2008 Woodie Awards
February, Black History Month provides moment to remember
Sheeraz Hyder
Issue date: 2/16/07 Section: Campus Life
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What is History? The term represents different things to different people. One can be talking about personal history or public history. In the case of Black History though, one talks about both. Whether one is talking about a single slave such as Harriet Tubman, or numerous slaves who tried to escape their cruel masters, it is still a struggle for freedom. Whether one talks about Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (or as you may know him Malcolm X) or any of the hundreds of students who protested, it is still a struggle for equality. Whether one talks of Jackie Robinson or Muhammad Ali, or any other athlete who has broken the color barrier, it is still a struggle for acceptance. That is why, one out of 12 months every year; we take a moment to remember not only the cruel past that black history has had in America, but also the profound impact that African-Americans have had in politics, science and many other fields.
The origins of Black History Month are found aptly in the work of one man who was the child of former slaves. Dr. Carter G. Woodson worked in the coal mines of Kentucky and started high school at 20. After two years, he enrolled in Harvard and went on to earn a Ph.D. Through his studies, Woodson found that black history went largely unnoticed in the textbooks, and even when it did, all it focused on was the inferior social status.
He established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (Now called the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History) in 1915 and a year later established the Journal of Negro History. In 1926, Negro History Week was launched in the second week of February because the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, two lives who greatly affected the African-American community, fell in that timeframe.
However February also holds much significance for blacks as W.E.B. DuBois was born on February 23, 1868. The 15th Amendment was passed in 1870 on February 3rd. The NAACP was founded in 1909 on February 12. The UNC-Greensboro sit-in of 1860 started on February 1, which proved to be a milestone in civil rights history. And in 1965, on February 21, Malcolm X was tragically shot to death, ending the life of one of the greatest civil rights leader in the movement.
To recognize the significance of Black History Month, Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) along with Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ), the first and only African American congressman in New Jersey's history, put together an event called "A Salute to Heroes", a 2007 Black History Month program honoring Reginald Jones, 1972 Olympian, John Carlos and Tommie Smith, 1968 Olympians, Dr. William Neal Brown, and Dr. Judy Miller this past Saturday, February 10, 2007 at the Newark Museum in Newark, New Jersey. The program featured "Tell the Story" by former Secretary of State Regina Thomas, a tribute to African dance, a Step show featuring Dem Boyz and various gospel selections.
The origins of Black History Month are found aptly in the work of one man who was the child of former slaves. Dr. Carter G. Woodson worked in the coal mines of Kentucky and started high school at 20. After two years, he enrolled in Harvard and went on to earn a Ph.D. Through his studies, Woodson found that black history went largely unnoticed in the textbooks, and even when it did, all it focused on was the inferior social status.
He established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (Now called the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History) in 1915 and a year later established the Journal of Negro History. In 1926, Negro History Week was launched in the second week of February because the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, two lives who greatly affected the African-American community, fell in that timeframe.
However February also holds much significance for blacks as W.E.B. DuBois was born on February 23, 1868. The 15th Amendment was passed in 1870 on February 3rd. The NAACP was founded in 1909 on February 12. The UNC-Greensboro sit-in of 1860 started on February 1, which proved to be a milestone in civil rights history. And in 1965, on February 21, Malcolm X was tragically shot to death, ending the life of one of the greatest civil rights leader in the movement.
To recognize the significance of Black History Month, Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) along with Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ), the first and only African American congressman in New Jersey's history, put together an event called "A Salute to Heroes", a 2007 Black History Month program honoring Reginald Jones, 1972 Olympian, John Carlos and Tommie Smith, 1968 Olympians, Dr. William Neal Brown, and Dr. Judy Miller this past Saturday, February 10, 2007 at the Newark Museum in Newark, New Jersey. The program featured "Tell the Story" by former Secretary of State Regina Thomas, a tribute to African dance, a Step show featuring Dem Boyz and various gospel selections.
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