The Roots of Black History Month
The Roots of Black History Month
As It Celebrates It’s 100th year
By Wes Hessel & Catherine Rees-Hessel
Black History Is More Than A Month, But It Started As A Week…
Black History Month is recognition and commemoration of the contributions of African-Americans to the history of this country. This celebration started when a group of men – Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson, George Cleveland Hall, William D. Hartgrove, Jesse E. Moorland, Alexander L. Jackson, and James E. Stamps – founded the ASNLH (Association for the Study of Negro Life and History) in September of 1915. Just over ten years later, Dr. Woodson created the forerunner of the current celebration – Negro History Week – in February of 1926; he chose a week in which the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass were celebrated.
Gained Momentum And Spread…
Black History Week became Black History Month with a proposal from the leadership of the Black United Students at Kent State University in February of 1969 – one year later, Kent State celebrated the first Black History Month. In 1976, President Gerald Ford, as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration, urged the American people to “seize the opportunity to honor the too often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” In 1987, the United Kingdom celebrated its first Black History Month in London, and Canada followed suit in 1995, by officially recognizing February as Black History Month, to honor black Canadians.
Learned Man Who Raised Awareness
Dr. Woodson was himself the son of a slave and although he did not begin his high school education until the age of 20, delayed by his need to earn a living in West Virginia coal mines, he went on to study at Berea College, the Sorbonne, and the University of Chicago. Woodson eventually earned his PhD at Harvard. At that point, he was only the second African American to achieve this advanced degree, his predecessor being none other than the imminent and renowned, W. E. B. Du Bois.
Back Before You Knew It
The first documented person of African descent to come to what became the United States was a member of Ponce de León’s legendary expedition in search of the fabled Fountain of Youth. In 1513, Juan Garrido, a Spanish-African conquistador is the first known free African to have arrived in the new world. But Garrido was the exception, within 50 years slavery was well established, with the Spanish bringing slaves to St. Augustine (now Florida), as early as the town’s founding in 1565. The city is considered the oldest European-founded continuously-inhabited settlement in what is now the mainland 48 states.
Nothing New
Various peoples of Africa were brought to the “New World” as slaves, bought, sold, and treated like the property they were considered to be, not the persons of rich culture and tradition they had been. The “first” African slaves brought to what is now the United States is typically thought to be a load of captives from what is now Angola, sold to Jamestown Governor George Yeardley and Abraham Piersey, the colony’s trade minister, for food, near the end of August 1619.
Color Inside The Lines
The mistreatment of people of color in our nation is certainly nothing new – there is a long history of subjugation and abuse. After the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, suppression and subversion of human rights, Jim Crow and separate but equal became the “law” throughout the south where white hooded riders lynched and murdered blacks who didn’t tow the line. Yet African-Americans time and again have proved to be instrumental in our history and innovation.
Black Power At The Beginning
It was primarily former slaves who stood up and spoke out against slavery and racism and took action against the evil practice. Dred Scott, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Booker T. Washington each became examples of leadership in demanding human rights for blacks everywhere. The early twentieth century produced numerous charismatic black pioneers in every field of human endeavor. In agriculture (George Washington Carver), in advanced study (W.E.B. Du Bois), music (Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, and Nat King Cole), poetry (Langston Hughes), law (Thurgood Marshall), activism (Rosa Parks), and sports (Jackie Robinson).
“Carvered” Out A Niche
For each of the well-known, there are many more, mostly unrecognized black contributors to our nation’s progress. In addition to the prolific work of “Doctor” George Washington Carver to save the soil by diversifying southern crops, Garrett Morgan invented a belt fastener that vastly improved sewing machines, an early chemical hair straightener, the forerunner of the modern gas mask, and the first automatic, three-aspect traffic signal. Before him, the first African-American to receive a patent was Thomas L. Jennings, who had created an improved method of dry-cleaning delicate garments. Elijah McCoy was granted a staggering 57 patents, one of which was for that beloved grass watering device, the lawn sprinkler. He also developed the basic idea of the portable ironing board. Sarah Boone, a black former slave improved on McCoy’s idea by developing a collapsible ironing board for which she was awarded a patent, providing the familiar shape of what we use today for our pressing engagements.
