Library Guides: Black Heritage Month Celebration: Home

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Subjects: Africana Studies, Dissertations & Theses, Education, Educational Leadership, Health & Physical Education, Physical Education, Scholarship of Teaching & Learning, Special Education, Teaching & Learning

A BRIEF HISTORY

Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875 - 1950), son of former slaves and a Harvard trained historian, believed that truth could not be denied and that reason would prevail over prejudice. His hopes to raise awareness of African American's contributions to civilization was realized when he and the organization he founded, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now known as Association for the Study of African American Life and History), conceived Negro History Week in 1925. The event was first celebrated during the second week in February 1926 coinciding with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

By the time of Woodson's death in 1950, Negro History Week had become a central part of African American life and progress had been made in bringing more Americans to appreciate the celebration. The celebration was expanded in 1976 during the bicentennial when President Gerald R. Ford urged Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” That year, fifty years after the first celebration, the association held the first African American History Month.

Scurlock, A. N. (1925). Dr. Carter G. Woodson [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=record_ID%3Asiris_arc_227889&repo=DPLA

https://davenport.libguides.com/bhm#s-lg-box-13429946

2024 National Theme

2024 – African Americans and the Arts

African American art is infused with African, Caribbean, and the Black American lived experiences. In the fields of visual and performing arts, literature, fashion, folklore, language, film, music, architecture, culinary and other forms of cultural expression, the African American influence has been paramount. African American artists have used art to preserve history and community memory as well as for empowerment. Artistic and cultural movements such as the New Negro, Black Arts, Black Renaissance, hip-hop, and Afrofuturism, have been led by people of African descent and set the standard for popular trends around the world. In 2024, we examine the varied history and life of African American arts and artisans.

In celebrating the entire history of African Americans and the arts, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) puts into the national spotlight the richness of the past and present with an eye towards what the rest of the twenty-first century will bring. ASALH dedicates its 98th Annual Black History Theme to African Americans and the arts.

READ

Daveed Diggs is an American actor, rapper, and singer-songwriter. He is the vocalist of the experimental hip hop group Clipping, and in 2015, he originated the dual roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in the musical Hamilton, for which he won a 2016 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical. Along with the main cast of Hamilton, he was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in the same year. His mother is Jewish, and his father is African-American. His parents named him "Daveed", the Hebrew pronunciation of David meaning 'beloved.' Diggs identifies as being Jewish but embraces his father's side too.

ETMP: The Emmett Till Memory Project
A digital guide to the life, story and legacy of Emmett Till.
Writing Fiction Is a Way to Ensure My Ancestors’ Stories Are Remembered
Jamila Minnicks on Finding Inspirations... Family Triumphs. "While trauma is imprinted on Black DNA as intuition, and certainly informs our steps as we navigate this world, what harms us remains with us but does not define us." writes the author of Moonrise Over New Jessup, winner of the 2021 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction.