The Story Behind Black History Month — and Why It's Celebrated in February: 2023 Theme - Black Resistance

Tatjana Vukelić
University of Rijeka, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Abstract

Every February, the U.S. honours the contributions and sacrifices of African Americans who have helped shape the nation. Black History Month celebrates the rich cultural heritage, triumphs and adversities that are an indelible part of our country's history. The month of February was chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln, the US president who issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and Frederick Douglas, an African American orator, social reformer, writer and abolitionist. The month-long celebration is a chance to acknowledge the historic achievements of Black Americans and to highlight their undeniable impact on American history. Game changers like Malcolm X, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. are some of the names we learn more about each February. But the celebration that is now Black History Month started long before these civil rights leaders made their mark. In 1915, historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson and minister Jesse E. Moorland founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). This group focused on researching the advancements made by people of African descent and, in 1926, sponsored the first Negro History Week. The current month-long observance began in 1926 as a week-long event sponsored by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). Since 1976, the month of February has been officially designated as Black History Month. The Black History Month 2023 theme,“Black Resistance,” explores how African Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression, in all forms, especially the racial terrorism of lynching, racial pogroms and police killings since the nation's earliest days.

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