Hot And Cold
Alexander Miles designed the earliest mechanism for automatic doors in elevators. Lewis Latimer drafted a better railroad car bathroom, then improved on Edison’s vacuum interior light bulbs, deriving the carbon filament of the standard incandescent fixture. The idea of the self-propelled street sweeper was patented by Charles B. Brooks, as well as an early ticket puncher which collected the little pieces from the holes it made. Alice H. Parker created the first natural gas central furnace. Frederick McKinley Jones came up with the refrigeration units found on the tops of trucks transporting perishable items. James E. West worked with his Bell Labs partner to invent the foil electret version of the microphone, a significantly cheaper one to produce than the condenser models before it.
Tech In Black & Black
Mary Van Brittan Brown, created with her husband, a video surveillance system for a door’s peephole, with features that are found in many of today’ security systems. You can thank Mark Dean for leading his team at IBM to develop the original PC, color computer monitors, and the first gigahertz speed processor chip. Dr. Patricia Bath became the first female African-American doctor to receive a patent in 1986 for a laser device used in cataract surgery.
On The Top Of The World…
There were many other pioneers of color. Matthew Henson was an early modern Black explorer. In 1891, he became part of a group headed by then-Lieutenant Robert E. Peary. Peary and Henson made multiple failed attempts with Peary through Greenland. After those failed attempts together, he was with Peary in 1908 on the first successful trip to the North Pole. In fact, Henson actually arrived at the top of the world before the famed explorer himself.
High Fliers
In 1941, the U.S. Army experimented training African-American men as pilots, creating the famed “Tuskegee Airmen”. This group of segregated fliers distinguished themselves significantly. For example, Lt. Col. Lee Archer, together with his cohort Wendell Pruitt, were known as, “The Gruesome Twosome”, for their deadly efficiency against Nazi pilots. On one day in October 1944, Archer shot down three enemy planes in about 10 minutes while simultaneously bombing supply trains running between Slovakia and Hungary. In 1945, Archer received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroic efforts.
On A Wing And A Prayer…
Those of us in the Chicago area who have been to O’Hare Airport have encountered Bessie Coleman Drive. It is named for one of the first female aviators, an African-American woman who received her international pilot’s license in 1921. Jesse LeRoy Brown was inspired by Ms. Coleman and other early Black pilots, becoming one of the first African-American Navy pilots. He was a squadron leader in the Korean War until he lost his life in the line of duty. It is reported that one of his white team members even crash-landed his own plane in an effort to help Brown, who had gone down and became trapped in the wreckage.
Right To Be There
Civil rights, of course, has always been an area where people of color have stepped up and put pressure on the greater society for redress of grievances. Most of us know of Malcolm X, as well as the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King. Many have heard of the life long work of the late John Lewis, one of the leaders of the infamous “Selma” march, and his decades of faithful service as a U.S. Congressman, as well as Rainbow Coalition and Operation PUSH founder. Now, another of those iconic leaders, Jesse Jackson, has passed. Another name, from the 1960’s Civil Rights movement, maybe not as familiar as those mentioned was Medgar Evers, whose dedicated work for equal rights regardless of race led to his assassination in 1963. Ever’s was killed by a white supremacist snipper in his own driveway.
Bureaucratic Barriers Broken
African-Americans have made steady strides in appointed government roles and as elected officials. There is former four-star general Colin Powell, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in his last military posting, then the first man of color to become U.S. Secretary of State. Condoleezza Rice was the first Black woman as National Security Adviser, then the first female African-American Secretary of State. Former U.S. Senator Barack Obama broke the highest barrier to become our first President of color. President Joe Biden chose Senator Kamala Harris, to become the first female of mixed South Asian, and Black heritage as Vice President of the United States. Shirley Chisholm was actually the first African-American woman to run for President for a major party in 1972, after being the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress in 1968. Committed to the cause of elevating black women, President Biden, chose another Black woman, Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first female African-American Supreme Court Associate Justice.
