Black History Month – Thanks to Carter Woodson

February is for Black History Month 2010. This event has been recognized since 1926, first as “Negro History Week” and later as “Black History Month” by founder Dr. Carter G. Woodson.

In 1926, Carter Woodson launched Negro History Week as an initiative to bring national attention to the contributions of black people throughout American history.

Woodson chose the second week of February for Negro History Week because it marks the birthdays of two men who greatly influenced the black American population, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

Other important dates this February:

# February 23, 1868:
W. E. B. DuBois, important civil rights leader and co-founder of the NAACP, was born.

# February 3, 1870:
The 15th Amendment was passed, granting blacks the right to vote.

# February 25, 1870:
The first black U.S. senator, Hiram R. Revels (1822-1901), took his oath of office.

# February 12, 1909:
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded by a group of concerned black and white citizens in New York City.

# February 1, 1960:
In what would become a civil-rights movement milestone, a group of black Greensboro, N.C., college students began a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter.

# February 21, 1965:
Malcolm X, the militant leader who promoted Black Nationalism, was shot to death by three Black Muslims.