Black history is celebrated during Black History Month.Black History Month is celebrated in February every year. However, it was previously known as ‘Negro History Week.‘The week was celebrated on the second week of February as the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass both fell during this week. Later, the week was changed to a month-long celebration. However, it’s not celebrated at the same time everywhere around the world; for example, in the United Kingdom, Black History Month is celebrated every October. Continue reading this article to learn more about the fascinating history of Black History Month and ancient black history facts.When was the first Black History Month?In February of every year, the United States celebrates Black History Month. This started in 1926 when Black History was known as another name.Back in 1915, Carter G. Woodson, the historian, saw very little information available to the general public about the accomplishments Black people have made, so he co-founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.Hence, in 1926, the association decided to celebrate ‘Negro History Week’ every second week of February to make people more aware of the achievements and contributions made by people of African descent towards society.Black educators, scholars, and members of Kent State University’s Black United Students suggested Black History Month in February of 1969. Black United Students was an assembly of students with the principals ‘self-determination, unity, and brotherhood’ in mind.The suggestion became a reality within six years when President Gerald Ford recognized Black History Month in 1976.Black History Month was not only created, but it was also being celebrated around the country by community centers, Black culture centers, educational institutions, and more places during the United States Bicentennial celebrations.Recognizing the day, he said that it was the perfect opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of black people in every area or field in human history.The Black community responded to it with open hearts and extreme enthusiasm.Black History Clubs were founded, and Black women, men, and every progressive White folk took part in the day.After 40 years, on February 21, 2016, Virginia McLaurin, a 106-year school volunteer, and Washington DC visited the White House.When President Barack Obama asked her the reason for her visit, she replied that she was there to celebrate Black History Month with the Black President and Black First Lady.That year, the President addressed the public about delivering a message from the White House.The President said that people should treat the day as a part of collective American and world history.More than the accomplishments and achievements of Black people since the March on Washington and Black sportspeople should be celebrated.People should celebrate the lives they lived, their shared experiences, the highs and lows of their lives, and how all of that shaped and strengthened America and the world.According to Western history, Europe started recognizing the day much later. The United Kingdom began to celebrate Black History Month in October 1987, and they have since celebrated the month of October every year.Black History Month was started in Germany in 1990, while Canada began celebrating Black History Month in 1995, and the Republic of Ireland began celebrating it in 2010. The world may be taking its time to recognize the celebration of Black History Month, but we are progressing to a better understanding of the rich history of the human race.What is Black History known for?Black history is known for celebrating the untold and untaught Black History. It celebrates the achievements of Black people we know and those we don’t know.The first and foremost thing we should know about clearly is their ancestry, early history many years ago, or the untold Black History facts.The Nubian Empire was from 2686 BC to 1000AD, where Sudan and Ethiopia are located in the Nile Valley today.It was located at the north of the Nile and south of Egypt. Nubia was land rich in resources, mainly in gold, and there were more pyramids in Nubia than in ancient Egypt.This land was home to many tribes of people, like Mende, Mandigo, or Mandiko. They later moved to West Africa and established their homes there.After that, the Ghana Empire came into existence from 700 AD to 1250 AD. Their African names are Wagadou and Kumbi. Then came the Mali Empire, from 1250 AD to 1650 AD, where Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Benin are today.The Mali Empire at that time was one of the most powerful as well as largest among all kingdoms of the West Africans. Their journey in the United States of America and their English Empire Colonies occurred from mid-1600 AD to 1820 AD.The most recent history leads to their story from 1820 AD to 1978 AD in the United States of America Rice Valley, which is Arkansas today, and their story from 1978 AD to the present day worldwide.Black History also makes us aware of events, like forming the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or the NAACP.During the 1908 race riots, many African-Americans joined together. They were getting tired of the growing racial violence, so they formed the permanent civil rights organization known as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.Other events, like the March on Washington, Black Power Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and more such Black movements, have helped their future in the world.The day also celebrates the accomplishments of each black man and woman that have contributed to the Black movements.Martin Luther King Jr., who became a leader during the Civil Rights Movement, or his father Martin Luther King Sr., led the same fights as his son, Shirley Chisholm, who became the first black woman to be elected to Congress.When she decided to run for the presidency, she became the first female to run for the Democratic Party and first-ever Black person to run with a major party. Black History Month celebrates all such people.The Original Name For Black HistoryBlack Month History was first suggested in 1969 and recognized for the first time in 1976. However, Black History was previously celebrated for a week known as ‘Negro History Week.‘‘Negro History Week’ was started by Carter G. Woodson, who also co-founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. He chose the second week of every February to be celebrated as ‘Negro History Week.‘That week of February was chosen to be celebrated owing to the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, both of which happen to fall into the second week of February.Frederick Douglass was a victim of slavery himself, so he became an eminent leader for the abolitionist movement, which people fought to end slavery around the world.While Abraham Lincoln was an influential figure in the efforts of emancipation of enslaved people, that’s why people of African descent would celebrate their leaders, achievement, and contributions these days.That’s why going with these traditions. First, the Negro History Week and the Black History Month were created.Before this week was created, Black History wasn’t included in textbooks, and very few studied it on their own, but that changed, and educators, scholars, and students all started taking an interest.Black people, especially the people who are considered the fathers of Black History Month - Carter G. Woodson and William Edward Burghardt Du Bois saw the education people were getting about Black History. They saw that history was misleading people.Schools around the country taught students and young people that Africans and all men and women who lived in Africa were savages and barbarians. They were taught that the men and women who reached the ‘New World’ were lucky and saved.Most stories about Africans, Blacks, and African-Americans around the world were being told by Americans, Europeans, and non-Black Africans. Hence, Carter G. Woodson and W. E. B. Du Bois wanted to liberate this misconception about Black people by educating them, so they started the week and then the month.Black History Month ColorsThe colors of Black History Month are red, black, green, and yellow. All these colors were chosen randomly, but they have deep meanings, and many African flags inspired the colors.The history of the Black History Month colors leads us to the creation of the Pan-African flag.A leader and frontman of the UNIA or Universal Negro Improvement Association, Marcus Garvey, created the Pan-African flag in 1920. That’s why the flag also has names like the Afro-American flag, the UNIA flag, the Black Liberation flag, or the Marcus Garvey flag.The flag gained much popularity among all people of color and progressive White people.The flag helped people of color establish an identity in the global political arena, and they could actively take part and demand respect for their race.Around the 1960s, tension increased in America surrounding the flag’s popularity as it skyrocketed.The tension even progressed to 2014 when a historian and an activist, Michael Brown, was shot to death on Ferguson’s streets because he was promoting the popularity of the flag.There are two colors to the Black History Month flag; the first set includes red, black, and green, while the second set includes yellow, red, and green.The pan-African flag and the Black History Month flag both symbolize the same things as Black History Month.It symbolizes aspirants, achievements, and the resistance of people of color to oppression in the world. In total, the four colors that represent Black History Month are: red, green, black, and yellow.The color red represents the blood every person of color had shed when they fought for freedom from colonialism, slavery, and racism.Green represents the rich resources of Africa, like the luxurious vegetation and various other expensive natural materials.Black represents the proud skin color, the melanin, the shared identity of the people of color.The yellow color was inspired by the Ethiopian flag, which represents equality, hope, justice, and the sun.The Ethiopian flag has not only inspired the Black History Month flag, but it has also inspired the creation of the flags of many African countries.The reason was that Ethiopia was the only country that had such powerful native people that Europeans could not take over it and thus was never colonized.
Black history is celebrated during Black History Month.