“Negro History Week” First Celebrated
The noted African-American historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History pronounced the second week of February to be “Negro History Week,” chosen because it included the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
The informal expansion of Black History Week to Black History Month occurred in 1976, with the support of President Gerald Ford, who urged Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”
Learn more about African-American History Month at the Library of Congress: http://www.africanamericanhistorymonth.gov/about.html
Watch a tribute to Carter G. Woodson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkBEjJH1j5U
Learn more about Carter G. Woodson: Jacqueline Goggin, Carter G. Woodson: A Life in Black History (1993)
Read more about Black History Month here
Learn more about African American history: Henry Louis Gates, Life Upon These Shores: Looking at African American History, 1513-2008 (2011)