How students drove the creation of Black History Month

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19-02-2025

'If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.' — Carter G. Woodson
I began with a quote from Dr. Woodson because I want readers to know who he was and what motivated him to lay the groundwork for what would eventually become Black History Month, first celebrated at Kent State University.
Woodson established what is now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History in 1915 along with William D. Hartgrove, George Cleveland Hall, Alexander L. Jackson and James E. Stamps. In January 1916, he began publication of what is now The Journal of African American History. In 1926, he pioneered the celebration of Negro History Week during the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
It is important to understand that Woodson was operating during a period of rising Black self-consciousness that was being expressed in movements such as the Harlem/New Negro Renaissance and by Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association.
I arrived at Kent State University as a first-year student in September 1970 on the day campus reopened after the shootings that previous May and two years after Black United Students (BUS) walked off campus in protest demanding what is now the Department of Africana Studies and the Center of Pan-African Culture (CPAC).
I was a naïve, wide-eyed and anxious 18-year-old. I remember being swept up into BUS and being groomed by upperclassmen who had participated in the 1968 'walkout.' I was mesmerized and in absolute awe of the militant group spirit they exuded.
When Dwayne White (aka Ibrahim Al-Khafiz) and Carl Gregory (aka Saiti Dihati) approached Dr. Edward Crosby, director of the Institute for African American Affairs (IAAA), and Dr. Milton Wilson, the dean for Human Relations, to propose that programming for Negro History Week be extended throughout the month of February, BUS was acting in concert with a larger Black student/Black studies movement that was sweeping the country at that time.
Like Woodson before them, they believed, 'Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.'
A case can be made that the civil rights and Black consciousness movements inspired other marginalized groups in the United States to awaken and to claim their legitimate places in this society. The celebrations of women's history, Native American heritage and Hispanic heritage are not coincidental.
At Kent State, students can now engage the Women's Center, the E. Timothy Moore Student Multicultural Center and the LGBTQ+ Center. The Department of Africana Studies (formerly the IAAA) and the Center of Pan-African Studies are housed in Oscar Ritchie Hall — named after KSU's first African American professor.
It can also be argued that the current 'Make America Great Again' culture war is designed to roll back the social progress that has been achieved over the last 55 years.
Race is still the elephant in the room. The weaponization of ignorance is the real danger in these treacherous yet exciting times. The fabricated battle over critical race theory, the banning of books, the attack on African American history in Florida and assaults on 'too woke' colleges, DEI initiatives and the fundamentals of academic freedom are being waged to conserve an archaic status quo that was never intended to embrace 21st century American realities.
For those BUS students who transformed Negro History Week into Black History Month in February 1970, Woodson's book, 'The Mis-Education of the Negro,' was an strong influence. He wrote: '… [T]aught the same economics, history, philosophy, literature and religion which have established the present code of morals, the Negro's mind has been brought under the control of his oppressor. The problem of holding the Negro down, therefore, is easily solved.'
For us, the study of the history and contributions of Africans, not only here in America but throughout the world, was the real point. Our quest was to acquire a true education that would help us to become better human beings and to achieve what the Yoruba people of West Africa call 'Iwa-Pele,' which means 'good and gentle character.'
Embracing Black History Month can help this nation to learn about major chapters of the true story of how America became great. Black life does matter.
Professor Mwatabu S. Okantah is chair of the Department of Africana Studies at Kent State University.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: How, where and why Black History Month started | Opinion