On Black History Month: Celebrating a People in America
Semein Washington
Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: Features
February is Black History Month, the celebration of people of African descent in the United States. It originated in 1926 with Carter G. Woodson, an African American historian, as "Negro History Week". Since that time, the observance has grown to encompass the entire month which was chosen for its inclusion of both Fredrick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln's birthdays.
Black History Month chronicles the habitation of African Americans in the country from their mass relocation during slavery to Emancipation, the summary period of segregation between persons based on their skin color, and the final break of Jim Crow Laws following the declaration of its tenets as both immoral and illegal. Black History Month also celebrates the contributions of African Americans to American culture, technology, athletics, education, medicine and science. It deals with the status of African Americans in the fabric of national history and its widespread remembrance.
The Civil Rights movement that pushed for the end of Segregation in the United States is a focal point of Black History Month. Such figures as Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X are central in the observance of the push for Civil Rights. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was the leader of mass sit-ins and other non-violent protests against the Jim Crow system. Rosa Parks became a symbol the movement against segregation by her refusal to sit in the back of a bus allotted to a person of her color. Malcom X was a minister in the Nation of Islam, a political, religious group composed of African American Muslims, who railed against the unequal treatment of people of color in the nation.
Central also are the historical landmarks of the Civil Rights Movement. The Supreme Court case Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas is massively as it marks the end of segregation in schools which lead to the unequal allotment of education. During the March on Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. gives his seminal "I Have a Dream" speech considered a rallying call of the entire Civil Rights Movement. The Bus Boycotts of Montgomery, Alabama focus in on one of the largest demonstrations against Segregation and more centrally segregation of public transportation.
Black History Month chronicles the habitation of African Americans in the country from their mass relocation during slavery to Emancipation, the summary period of segregation between persons based on their skin color, and the final break of Jim Crow Laws following the declaration of its tenets as both immoral and illegal. Black History Month also celebrates the contributions of African Americans to American culture, technology, athletics, education, medicine and science. It deals with the status of African Americans in the fabric of national history and its widespread remembrance.
The Civil Rights movement that pushed for the end of Segregation in the United States is a focal point of Black History Month. Such figures as Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X are central in the observance of the push for Civil Rights. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was the leader of mass sit-ins and other non-violent protests against the Jim Crow system. Rosa Parks became a symbol the movement against segregation by her refusal to sit in the back of a bus allotted to a person of her color. Malcom X was a minister in the Nation of Islam, a political, religious group composed of African American Muslims, who railed against the unequal treatment of people of color in the nation.
Central also are the historical landmarks of the Civil Rights Movement. The Supreme Court case Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas is massively as it marks the end of segregation in schools which lead to the unequal allotment of education. During the March on Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. gives his seminal "I Have a Dream" speech considered a rallying call of the entire Civil Rights Movement. The Bus Boycotts of Montgomery, Alabama focus in on one of the largest demonstrations against Segregation and more centrally segregation of public transportation.
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