Black History Month explained: its origins, celebrations and myths

WASHINGTON (AP) — Beginning Feb. 1, schools, museums and communities across the nation will mark the start of Black History Month –- a celebration of Black history, culture and education. The history of the month dates back almost a century, and the way it is celebrated and evolved has created history in itself. The origins of the month Black History Month wasn’t always a monthlong celebration. In February 1926, historian and author Carter G. Woodson created Negro History Week. It was a weeklong celebration in an effort to teach people about African-American history and the contributions of Black people. This effort was made under the umbrella of an organization he founded in September 1915 called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, or ASALH. “I think Black folks understood what they had contributed to America’s historical narrative, but no one was talking about it,” said Kaye Whitehead, the organization’s president. “No one was centralizing it until Dr. Carter G. Woodson was in 1926.” After he passed away in 1950, the members of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, which Dr. Woodson was a member of, did a lot of groundwork to encourage celebrating the week. The fraternity...