Featured Article: 10 Facts about Black History Month

Black History Month was originally Created in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, a noted African American historian, scholar, educator, and publisher.  It was focused around traditional days of commemorating the black past to extend public’s study of black history. The month celebrates the contributions of African Americans to U.S. History and those who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society.

• February was chosen to coincide with Frederick Douglass’s and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays
  
  
• The first black U.S. senator was Hiram Revels in 1870.
  
  
• 1 in 4 cowboys was Black, despite the stories told in popular books and movies.
  
  
• Bass Reeves  was the first black deputy U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi River in 1875.  During his long career, he was credited with arresting more than 3,000 felons. 
  
  
• Dr. Mae Jemison became the first African American woman to go into space aboard the space shuttle Endeavor in 1992.
  
  
• Scientist and mathematician Benjamin Banneker is credited with helping to design the blueprints for Washington, D.C.
  
  
• Inoculation was introduced to America by a slave.
  
  
• Interracial marriage in the United Sates was banned in 1664 and not overturned until 1967.
  
  
• The earliest recorded protest against slavery was by the Quakers in 1688, though it would take another 88 years for the group to officially denounce slavery.
  
  
• During the Civil Rights Movement in the South, some schools incorporated Black history into the curriculum with the hopes of advancing social change

To find out more information check out:

AfricanAmericanHistoryMonth.gov

Photo by Clarke Sanders on Unsplash