February is Black History Month

Black History Month began as Black History week in 1926.

In 1976 , the bicentennial, Black History Week became Black History Month.

Originally the second week of February was chosen as Black History Week because the birthdays of Booker T. Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Frederick Douglass fell on that week.

Carter Godwin Woodson is heralded as the “Father of Black History”

Woodson’s efforts have been successful, both in building the

foundation for rethinking American identify and in the

promotion of multiculturalism

Black History Month pays tribute to the contributions of African Americans to the nation's history and culture.

The Association for the Study of African American Life and History selects a theme for the annual celebration, for which in 2013 is "At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality: The Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington."

The efforts of civil rights activists resulted in the

signing of landmark anti-discrimination

legislation: the Civil Rights Act of 1964

and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Browse our shelves or search our catalog to see what you can learn…

Rosa Parks

Maya Angelou

Alice Walker

Richard Wright

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Langston Hughes

You can also learn more about Black History Month, African-Americans who have impacted history, and African-American culture in our database The African American Experience.

The African American Experience is a digital resource to full-text content from more than 400 titles, 3,000 slave narratives, over 2000 images, 5,000 primary sources, and 250 vetted Web sites.

All images and text obtained from The African American Experience Database

through the Georgia Military College Library homepage.