Every February, we celebrate a special holiday. And no, I'm not talking about Valentine's Day. I'm referring to the 28 (or 29) days we dedicate to honoring Black History Month, our nation's way of showing respect and recognition for the hard work of and sacrifices made by African Americans.
Black Americans confront a layered, painful past while making countless cultural contributions. We've been responsible for classic books, beauty brands (we're looking at you, Madam C.J. Walker), creative small businesses, films, and inventions we can't imagine life without-and we're still completing countless impressive firsts.
The Origins of Black History Month
But out of all the calendar pages, why is Black History Month in February (a.k.a. the month of love)? And who started this tradition? Here's a primer. It all started with a man named Carter G. Woodson.
Harvard-educated historian Carter G. Woodson is credited with creating Black History Month. In 1915, after seeing this display, Woodson decided to form what is now named the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH), in order to encourage the study of the accomplishments made by Black Americans.
According to Scott, after Woodson wrote The Journal of Negro History in 1916, which chronicled the overlooked achievements of African Americans, he sought to amplify Black people's success and spread his findings to a wider audience. In 1924, the fraternity responded by creating "Negro Achievement Week."
Read also: The History of Valentine's Day
February was selected to align with President Lincoln and Frederick Douglass's birthdays. Both Lincoln and Douglass had long been celebrated by the Black community in the years before "Negro History Week" was created. Since his assassination, Lincoln's birthday was honored by both African Americans and Republicans alike, so the ASALH only solidified this tradition. And Douglass was already revered as a change-making abolitionist and orator whose legacy would now be cemented with festivities that honored the people he fought so hard for.
In the 50 years that followed, according to History.com, clubs, schools, and communities across the country began taking part in the week-long celebration. Particularly in the 1960s, during the civil rights movement, with wider public knowledge of the trials and triumphs of African Americans, a mere seven days turned into a month-long recognition.
To solidify this change, in 1976, President Ford declared February "Black History Month" in a commemorative speech. He urged citizens to "seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history."
Today, Black History Month continues to be widely celebrated. The observations live on as we take the time to honor greats such as Martin Luther King Jr., James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, and our very own Oprah Winfrey.
In fact according to Scott, before his death in 1950, Woodson himself wished to see the acknowledgment of African Americans' past become a regular daily occurrence rather than be relegated to a single month.
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Black Love Day: A Spiritual Celebration
Photo: Getty ImagesNothing like a day dedicated to celebrating Black love! Black Love Day falls on February 13 every year since it was founded in 1993.
This spiritual holiday is rooted in African cultures and ideas, and the aim is to complete the five Tenets: to practice love toward "the Creator, for Self, for the Family, within the Black Community and for the Black Race" for 24 hours, according to the African American Registry.
“We encourage people on this day to do something very simple-just demonstrate love for 24 hours, and celebrate and atone, offer forgiveness to ourselves and to others, and to accept the very important tenets,” Ayo Handy-Kendi, the founder and director of the African American Holiday Association (AAHA), told the DailyDot.
What does celebrating Black Love Day look like? It can take many forms. Black Love Day isn't exclusive to Black people, either. People of other races can participate, as well, by putting their "love into action," meaning they work on their behavior and racial attitudes toward Black people.
That can include conversations, introspection, or supporting Black people in any way they can. While practicing the tenets is a mainstay tradition, the holiday itself is different every year. There's a theme that changes annually for Black Love Day.
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Love Through the Ages: Unraveling the Enchanting History of Valentine's Day Traditions
"2020 exposed a reckoning over hot issues like health equity, racial justice, economic equality, policing, politics, education, competition for limited resources and just 'living while black,'" Handy-Kendy said in a press release.
"Insane polarization, fighting, killing over survival ideologies sprawled into our streets and even into the Nations’ Capitol.
“Love is a spiritual link that connects tolerance with compassion, so we don’t hurt another to love ourselves or hate because of differences," Handy-Kendi said.
Valentine’s Day, Black History and Black Love: The Stories of Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X
Once upon a time, I swore to a powerful fresh love of mine that with all of the baggage of oppression, I would never observe Valentine’s Day with her…Never…We would just have to figure out something else because I just couldn’t, I told her defiantly.
True to her own power and grace, she simply handed me an article that shut my young militant mouth and made me bow down to her sacred African womb!
An article telling the story of how Frederick Douglass’ mother ‘gave’ him Valentine’s Day for his birthday!
