Posted on Feb 1, 2023
It's Black History Month. Here are 3 things to know about the annual celebration
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https://www.npr.org/2023/02/01/ [login to see] /black-history-month-2023-theme-3-things-to-know
February marks Black History Month, a tradition that got its start in the Jim Crow era and was officially recognized in 1976 as part of the nation's bicentennial celebrations. It aims to honor the contributions that African Americans have made and to recognize their sacrifices.
Here are three things to know about Black History Month:
It was Negro History Week before it was Black History Month
In 1926, Carter G. Woodson, the scholar often referred to as the "father of Black history," established Negro History Week to focus attention on Black contributions to civilization. According to the NAACP, Woodson — at the time only the second Black American after W.E.B. Du Bois to earn a doctorate from Harvard University — "fervently believed that Black people should be proud of their heritage and [that] all Americans should understand the largely overlooked achievements of Black Americans."
February marks Black History Month, a tradition that got its start in the Jim Crow era and was officially recognized in 1976 as part of the nation's bicentennial celebrations. It aims to honor the contributions that African Americans have made and to recognize their sacrifices.
Here are three things to know about Black History Month:
It was Negro History Week before it was Black History Month
In 1926, Carter G. Woodson, the scholar often referred to as the "father of Black history," established Negro History Week to focus attention on Black contributions to civilization. According to the NAACP, Woodson — at the time only the second Black American after W.E.B. Du Bois to earn a doctorate from Harvard University — "fervently believed that Black people should be proud of their heritage and [that] all Americans should understand the largely overlooked achievements of Black Americans."
It's Black History Month. Here are 3 things to know about the annual celebration
Posted from npr.orgPosted in these groups: 
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American History
Posted >1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Recent controversies over how race is taught echo a time when Black history was often ignored
For Dulaney, the culture wars playing out across the country over how students learn about race feel like a case of history repeating itself.
For many, recent events — the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, for example, and the ongoing controversy surrounding critical race theory, an academic framework stating that people who are white have benefited from ingrained racism in American institutions — look like a recurring pattern, he says.
"I grew up in Ohio and we didn't learn about a single African or African American man or woman who had ever done anything in history," the 72-year-old Dulaney says.
"Starting in the '60s, through the '70s, we were very successful in integrating African American history of culture into the curriculum," he says.
Florida's AP African American studies ban should raise alarm elsewhere, lawmaker says
NATIONAL
Florida's AP African American studies ban should raise alarm elsewhere, lawmaker says
However, "now here we are back, having to push that agenda again ... [against those] trying to suppress the teaching of African American history and culture."
King thinks the current controversy surrounding critical race theory will die down. "My personal feelings are that they'll find another politically manufactured outrage and move on to the next thing," he says.
UCLA's Hunter thinks that debate is indicative of where the country is right now. What it really says is "there's a lot of work to still be done."
However, Black History Month has been and can continue to be a force for better understanding.
"It offers a certain amount of optimism about what is possible if people actually focus on the educational importance of it," he says."
..."Recent controversies over how race is taught echo a time when Black history was often ignored
For Dulaney, the culture wars playing out across the country over how students learn about race feel like a case of history repeating itself.
For many, recent events — the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, for example, and the ongoing controversy surrounding critical race theory, an academic framework stating that people who are white have benefited from ingrained racism in American institutions — look like a recurring pattern, he says.
"I grew up in Ohio and we didn't learn about a single African or African American man or woman who had ever done anything in history," the 72-year-old Dulaney says.
"Starting in the '60s, through the '70s, we were very successful in integrating African American history of culture into the curriculum," he says.
Florida's AP African American studies ban should raise alarm elsewhere, lawmaker says
NATIONAL
Florida's AP African American studies ban should raise alarm elsewhere, lawmaker says
However, "now here we are back, having to push that agenda again ... [against those] trying to suppress the teaching of African American history and culture."
King thinks the current controversy surrounding critical race theory will die down. "My personal feelings are that they'll find another politically manufactured outrage and move on to the next thing," he says.
UCLA's Hunter thinks that debate is indicative of where the country is right now. What it really says is "there's a lot of work to still be done."
However, Black History Month has been and can continue to be a force for better understanding.
"It offers a certain amount of optimism about what is possible if people actually focus on the educational importance of it," he says."
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MSgt Dale Johnson
In Ohio schools in the 60s that only thing I remember was George Washington Carver was instrumental in developing the use of Peanuts as a substitute for Cotton to replenish soil and rotate crops.
Plus he developed many uses for Peanuts, since I loved peanuts (and still do) it inspired me to look further into his life as a Botanist.
Plus he developed many uses for Peanuts, since I loved peanuts (and still do) it inspired me to look further into his life as a Botanist.
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