Music To Our Ears
Blacks have excelled in the arts. Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison are three of the great writers of our time. The list of legendary Black musicians is long; Miles Davis, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, James Brown, Quincy Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, Lena Horne, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Donna Summer, and Michael Jackson, just to name a few.
Stars of Stage And Screen
Sidney Poitier took home the first Oscar as a Black Actor, having previously been the first man of color to be nominated. Halle Berry was the first African-American woman to win an Academy Award. Movie and television screens have been dominated by Richard Roundtree, Morgan Freeman, Clarence Williams III, Don Cheadle, Forest Whitaker, Samuel L. Jackson, Wesley Snipes, Denzel Washington, James Earl Jones, and Laurence Fishburne, amongst many other excellent black actors. Actresses of color such as Josephine Baker, Dorothy Dandridge, Hattie McDaniel, Ethel Waters, Ruby Dee, Diahann Carroll, Pam Grier, Whoopi Goldberg, Angela Bassett, Cicely Tyson, Alfre Woodard, Viola Davis, and Queen Latifah have earned their names in lights. And Oprah Winfrey, the first black female to become a billionaire is the multi-talented actress, author, lifestyle and entertainment czarina, in a class of her own.
Sporting Excellence
Then there are the sports legends: Henry “Hank” Aaron, Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Arthur Ashe, Jim Brown, Gale Sayers, Walter Payton, and Michael Jordan. The list goes on and on. One of the early greats was the famed track and field superstar Jesse Owens, winner of four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, despite the Nazi “white supremacy” shadow cast over the games. Before Owens, Eddie Tolan was the man to beat in the 100m and 200m sprints. In 1929, while attending the University of Michigan, Tolan had set the world record for the 100-yard dash at 9.5 seconds. He then went on to the national college championship for the 220-yard dash in 1931. In the Olympic trials for 1932, he placed second in the 100m and 200m races to fellow athletic giant Ralph Metcalfe, but won gold in both contests at the 1932 Olympics. Metcalfe was the runner-up to Jesse Owens in the 100m at the 1936 Olympics.
Black Making It’s Mark On History
Black History Month now a century old is a time to honor the efforts of those early pioneers and all of those who have followed highlighting the significant role people of color have played in the growth of our nation. From the quest to outlaw slavery to the fight for equality the battle still continues. from political advocacy, to invention, to culture, African-Americans have, do, and will continue to play a critical part in our nation’s progress. To learn more, please see the official page for Black History Month, which continues to be administrated by the organization which fostered it, now the ASALH (Association for the Study of African American Life and History): https://asalh.org/black-history-month/.
On The Other Hand…
Yet there are still many injuries and injustices unknown, let alone addressed. By now it has become common knowledge the poem that became the lyrics of our own National Anthem was written by an attorney who had little, if any, respect for Black people. Many believe ‘America the Beautiful’ would be a better choice for our national anthem. In 1921, Tulsa, Oklahoma’s black neighborhood of Greenwood, known locally as ‘Black Wall Street’ was a thriving Black community. The two days between May 31st and June 1st, 1921, that prosperous Black neighborhood, nearly 35 blocks, was almost completely leveled by an angry mob of whites. The riot claimed the lives of 300 Blacks and injured at least another 800 Black citizens. In 2021, the centennial of the tragic event, the nation finally acknowledged the tragedy of that state government sanctioned attack on the peaceful, thriving, black community.
Now What?
We as a society must continue to educate against the atrocities of slavery, racism, and bigotry. It is important to recognize and confirm the important roles Blacks have played in our countries past and her future. The current policy of the Trump Administration is to eliminate all mention of blacks and any contributions that were made by them. Slavery seems to be non-existent in Trump’s view of American history. Trump’s policies are dangerous. We cannot whitewash the evils of the past or we are likely, as Winston Churchill told us, “to repeat them.”
