BLACK
HISTORY
MONTH
Black History Month, or National African
American History Month, is an annual
celebration of achievements by black
Americans and a time for recognizing
the central role of African Americans
in U.S. history. The event grew out of
“Negro History Week,” the brainchild
of noted historian Carter G. Woodson
and other prominent African Americans.
Since then, every American president
has designated February as Black
History Month and endorsed a specific
theme. This year, President Obama, the
nation’s first African American President,
has deemed the theme as Hallowed
Grounds: Sites of African American
Memories.
One cannot tell the story of America
without preserving and reflecting on the
places where African Americans have
made history. The Kingsley Plantation,
DuSable’s home site, the numerous
stops along the Underground Railroad,
Seneca Village, Mother Bethel A.M.E.
Church and Frederick Douglass’ home
— to name just a few — are sites that
keep alive the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries in our consciousness. They
retain and refresh the memories of our
forbears’ struggles for freedom and
justice, and their belief in God’s grace
and mercy. Similarly, the hallowed
grounds of Mary McLeod Bethune’s
home in Washington, D.C., 125th Street
in Harlem, Beale Street in Memphis, and
Sweet Auburn Avenue in Atlanta tell the
story of our struggle for equal citizenship
during the American century.
A poem, written in 1899 by James
Weldon Johnson, later became the
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FEBRUARY 2016
“Black American National Anthem,” with
music composed by his brother John
Rosamond Johnson in 1900. The poem
was first performed at a celebration for
Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on February
12, 1900 at the segregated Stanton
School in Jacksonville, Florida. The
poem was written to introduce the
honorable Booker T. Washington. “Lift
Every Voice and Sing”
has since become
a song of remembrance
and an inspiration
of freedom for
those who believe
in Liberty and
Justice for All.