Black History Month

Why "History Months" Need to Write Groups Back In to the Story

by E.J. Dionne

  Do efforts to write marginalized figures into the national narrative  "mean that history has been “politicized”? The answer is 'yes' only in the sense that political change always affects how we see history," says the Washington Post columnist. 

Black History Month Traces to a Key Meeting in a Chicago YMCA

Chicago historian Shermann Thomas, aka "Dilla," makes the Wabash Avenue YMCA where educator Carter Woodson was inspired to launch Negro Achievement Week a centerpiece of his guided tours of Black Chicago's history. 

8 Sites Illuminating African American History Show the Need for Preservation

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is working against time and redevelopment to prevent the loss of key sites of African American history across the nation. So far the project has helped protect a museum of the Buffalo Soldiers, Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church, and Louis Armstrong's house in Queens, among other sites. 

Howard University Gets $2M Grant to Digitize Archive of Black Newspapers

The project will create the largest and most accessible archive of historical Black newspaper content in the world. 

For Black History Month, Honor the Environmental Justice Activism of Hazel Johnson

Hazel Johnson was pushed to environmental justice activism when her husband's cancer death made her aware of the toll of industrial pollution on her Chicago neighborhood. Today, it remains important to connect environmental protection and social justice.

It's Black History Month. We Need to Talk About It

by Jeremy C. Young

The honest teaching of American history is under attack across the United States, undermining the goal of Carter G. Woodson, who linked the teaching of Black history to the advancement of multiracial democracy. 

Black History Month Reveals the Deception Behind White "Discomfort"

by Peniel E. Joseph

"The erroneous narrative that teaching Black history provokes anxiety, discomfort, guilt or anger for White children has insidious roots" in a false consensus that has long suppressed the stories of Americans of color and denied racial oppression.

Black History Month Celebrates Medicine and Health

Marvin Dulaney, president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) says that the racial health disparities highlighted by the pandemic make this year's focus on medical pioneers and health advocates particularly appropriate. 

New Exhibit Looks to Art as a Tool of Resistance to Anti-Black Violence

As Leslie Harris explains, the exhibition at Northwestern University incorporates 60 works in various media that show how Black art has been an instrument for communicating history. 

How Negro History Week Became Black History Month and Why It Matters Now

Historian Martha S. Jones traces the lineage of Black History Month from a day promoted by educator Mary Church Terrell to honor Frederick Douglass, through the work of Carter G. Woodson to promote knowledge of Black history, to the present. 

Racist Zoombombings the Latest Application of Technology by White Supremacists

by Roy E. Finkenbine

White supremacist keyboard warriors appear to have declared a cyber war against Black History Month.

Five Myths About Black History

by Keisha N. Blain

From slavery to emancipation, the Tuskegee syphilis experiments, Brown v. Board of Education, and Black Power, widespread partial knowledge of Black history shows that school curricula need to do more to connect the history of Black Americans to the nation's history. 

A Forgotten Black Founding Father

by Danielle Allen

The figure of Black abolitionist Prince Hall has been discussed for his advocacy for abolition in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but there remains a deeper work of historical reconstruction to understand his connections to family, community and civil society in the founding era. 

Why Fred Hampton Needs to Be on Your Kids’ American History Syllabus

Writer and poet Scott Woods developed a political consciousness watching a 1971 documentary on the assassination of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton. He was prepared to be disappointed by the new "Judas and the Black Messiah" but argues the film tells a story that is more important than ever.

'Trying To Reckon Honestly': Dartmouth Prof. On The Evolution Of Black History Month

Dartmouth professor Matthew Delmont discusses the growth and development of Black History Month and the need to understand Black history as integral to the whole of American history. 

Historically Speaking: 400 Souls—A Conversation with Ibram Kendi and Keisha N. Blain – Tuesday, 2/2

Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain will join the NMAAHC for a discussion of their new book "400 Souls." 

Website Aims to Highlight Hidden Figures in Black History

Historian Matthew Delmont's website Black Quotidian features profiles of hundreds of African Americans taken from black newspapers mostly between the 1900s and the 1980s.

Nine books to read for Black History Month

It is impossible to fully grasp American history without black history.

Six historians weigh in on the biggest misconceptions about black history

Featuring Shennette Garrett-Scott, LaGarrett King, Sowande Mustakeem, Douglas J. Flowe, Jason Allen, and Dale Allender. 

Seeing Black History in Context

by Erin Aubry Kaplan

It’s the perfect time to get real about America’s shortcomings.