Black History Month: Day Four--It Takes a Community

*Note: For The Journey: Day Sixteen see my earlier post today.

Black History Month: The History and Controversy

Day Four: It Takes a Community

Since the White majority scholarly community remained unmoved by the facts of the Black legacy, Dr. Carter Woodson began to urge Black civic organizations to promote the achievements that researchers were uncovering. Truly, it takes a community!

So Woodson prodded his fraternity brothers at Omega Psi Phi to take up the work. In 1924 they responded with the creation of Negro History and Literature Week, which they renamed Negro Achievement Week.

Within a year, Woodson knew that the Association had to expand its program. So they reorganized their goal: dedicated to discovering and popularizing the truth.

The Association had to reeducate Blacks as well as Whites, and its doors had to be opened to all, not just to historians and scholars.

Negro History Week 1926

When the Association announced Negro History Week for 1926, Woodson was overwhelmed by the response. Black history clubs sprang up, teachers demanded materials to instruct their pupils, and progressive Whites, not simply White scholars, stepped forward to endorse the effort.

And now you know . . . the rest of the story.

But there is more . . . so much more . . .

Why did Woodson select a week in February? How did the week morph into a month? How successful has the week/month been in creating a post-racial history? These and many more questions and answers await future posts. Stay tuned!