Let’s start here: No one “gave” us Black History Month. Yes, President Gerald Ford made it a nationally recognized celebration in 1976. But for 50 years before that, we’d already committed every February to honoring our history and culture. So why the shortest month?
Carter G. Woodson started Negro History Week in 1926 as a tool of remembrance and, especially of self-determination. He knew that without the tradition-keeping of our culture and contributions, we ran the risk of being written out of U.S. history by the anti-Black mainstream. February was an intentional choice.
Woodson chose the month to honor Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, both of whom were born in February, and whom he recognized as crucial to Black freedom. Douglass in particular was a staunch abolitionist who spent his lifetime fighting for our liberation.
Next time you hear someone say “we need a longer month,” remind them who we come from: intentional, determined people who built something that has bettered Black life for a century.
Let the lasting legacy of Black History Month be a reminder to us all that our people have always been determined to make a way out of no way. To tell our stories. To preserve our history and use it to fuel Black futures. We not new to this, we true to this.