Black + History Month

In 1925, Harvard-trained historian Carter G. Woodson, known as the "Father of Black History," had a bold idea.
That year, he announced "Negro History Week" -- a celebration of a people that many in this country at the time believed had no place in history.
The response to the event, first celebrated in February 1926, a month that included the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, was overwhelming -- as educators, scholars and philanthropists stepped forward to endorse the effort. Fifty years later, coinciding with nation's bicentennial and in the wake of the civil rights movement, the celebration was expanded to a month after President Gerald R. Ford decreed a national observance.