Soon to dawn on the doorsteps of Deerfield Beach High School this February is Black History Month. Every February, people around the United States celebrate one of the biggest months of celebration for Americans.
Black History Month, also known as African American History Month, originated to acknowledge African American achievements that are available to the public for those to see.
Black History Month originally started as only the second week in February, which was founded in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson who also founded the “Association for the Study of African American Life and History” which was one of the earliest scholarly journals publishing African American research and history. The week was chosen because that week included Fredrick Douglas’s and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays. Fredrick Douglas was an abolitionist who fought for the freedom of enslaved people and Abraham Lincoln, the16th president of the U.S., led during the Civil War which dealt with the freeing of enslaved people.
Then after a long 50 years in 1976, President Gerald Ford extended the short week to the entire month of February. Which solidified the month-long holiday that we know today to be Black History Month. Museums and memorials celebrate black history to this day.
“I myself am not black but I love that black people get to have February as a month of celebration,” said DBHS junior Lupita Rodriguez.
It is important to recognize and acknowledge the month ahead for Deerfield Beach High students. There is a wide variety of backgrounds here at DBHS and a good majority of the African/Black American diaspora.
Many people made black history so we can remember it today. Black History Month honors people from all periods of U.S. history. Heroes like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for the equal rights of Black Americans during the 1950s and 60s. Thurgood Marshall was the first African American justice appointed to the United States Supreme Court and in 1967 Bessie Coleman was the earliest known Black person to earn an international pilot’s license in 1921. There’s Barack Obama who was elected the first-ever African American president of the United States in 2008. There are still so many figures that led to justice and freedom for African American people.
People like Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Maya Angelou, and Marsha P. Johnson all paved the way and made history in their time.
“I am very proud of my heritage and happy to say that I am black. It feels good to know how far we’ve come, and I can’t wait to see us go farther,” said DBHS junior Terard Robinson.
Just a week in February turned into a massive holiday Black History Month continues to be the talk of the town and the acknowledgment of Black people and their contributions throughout the years continues to inspire everyone to support Black History all around the world.
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