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Black History Month What is Black History Month?

Black History Month is an annual celebration and acknowledgment of the central role Black people have played in history. 

In 1915, the Harvard-trained historian Carter G. Woodson and prominent minister Jesse E. Moorland founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), an organization dedicated to researching and promoting achievements by Black Americans and other people of African descent. This group sponsored a National Negro History Week in 1926. The event inspired schools and communities nationwide to organize local celebrations, establish history clubs and host performances and lectures. 

After formerly being recognized as “Negro History Week” to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglass, every American president since 1976 has designated February to be Black History Month.

Carol Wright

Communications

SOC Alumna Carol Wright Pens Her Own Story After AU

Carol Wright was among students who spent the last of their collegiate time in quarantine due to COVID-19. Since, she's made impressive strides as a comms professional, founder of her own magazine, and a soon-to-be grad student at Harvard Business School.

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Anedra Edwards_BHM 2021

Communications

SOC Alumna and VFX Editor Anedra Edwards Drafted Into the Marvel Universe

SOC alumna and visual effects editor Anedra Edwards (SOC /MA ‘15) has gone on to contribute her talents to high-profile projects with brands like HBO, Discovery, National Geographic, and more.

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1909 Feb. 28, 1909 marked the first Woman's History Day in New York City. It commemorated the one-year anniversary of the garment workers' strikes when 15,000 women marched through lower Manhattan.

1911 International Women’s Day, a global celebration of the economic, political and social achievements of women, took place for the first time on March 8, 1911. The United Nations has sponsored International Women’s Day since 1975.

2021 Every Women's History Month has a theme. The 2021 theme is "Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to Be Silenced," will focus on women's political involvement and leadership.

Representation Matters: Moments in Modern Black Media

According to Variety, the study "Representation Matters(by the National Research Group)," found that 67% of Americans across political ideologies and ethnicities feel there is a greater need for on-screen representation of all of the following: mixed race individuals, Black men, Black women, Black Children, Black Teenagers, Black gay men, Black gay women, Black Transgender men and women, Black non-binary or genderqueer persons, and Black persons with disabilities. While there is a ways to go, let us celebrate how far media representation has come, in the last few years!

A Brief Timeline of Black Trauma from 2013-2021

For almost a decade, every summer had brought considerable racial trauma for Black Americans. 
2013: Trayvon Martin
2014: Eric Garner, Mike Brown, John Crawford, and Tamir Rice
2015: Freddie Gray and Sandra Bland
2016: Alton Sterling and Philando Castile
2017: Heather Heyer
2019: Atatiana Jefferson
2020: Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd

In 2020 Black people saw great tragedy, but also witnessed hope. Let that be the legacy that lives on.

5 Film Recommendations from the Black Diaspora

SOC's own Distinguished Artist in Residence, Prof. Russell Williams II has compiled five films that you should watch to celebrate Black History Month: 

  1. Daughter's of the Dust
  2. Sing your Song: Harry Belafonte
  3. What Happened Miss Simone?
  4. Ruby Bridges (1998)
  5. In the Heat of the Night (1967)

Additional Recommendations: "Ceddo" (1977), "Sugar Cane Alley" (1983), "Nothing But A Man" (1954)