Black History Month 2015

Image: flickr

United States and Canada celebrate the Black
History month or the African Heritage Month
during February to remember the important
people in the history ofAfrica and to celebrate
the achievement of the African Americans. The
Dark history month also celebrate the
important events in the African history and its
vitality. The celebration is rightly observed in
month of February, the birth month of
Abraham Lincoln and Frederic Douglass.

Origin

The celebration of Black History month began in
1926 and was started by carter G Woodson, a
black scholar, educationist and historian. At this
time it was observed as the 'Negro History Week'. This was changed to a full month celebration in the year
1976 when the U S president officially declared February to be the black History month. The two men who
changed the lives of black Americans, Abraham Lincoln the former President and the creator of
emancipation proclamation born on February 12th, and Frederic Douglass, a former slave, abolitionist
and a politician born on February 14th are honored by celebrating the upliftment of African Americans
during their birth month Woodson also dedicated his time to develop books, magazines and newspapers
to publicize the African American achievements.

Why is the Black History Month Celebrated?

In the beginning of the twentieth century, not one of the textbooks or curricula had any mention
of the blackAmerican or any of their achievement. The tradition of black History Month started to
explore the Black History. The observation of the month long black History celebration started to raise
the status of the black American from mere slave to real human beings. The day was also aimed at
making the people more aware and educating them about the African history. This celebration allowed
the Africans Americans and other people to reflect and to know the achievement and advancement they
made as an individual and as a community and to increase the confidence in the black people about their
talent, ability and culture and to make them aware that they are not inferior to any other human
race. The observation of the black history week became one of the very important parts of the civil right
movement during 1950s to 1960s.

Celebration

The black history month is celebrated as a community wide events and the celebration takes place in
schools, churches, and work places. This day is celebrated to remember all the people from Africa who made
a great change in the life and outlook of human being. During the month the students ofschools and
other educational institutions hold seminar, classes, crafts and quiz competition to educate the new
generations about the history of the African Americans, the important personalities of the nation
and their contributions. They are also made aware of the practice of slavery and civil right movement in
the last century through presentations and reenactments.

People celebrate the day by attending church service and religious services. Musical events and parties
are also conducted during the celebration month featuring African original music and music styles
introduced by black performer and traditional food. Many displays and exhibitions are held to give a
detailed description about various personalities from Africa who created a mark of their own in the pages
of world history.

Controversies

February is the month designated to celebrate and observe the Black History month. Some critics believe
that this month being the shortest signifies that the celebration can be included in the shortest time period
as the Blackhistory is so very sparse. And some critics believe that this is just an observation with little
significance and the celebration is irrelevant; according to them this is just a holiday like so many
other unimportant holidays.

But the month is really significant as it is utilized so as to create awareness and confidence in every single
people with dark skin that, it is never the color that makes a person different; it is the thought and the
deeds that make one great or small. The same message is also conveyed to other people an d they are also
made to feel the humiliation and difficulty the Africans faced and are made to think open mindedly so as to
take a silent pledge of treating everyone, the black, the white and the brown as equals and with dignity.