Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Also known as African American History Month, the event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. Other countries around the world, including Canada and the United Kingdom, also devote a month to celebrating Black history.
Source: History.com: Black History Month
As a Harvard-trained historian, Carter G. Woodson, like W. E. B. Du Bois before him, believed that truth could not be denied and that reason would prevail over prejudice. His hopes to raise awareness of African American's contributions to civilization was realized when he and the organization he founded, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), conceived and announced Negro History Week in 1925. The event was first celebrated during a week in February 1926 that encompassed the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The response was overwhelming: Black history clubs sprang up; teachers demanded materials to instruct their pupils; and progressive whites, not simply white scholars and philanthropists, stepped forward to endorse the effort.
By the time of Woodson's death in 1950, Negro History Week had become a central part of African American life and substantial progress had been made in bringing more Americans to appreciate the celebration. At mid–century, mayors of cities nationwide issued proclamations noting Negro History Week. The Black Awakening of the 1960s dramatically expanded the consciousness of African Americans about the importance of black history, and the Civil Rights movement focused Americans of all colors on the subject of the contributions of African Americans to our history and culture.
The celebration was expanded to a month in 1976, the nation's bicentennial. President Gerald R. Ford urged Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” That year, fifty years after the first celebration, the association held the first African American History Month. By this time, the entire nation had come to recognize the importance of Black history in the drama of the American story. Since then each American president has issued African American History Month proclamations. And the association—now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)—continues to promote the study of Black history all year.
(Excerpt from an essay by Daryl Michael Scott, Howard University, for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History)
Source: African American History Month - This Web portal is a collaborative project of the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
The Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) received a Planning Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
Overview of Grant
The Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) received a Planning Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to begin exploring the current state of Black History Month (BHM) programming offered at public libraries and identify significant gaps. While virtually every public library across the U.S. conducts some program during BHM, there has never been a systematic study to assess the content, scope, target age groups, and focus of that programming. This Planning Grant brought together partners from key American Library Association Divisions and Offices, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the University of Michigan’s Program for Research on Black Americans (PRBA), and other experts in the field to explore and catalogue current BHM programming.
With an increasingly diverse U.S. population, and an expectation that the United States will become a “majority minority” country by 2044, it is essential for libraries to offer quality programming that recognizes and celebrates the accomplishments of its increasingly diverse patrons. This kind of programming has the potential to bring more members of the community into the library, and provide for a richer exchange.
With its 50 years of expertise, commitment, and advocacy, the BCALA, in conjunction with the strong National Advisory Committee identified, is confident that we can undertake an examination of current practices, and then eventually improve and strengthen BHM programming in public libraries for the next 50 years.
This website from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) provides insight into the study of Black History Programming that has been done in the past and present and hopes to show what can be done for programming in the future in public libraries. Grant money was provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to be able to do a study on BHM programming.