The month of February has been designated African-American History Month and since 1976 every U.S. president has officially declared the month of February as period to study African-American history. It is former President Gerald Ford who is given credit for designating the entire month as a period to reflect on the contributions and history of black people in America. Other countries around the world, including Canada and the United Kingdom, also devote a month to celebrating Black history.
Black History Month can be traced back to 1915, half a century after the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States.
In September of that year a black Harvard educated historian, Carter G. Woodson, and the prominent minister Jesse E. Moorland founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). This organization dedicated itself to the research and promotion the achievements of Black Americans and other peoples of African descent.
African-American History Month 2021
In the year 2021 black people continue to make progress towards the equality that has eluded us for over two centuries. The year 2020 was yet another year where the issue of race confronted Americans everywhere. And again, and not without upsetting white Americans, black people made their voice heard and their presence felt all over this great nation.
But in 2021 we have to face another challenge. That of the COVID-19 pandemic. And like so many events in American history it is the black community that must suffer the most. It is this equality of medical care, education and economic resources that continues to be denied by systemic racism in America. But like so many times before; “Still I rise.”
Check out African-American History Month Online
The National Museum of African-American History and Culture is closed but you can still see exhibits and partake in the month’s events virtually.
By visiting the museum’s website you can see the latest exhibits that highlight the history of African-Americans.
Pauli Murray’s Proud Shoes is available online and highlights the racial and social dynamics of the union of a northern free black family and a mixed-race southern family.
The museum website also offers a powerful history lesson about Carter G. Woodson and how black history month came about. Woodson is the author of the book “The Mis-education of the Negro.” In 1915 Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and the following year launched “The Journal of African American History.”
There are many other exhibits online to celebrate African-American history.
Google Arts & Culture, Black History Month collection
For a centralized source of online learning opportunities, check out the Black History Month collection on the Google Arts and Culture site, which features photo galleries, videos, virtual tours of museums, and more modern reflections of Black history and culture. Access Google’s compiled collections of media made by Black artists, like the Smithsonian’s African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond; biographies of famous Black Americans, including sculptor Edmonia Lewis and civil rights lawyer Pauli Murray; as well as personal letters from modern Black celebrities like Yara Shahidi and Nas.
The site also hosts a central database of online accessible exhibits from museums and cultural institutions across the country, including many listed below, as well as Carnegie Hall’s interactive tribute to civil rights leaders and the National Park Services’ virtual walkthrough of African American heritage sites.
The National Portrait Gallery Collection, Portraits of African Americans
These special additions to the general national gallery were first introduced through the Harmon Foundation Collection in the 1940s, with a goal to “counter racist stereotypes and racial prejudice through portraiture,” the gallery explains. The first portraits were commissioned from two Black woman artists, Betsy Graves Reyneau and Harlem Renaissance artist Laura Wheeler Waring. Since then, the portrait gallery has been expanded and is available for online viewing. Along with portraits of former president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, it includes portraits of 18th-century poet Phillis Wheatley, congresswoman and first woman candidate for president Shirley Chisholm, and Henrietta Lacks, known for contributing the first immortalized line of cells in the study of cancer — all Black women who have often been left out of historical narratives.
The Museum of African Diaspora, Slavery Narratives
This online exhibit features primary-sourced stories from enslaved people in an attempt to demonstrate the expansive impact slave systems had on Black communities in the United States. The exhibit features already fairly known voices, like abolitionist Olaudah Equiano and author Mary Prince, as well as the perspectives of both freed and enslaved peoples who found ways to fight for abolition, purchase property, and create enduring legacies even in the face of the horrors of systemic slavery.
According to the exhibit page, the featured items “reflect only a fraction of the millions upon millions of stories that could have been told.”
WATCH: 5 racial justice documentaries to further your education
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Subversion & The Art of Slavery Abolition
The center has multiple online-only exhibits hosted on the Schomburg Center website. Subversion and the Art of Slavery Abolition features art and images, like anti-slavery poems, mass-produced pamphlets, and education primers for children, used by anti-slavery advocates in the fight for abolition. The exhibit dives deep into the impact of abolitionist media on U.S. and British public consciousness. You can view all of their online exhibits here.
The center is also hosting a month’s worth of virtual talks featuring writers and Black historians, including the “Between the Lines” series, which highlights new published collections of Black history. Anyone can sign up to participate or watch the archived series on the Schomburg Center’s website after the fact.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture, We Return Fighting
This exhibit highlights the the history of Black Americans as service members, specifically those who fought in WWI, when more than 380,000 Black members of the armed forces served under segregated conditions and struggled to obtain equal status both within the military and after the war ended. It’s still available as a digital walkthrough.
You can also check out the museum’s extensive “Collection Stories” section, where experts break down the stories behind all of the museum’s exhibits focused on Black history and culture.
The National Women’s History Museum, Standing up for Change
In 2016, the National Women’s History Museum launched this online photo exhibition documenting the role of Black women during the civil rights movement as leaders, organizers, and faces of the movement. As the exhibit states, “African American women were the critical mass, the grassroots leaders challenging America to embrace justice and equality for all.” The website features art and documents dating from early anti-abolition efforts all the way to the mid-20th century.
These are just a few exhibits featuring a small percentage of the often ignored, simplified, and unknown histories of Black Americans. Use these resources as a starting point, and continue doing the work to deepen your knowledge of Black history this February.
Now you know.
Contents originally published by Mashable.com and
