Black History Month 2008: The Origins and Leaders
by Derek Booker

“History is a clock that people use to tell their political time of day. It is a compass that they use to find themselves on the map of human geography. It also tells them where they are, and what they are. Most importantly, an understanding of history tells a people where they still must go, and what they still must be.”

  -Dr. John Henrik Clarke, 1987

February 2008, Black History Month. I can remember back when I was in elementary school, when it was Black History week. And, I would guess there are some of you who can recall when it was just a thought.

However, this black history month is particularly special this year, and the reason should be quite obvious. For the first time, we have a legitimate contender for the office of the President of the United States of America. This is not revisionist history. Television or Hollywood could not have written a better script. And yes, this is in real time. We, my friends, black, white and every hue in between are living in a historical moment. And, for blacks in particular, this is the culmination from that first moment when the first black African to set foot onto these shores in chains.

I know that there have been other candidates who have made attempts for this coveted office before such as, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm in 1972, the Reverend Jesse Jackson in 1984 and in 1988, in which yours truly, worked on both campaigns, and of course the Reverend Al Sharpton in 2000.

Black History Month's began in February 1926, but it was not known as such. Back then, it was called “Negro History Week” and was the brainchild of Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson, noted author and historian scholar.

He chose the month of February not because of it being the shortest month of the year, which has taken the topic of many black comics' jokes, but out of respect for Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, abolitionist and statesman, whose birthdays are February twelfth and fourteenth, respectively.

This was approximately sixty years after the deaths of both Lincoln and Douglass, who Mr. Woodson thought had made a dramatic impact on the lives of all people of color. This tribute was never intended to be a display of arrogance or false bravado. Instead, the true intent was to bring attention to the important developments that merit emphasis and reflect the contributions made by American blacks. In 1976, the month of February was officially termed Black History month.

Of the many things in life that we take for granted, like what we do not have to work hard for and what comes naturally, Black History Month was more than that for Dr. Woodson, who began lobbying for this concept. I would like to explore the time and some of the personalities that would have left an indelible impression on Mr. Woodson.

In the early 1900's over 800 black Americans were lynched and race riots throughout America were commonplace. In fact the summer of 1919 is regarded as “Red Summer” because of more than twenty-six race riots that broke out between the months of April and October.

Segregation was state sanctioned and black people were denied civil rights and relegated to second-class citizenship, even though Booker T. Washington was having dinner in the White House with President Roosevelt, which was highly criticized.

The NAACP was founded on February 12, 1909.

World War I broke out in Europe in 1914, which America entered in 1917.

Black Americans were still making exceptional strides and contributions to the world in spite of their situation. Personalities and names like Sojourner Truth, Harriett Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Phillis Wheatley and Bessie Coleman come to mind. Mary McLeod Bethune, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Debois, Benjamin Banneker, and George Washington Carver had to be an inspiration for Woodson.

The exploits of the buffalo soldiers and the Tuskegee Airmen and Matthew Henson, one of the unsung heros of the North Pole expedition, and many more personalities deserve recognition but time and space will not permit at this time.

Today we continue to add personalities to an ever-expanding list of names such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Congressman Adam C. Powell Jr., C.E.O. Richard Parsons of Time Warner, General Colin Powell and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Democratic Presidential candidate for the United States of America, Senator Barack Obama.

“We have not as yet secured for ourselves a character—reputation. We are but the immediate descendants of those who have been reared under all manner of depressing influences, in ignorance, in an ignorant section of the country, and Southern plantations; we have not had a fair trial; our position has been a stooping one. We are beginning to feel the necessity of standing erect.”

  –Frederick Douglas, 1851