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This year, Black History Month celebrates itself! -- with the theme: “A Century of Black History Commemorations” How Black History Month came to be Black History Month is an annual celebration which commemorates Black Americans’ achievements, their struggles, and hopes for the future. It was 100 years ago when In 1926, this celebration was created by Harvard-trained historian Carter G. Woodson and was initially called Negro History Week. During the nation’s bicentennial in 1976, President Gerald R. Ford extended the celebration to a month. 100 years of Black History Month themes Throughout the years, Black History Month has carefully chosen each year's theme to help strike a chord with the American public. "African Americans and Labor" was the featured theme last year, for example, as the current administration began to enact sweeping DEI reforms in the workplace. Another poignant theme came in 1978 with "Roots, Achievements and Projections" as the nation was still abuzz with the wildly popular televised serial "Roots" centered around slavery, "Changing the Afro-American Image through History" was the featured theme in 1969 with the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1968.
Along with honoring its 100th anniversary, this year's theme also encompasses more celebrations where black history is forever at the forefront. These include the birthday of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King, Jr. on MLK Day, the final proclamatoin of freedom on Juneteenth, along with dozens more days obserrved throughout the year celebrating black history and achievements.
Black History Month Through the Years: Every Black History Month Theme Since 1928
Black History Month 2025 rewind The 2025 Black History Month theme is "African Americans and Labor", touching on the invaluable contributions of African Americans in the workforce. Brought to colonial America on slave ships in the 1600's, African Americans slaves became a keystone of labor in the newly-formed United States. Besides working as the bedrock of the agricultural south, African-American slaves (both men and women) were also responsible for building the entire southern rail system, a gift to the whole of the US economy.
Fighting for their freedom during the Civil War, African Americans went on to become farm laborers, landowners, salaried workers, and business owners. Having built the railroads, many blacks also found work as the iconic Pullman railroad porter at the turn of the century -- a job later credited with the development of the black middle class in America. A prominent figure in the Pullman Porter story was labor organizer A. Philip Randolph, who formed a workers union aimed at improving the lives of black railroad porters who worked for the Pullman railroad. It became the first movement for racial and economic justice, and a solid foundation for the one that Martin Luther King Jr. built his campaign upon in the 1960s. (NOTE: 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters founded in 1925.) Other unions that arose representing black workers included coal miners, dock workers, and more notably Chicago meatpackers which helped strengthen economic stability and workplace empowerment for black workers. Although great strides had been made compared to slavery days, black Americans were still subject to age-old discrimination by whites when it came to economic advancement. This was especially evident when black business success overshadowed the surrounding population (with one extreme example being The Black Wall Street Massacre in 1921.).
By the time of the Great Depression, work was scarce for all Americans, as black unemployment rates in the South doubled or even tripled that of whites. In response, the federal government created over 400,000 jobs for African-Americans as part of the WPA program (with projects such as the Hoover Dam, pictured above) designed to get all Americans back to work. Southern blacks, meanwhile, -- as part of The Great Migration that began in the 1920s -- surged in numbers as they headed to the industrial north looking for work.
Following the war, racism resumed in force when a powerful young preacher named Martin Luther King Jr. appeared on the scene. From his pulpit at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, he began championing labor unions, strikes and boycotts in an effort to gain equal access to jobs and economic development. Proclaiming "civil rights are workers' rights", King was a national figure by 1964 when Congress passed The Civil Rights Act prohibiting discrimination nationwide on the basis of religion and race, especially when it came to job hiring, promoting, and firing. Under the new law, segregation also ended in the nation's schools -- reflecting King's other key issue -- that education was THE powerful tool for social change and economic justice. Today, the march for equality goes on, with powerful forces acting to reverse the King legacy in state legislatures to corporate boardrooms. The theme, “African Americans and Labor,” is meant to put the spotlight back on the history of black labor struggles, and the continuing fight for a living wage and better job opportunities for all.
Black Workers Remember - American Prospect Hiring African Americans - American Experience PBS The Power in Our Hands: A Curriculum on the History of Work and Workers in the United States Black History Month first originated as part of an initiative by writer and educator Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who launched Negro History Week in 1926. Woodson proclaimed that Negro History Week should always occur in the second week of February — between the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Since 1976, every American president has proclaimed February as Black History Month. Today, other countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom also devote an entire month to celebrating black history. The Web is a great place to find out more about that history — in poetry, literature, the arts, sciences, sports and entertainment — making Black History Month a time of fun, celebration, and learning.
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 Perhaps you know James Earl Jones as the voice of Star War’s Darth Vader or as Mufasa in the Lion King. He has been laden with Tony, Emmy and Obie Awards. People look at him today and see a confident actor with a deep, resonant voice. The next time you see him, look deeper .... |
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History Channel - Black History Month - Great coverage with the complete TV schedule as well as online biographies, great speeches, video clips, Web exclusives, related resources.
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