Black History Month provides the opportunity to celebrate the achievements of African Americans and recognize their role in U.S. history.
In September 1915, the Harvard-trained historian Carter G. Woodson and the Reverend Jesse E. Moorland founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Known today as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the group sponsored a national Negro History Week in 1926, choosing the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, according to the History Channel website.
In the decades that followed, mayors of cities across the country began issuing yearly proclamations recognizing “Negro History Week.” By the late 1960s, “Negro History Week” had evolved into Black History Month on many college campuses. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month.
In honor of this year’s Black History Month, we invited African American administrators and faculty members from Buffalo State College to share a favorite book that speaks to the Black experience. Several participants responded with their choices.
Top photo of James Baldwin, 1969, by Allan Warren (CC).
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