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"A Life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives..." Jackie Robinson

Historian Carter G. Woodson first promoted "Negro History Week" in 1925 as a way to raise awareness and celebrate African-American history and achievement.  He choose the month of February because it contained the birthdays of two great Americans,  Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.  The week expanded to a month in 1976 as part of the nation's bicentennial.  The association Woodson founded is now called the Association for the Study of African American Life and & History and it continues to " promote, research, preserve, interpret and disseminate information about Black life, history and culture to the global community." The theme for this year's celebration is "The History of Black Economic Empowerment." 

At Paly, one way we are commemorating African-American History Month is to invite everyone to read the book Black Profiles in Courage: A Legacy of African-American Achievement by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Alan Steinberg.  In fitting with this year's economic theme, there is a fascinating chapter on Lewis Latimer, a self-taught pioneer in the development of electricity.  Abdul-Jabaar ends this chapter with a quote from Latimer: "We create our future, by well improving present opportunities: however few and small they be."  On the Reading Base page,  readers are welcome to post comments and take part in a virtual discussion.  We will discuss the book in person at gatherings at the end of February. 

We are also collecting web links to expand our knowledge, so please visit our Knowledge Base page to explore African-American history and contemporary stories about African-American achievement.