Resources to celebrate all year round!
Resources to celebrate all year round!
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Image: Carol M. Highsmith, photographer. The African American History Monument, completed in 2001 on the state capitol grounds in Columbia, the capital city of South Carolina. 2007. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.
National Black History Month has its origins in 1915, when historian and author Dr. Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. This organization is now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). Through this organization, Dr. Woodson initiated the first Negro History Week in February 1926. Dr. Woodson selected the week in February that included the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, two key figures in the history of Black Americans.
In 1986, Congress passed Public Law 99-244, which designated February 1986 as "National Black (Afro-American) History Month.” This law noted that February 1, 1986 would “mark the beginning of the sixtieth annual public and private salute to Black History.” The law further directed the president to issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United States to observe February 1986 as Black History Month with the appropriate ceremonies and activities. Since 1996, presidents have issued annual proclamations for National Black History Month.
38th President of the United States: 1974 ‐ 1977
Message on the Observance of Black History Week.
Message on the Observance of Black History Week.
February 03, 1975
IT IS most appropriate that Americans set aside a week to recognize the important contribution made to our nation's life and culture by our black citizens.
With the growth of the civil rights movement has come a healthy awareness on the part of all of us of achievements that have too long been obscured and unsung. Emphasis on these achievements in our schools and colleges and in daily community life places in timely perspective the benefits of working together as brothers and sisters regardless of race, religion or national origin for the general well-being of all our society.
In this spirit, I urge my fellow citizens to be mindful of the valuable message conveyed to us during the celebration of this week.
GERALD R. FORD
Note: Black History Week, sponsored by the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, was observed February 9-15, 1975.
Gerald R. Ford, Message on the Observance of Black History Week. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/256997
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