Why is February Black History Month?

Janus Adams

 BackPax: Empowering ‘adventurous young minds"

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​     Why is Black History Month celebrated in February?
 
     The answer is really quite love-ly.
 
     For Black people enslaved, a birthday was as hard to come by as justice.  But, never one to be outdone by the “impossible,” Frederick Bailey wanted a birthday—and a birthday he was going to have.  First, he'd have to find out when it was.

     He’d heard that his father was the slave owner from whom he'd escaped, so he couldn't ask him.  His mother, Harriet Bailey, had been sold away from him when he was only five, so he couldn't ask her. But, he could remember stories she'd told him before they’d been separated.
 
     She said he was born on a Maryland plantation in the ‘teens.  He chose the mid-teens, 1818, for his birth year.  She always called him her “little valentine.”  He chose Valentine’s Day for his birth date.  With that, Frederick finally had the birthday he'd always wanted: February 14, 1818.

     Then . . .

     In 1926, Dr. Carter G. Woodson wanted to solve a problem.  For centuries, Americans were taught to believe that African Americans had “no history or culture.”  Now that is, of course, impossible.  Everyone inherits the history and culture of their family elders.  But, this horrific idea was used to justify slavery and segregation by making Black people seem less than human.
 
     Dr. Woodson had a better idea: he’d tell the truth.  He would research and share the true history of Black people in countries throughout the world over.  
 
     To promote his idea, he created Negro History Week (now, Black History Month).   He chose February in honor of two birthdays.  Born on February 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln was the first American president to take action to end slavery.  Born on February 14, 1818 Harriet Bailey’s “little Valentine's” became the noted Underground Railroad conductor, abolitionist, and publisher, Frederick Douglass.  As a special adviser to President Lincoln, he proposed—and the president wrote and signed—the “Emancipation Proclamation”; ending slavery.    
 
     Such is the power of love.

     We never know how we will remember what our parents say or what their words will mean to us when we need them most.  Frederick's mother—an enslaved woman with so little to give—empowered her son for life with the gift of her enduring love. 
 
     For this love-ly reason, February is Black History Month.  

 Frederick Bailey's mother was sold to a new owner, leaving the 5-year-old  behind.  This was a common practice in the slavery era.

Abraham Lincoln's successful campaign to end slavery in the United States culminated in the Emancipation Declaration of 1863. Alexander Gardner via Wikimedia Commons

;In 1926, Carter G. Woodson (left) shown here as a young man, pioneered the celebration of "Negro History Week" during the second week in February, to coincide with marking the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (above) and Frederick Douglass (right). Black United Students and Black educators at Kent State University expanded the celebration to become Black History Month on February 1, 1970. Woodson Courtesy of the New River Gorge National River website, National Park Service, Department of the Interior, United States Government; Douglass via Wikimedia Commons.

Janus Adams has produced Steal Away-- a package of a book, an audio and a game about the Underground Railroad. You can learn more about her award-winning series of adventure and travel books, audios and games on her website called Back Pax Kids.

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MLA 8 Citation
Adams, Janus. "Title tbd." Nonfiction Minute, iNK Think Tank, 28 Feb. 2018,
     www.nonfictionminute.org/the-nonfiction-minute/
     why-is-february-black-history-month.