Black History Month Explained: Its Origins, Celebrations and Myths

On Feb. 1, schools, museums and communities across the nation marked the start of Black History Month –- a celebration of Black history, culture and education.

The history of the month dates back almost a century, and the way it is celebrated and evolved has created history in itself.

Black History Month wasn’t always a monthlong celebration. In February 1926, historian and author Carter G. Woodson created Negro History Week. It was a weeklong celebration in an effort to teach people about African-American history and the contributions of Black people.

This effort was made under the umbrella of an organization he founded in September 1915 called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, or ASALH.

“I think Black folks understood what they had contributed to America’s historical narrative, but no one was talking about it,” said Kaye Whitehead, the organization’s president. “No one was centralizing it until Dr. Carter G. Woodson was in 1926.”

After he passed away in 1950, the members of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, which Dr. Woodson was a member of, did a lot of groundwork to encourage celebrating the week. The fraternity was also responsible for the push to extend the celebrations to a full month. Eventually, in 1976, President Gerald Ford became the first president to issue a message recognizing the month.

Since then, presidents have made annual proclamations for National Black History Month, a tradition that President Donald Trump plans to continue, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

The Association for the Study of African American Life and History releases a theme for each year, which is a practice Woodson started.

This year’s theme is African Americans and Labor. The organization plans to use the month, and the rest of the year, focusing on the role of Black labor in building the nation through industry or community work.

Black history is also celebrated within communities and families. Worth K. Hayes, an associate professor of history and Africana studies at Morehouse College, said some families may use the month to explore their genealogy, learn about their ancestors or come together to eat a meal and make family trees.

“We may be more familiar with the more public ways, but there are also a lot more intimate ways in which these messages are spread and the way that the holiday is propagated,” Hayes said.

At some schools, assemblies or gatherings are held to honor Black leaders, according to the nonpartisan organization the Center for Racial Justice in Education.

“Some schools invite elders to share their wisdom and lived experiences, allowing young people to learn from them, ask questions, and build meaningful connections across generations,” the center said in an email to The Associated Press. “Additionally, some communities select specific topics or principles for in-depth exploration during the month.”

Myths around Black History Month continue, Whitehead said, including the idea that the U.S. government purposely chose the shortest month of the year. In reality, Woodson chose February because two prominent figures in the civil rights movement — Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass — had birthdays in the week he chose.

Whitehead also stresses that Black history shouldn’t just be taught for the month of February, but rather taught and celebrated for the entire year.

Celebrities, including actor Morgan Freeman, have criticized it being just a monthlong celebration. But Hayes argued that the month isn’t just about celebrating African-American history, but Black history as a whole.

“I think that there is this desire to make this point that African-American history or Black history is so integral to the American story, American history,” Hayes said. “But that reduces Black history to African-American history, and that’s not how it is and is celebrated from its origins to this day … So if you’re talking about Black History Month, you’re not only talking about Nat Turner, you’re also talking about Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution. You’re talking about many of the women and men who led the independence movements on the African continent.”

Whitehead added that Black history is not just for Black people, it is for all people.

“If you’re in an environment and everybody in the environment is white, you need Black History Month more than ever because you need to understand that the world, even though you like to believe it fits into this box, it does not,” Whitehead said.

Black history doesn’t rely on a presidential proclamation, Whitehead and others said. Whitehead said Black people don’t need permission to mark the month.

“It doesn’t happen because we’re waiting for a statement to be released. We proclaim it, We celebrate it, we uplift, we center it and we help people to understand that this is our history,” she said.

At least one government agency has paused celebrations of cultural or historic events, including Black History Month. But at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the decisions of the new Trump administration around Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives will not affect how Black History Month is celebrated.

“Negro History Week started in 1926 without any proclamation from anyone other than the people,” said ASALH executive director Sylvia Cyrus. “The president of the United States has his views, and certainly we assume that he understands the contributions that African Americans and other people of color have made.”

A White House spokesperson has said that they intend to celebrate the month.

Some believe how Black history is taught could be affected by the new administration’s outlook on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs.

The Center for Racial Justice in Education said educators may be more encouraged to teach Black history in their classrooms throughout the year. “Resistance takes many inspiring forms, and those dedicated to celebrating this essential history are employing creative and strategic approaches to share and further develop it,” the organization said in an email.

Hayes agreed and said it could encourage others to teach communities about the contributions of Black people.

“African Americans, Black folks throughout the world, just like all cultures throughout the world, have taken ownership of their history,” he said. “And these various political developments may shape the contours of it. But this story is going to be told regardless of the political dynamics of the particular time.”

This story was originally published by the Associated Press.