. Awards
      • Advertise With Us

      © 2021 Copyright WhereItzAt Media Group Inc. All Rights Reserved.

      Welcome Back!

      Login to your account below

      Forgotten Password?

      Retrieve your password

      Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

      Log In

      Add New Playlist

      Are you sure want to unlock this post?
      Unlock left : 0
      Are you sure want to cancel subscription?