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Each October we celebrate Black History Month as a tribute to the history of African Americans. What you might not realize is that the history of African Americans was not studied or recognized for a very long time. In fact, African Americans didn’t gain recognition in history books until the 20th century. We have a man named Dr. Carter G. Woodson to thank for bringing the history of African Americans into the classroom and to the world.

Carter Woodson was born to parents who were former slaves. Because of their oppression, he was inspired to take advantage of his freedom. He became a learned scholar, and earned his Ph.D from Harvard University. He was disturbed to find that history books ignored black America. He became determined to change that, and took on the challenge of fitting African Americans into their place in American history.

In 1926, Woodson launched Negro History Week in hopes to bring national attention to the achievements of African Americans throughout American history. He chose the second week of February to celebrate because it was the week that two very important men were born: Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Frederick Douglass was a slave who escaped slavery and moved to Massachusetts from the South. He learned to read and write, and became one of the biggest advocates for ending slavery, also known as abolition.

Abraham Lincoln as you probably know, was President of the United States during the Civil War. This war was a fight between the North and the South. Lincoln was concerned with keeping all of the states together, and he knew that he had to address the issue of slavery. On January 1, 1863, he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which was Lincoln’s way of giving freedom to all the slaves in the Southern States.

The celebration of Negro History Week soon evolved into what we know as Black History Month. It is a month that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded, and a month that the 15th Amendment was passed which gave blacks the right to vote.

It is very important to remember where we came from. Read your history books with enthusiasm and pride, and remember how important it is that all cultures, races and ethnicities get represented.