Frederick Douglass, the most famous Black Abolitionist of the 19th century, the most lyrical writer in the English language of the 19th century or so said the immortal Amiri Baraka, was born in the brutal bondage of slavery in Maryland sometime in February of either 1817 or 1818.
He was born tragically as a consequence of his enslaved mother having been sexually violated. To defy that horror, she made her young man her ‘Valentine’s’ and marked that to be the day of his birth.
It was one of the most incredible acts of self-determination that I have ever heard!
Imagine that! Look at what she defied! Look at what she had to transcend! And yet she did it. It would go down as the most important single memory Douglass would have of his mother, who died when he was only eight.
We causally know Frederick Douglass’ birthday because it was a center piece of the beginning of what became Black History Week in 1926. (The other centerpiece being the February 12th birthday of Abraham Lincoln.)
Now let’s leap ahead to the 20th century on February 14th, 1965…The modest Queens New York home of Malcolm X was firebombed!
One bomb was lobbed into the bedroom of his young daughters only coming within inches and moments of killing them! Into the bedroom of his young daughters!
Malcolm knew that was his fate ‘marked’ to ultimately give his life to advance our struggle and at no time did he ever seek to avoid that fate.
After enduring his home being bombed, Malcolm secured his family and got on a plane to Detroit to keep a speaking engagement made by one of his one of his lawyers, the late Milton Henry, planned sometime earlier and wound up giving us one of his most remembered presentations. It comes to us as ‘The Last Message.’ It took place as the keynote of a grassroots organizing effort that included two of his favorite female comrades, the late Gloria Richardson and Rosa Parks!
He dedicated his remarks in an amazing offhanded apologetic way to his wife, the late Betty Bahiyyah Shabazz, and his daughters.
“I was in a house that was bombed, my own…It isn’t something that made me lose confidence in what I am doing, because my wife understands, and I have children,…even in their young age, they understand...that they would rather have a father…who will take a stand in the face of reaction…rather than compromise and later on have to grow up in shame or disgrace…So I ask you to excuse my appearance…”
Malcolm X, The Last Message, February 14, 1965
He would die a week later in a hail of 21 bullets on February 21st 1965 in front of his wife and children at the then Audubon Ballroom in New York.
Malcolm…Valentine’s Day does have some baggage!
The Dark Side of Valentine's Day Cards
On Thursday, Feb. A scholar of African American culture, Young calls the valentine cards indications of the widespread acceptance of African Americans stereotypes.
“They were mainstream cards available for purchase at the Walgreens and Jewel of their day. The cards, for example, often make light-hearted references to lynching, slavery and impending violence.
Almost always written in bastardized English - Is yo’ mah Valentine?
One such card - which the professor of theatre, performance studies and African American Studies will present Feb. 16 -- features a cartoonish black man drawn very much in the black face/minstrel tradition on a precipice with a rope around his neck that is tied to a tree.
“Who purchased these cards is not clear,” says Harvey, who began his own card collection a year ago for a book project.
“You’ll find them at auctions or on eBay. Not surprisingly, images of watermelons and cotton bales with black adults and, in particular, children in tattered clothes abound in this genre.
“The cards helped keep alive stereotypes of black people as laughing, singing and dancing without a care in the world,” says. Harvey.
“Slowly they began to decline but they didn’t simply end overnight.
Harvey, who teaches performance studies in the School of Communication and African American studies in Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, is the author of “Embodying Black Experience: Stillness, Critical Memory, and the Black Body,” winner of the 2011 Lilla A.
Black History Birthday Roll Call February 14th
Reach…Teach…Learn…Discern…Go…Grow…
- Frederick Douglass (Born Valentines Day 1817): He was a Black abolitionist, orator, and writer, who escaped slavery and urged other Blacks to do likewise before and during the American Civil War.
- Gregory Hines (Born Valentines Day 1946): He was an African-American tap dancer, choreographer, actor, singer, and director.
- Moneta Sleet (Born Valentines Day 1926): He was an African-American photographer. In 1969, he was the first Black to receive a Pulitzer Prize in journalism for his photo of Coretta Scott King at the funeral of her husband Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
- Richard Allen (Born Valentines Day 1760): He was a Black religious leader, founder and first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church.
- Charlotta Bass (Born Valentines Day 1874): She was an African-American newspaper publisher, editor, and civil rights activist. In 1952 she became the first African-American woman to run for national office as the Vice Presidential candidate for the Progressive Party.
- Oliver Harrington (Born Valentines Day 1913): He was an African- American cartoonist. His most famous cartoon series, a chronicle of the trials and tribulations of a Harlem-born protagonist, Bootsie was created in 1936.
