Black History Month

One hundred years ago, Dr. Carter G. Woodson created and launched the inaugural Negro History Week after his professors told him that Black people didn’t have a history worth studying. Negro History Week built on the success of Douglass Day and quickly spread through Black communities in the United States. Fifty years later, at the urging of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, President Gerald Ford called for Americans to celebrate Black History Month, which was finally ordered by Presidential Proclamation in 1986. Joining me in this episode is Dr. Jarvis Givens, Professor of Education and African and African American Studies at Harvard University and author of I'll Make Me a World: The 100-Year Journey of Black History Month.

Our theme song is “Frogs Legs Rag,” composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode audio is “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” with lyrics by James Weldon Johnson and music by Jon Rosamond Johnson; this public domain performance is by the United States Army Field Band and the 82nd Airborne Chorus and features Staff Sgt. Kyra Dorn. The episode image is a portrait of Carter G. Woodson taken on 19 December 1915 by Addison Norton Scurlock; the image is in the public domain and is available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

“The Origins of Douglass Day,” by Jennifer Morris, Smithsonian Digital Volunteers, February 14, 2023.“The story behind the Frederick Douglass birthday celebration,” by Scott Bomboy, National Constitution Center, February 14, 2024.
“Black History Month: A Commemorative Observances Legal Research Guide,” Library of Congress.
“The Origins of Black History Month,” by Daryl Michael Scott, The Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
“Here's the story behind Black History Month — and why it's celebrated in February,” by Jonathan Franklin, NPR, February 2, 2022.
“W. E. B. Du Bois and Black History Month,” by Phillip Luke Sinitiere, Black Perspectives, February 18, 2016.
“Message on the Observance of Black History Month, February 1976,” by Gerald Ford, February 10, 1976.
“Proclamation 5443—National Black (Afro-American) History Month, 1986,” by Ronald Reagan, February 24, 1986.
“Proclamation: National Black History Month, 2026,” by Donald Trump, February 3, 2026.

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