thesis for black history month

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Knowing the Past Opens the Door to the Future: The Continuing Importance of Black History Month

No one has played a greater role in helping all Americans know the black past than Carter G. Woodson, the individual who created Negro History Week in Washington, D.C., in February 1926. Woodson was the second black American to receive a PhD in history from Harvard—following W.E.B. Du Bois by a few years. To Woodson, the black experience was too important simply to be left to a small group of academics. Woodson believed that his role was to use black history and culture as a weapon in the struggle for racial uplift. By 1916, Woodson had moved to DC and established the “Association for the Study of Negro Life and Culture,” an organization whose goal was to make black history accessible to a wider audience. Woodson was a strange and driven man whose only passion was history, and he expected everyone to share his passion.

Dr. Carter G. Woodson, late 1940s

This impatience led Woodson to create Negro History Week in 1926, to ensure that school children be exposed to black history. Woodson chose the second week of February in order to celebrate the birthday of Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. It is important to realize that Negro History Week was not born in a vacuum. The 1920s saw the rise in interest in African American culture that was represented by the Harlem Renaissance where writers like Langston Hughes, Georgia Douglass Johnson, Claude McKay—wrote about the joys and sorrows of blackness, and musicians like Louie Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Jimmy Lunceford captured the new rhythms of the cities created in part by the thousands of southern blacks who migrated to urban centers like Chicago. And artists like Aaron Douglass, Richmond Barthé, and Lois Jones created images that celebrated blackness and provided more positive images of the African American experience.

Woodson hoped to build upon this creativity and further stimulate interest through Negro History Week. Woodson had two goals. One was to use history to prove to white America that blacks had played important roles in the creation of America and thereby deserve to be treated equally as citizens. In essence, Woodson—by celebrating heroic black figures—be they inventors, entertainers, or soldiers—hoped to prove our worth, and by proving our worth—he believed that equality would soon follow. His other goal was to increase the visibility of black life and history, at a time when few newspapers, books, and universities took notice of the black community, except to dwell upon the negative. Ultimately Woodson believed Negro History Week—which became Black History Month in 1976—would be a vehicle for racial transformation forever.

The question that faces us today is whether or not Black History Month is still relevant? Is it still a vehicle for change? Or has it simply become one more school assignment that has limited meaning for children. Has Black History Month become a time when television and the media stack their black material? Or is it a useful concept whose goals have been achieved? After all, few—except the most ardent rednecks - could deny the presence and importance of African Americans to American society or as my then-14 year old daughter Sarah put it, “I see Colin Powell everyday on TV, all my friends—black and white—are immersed in black culture through music and television. And America has changed dramatically since 1926—Is not it time to retire Black History Month as we have eliminated white and colored signs on drinking fountains?” I will spare you the three hour lesson I gave her.

I would like to suggest that despite the profound change in race relations that has occurred in our lives, Carter G. Woodson’s vision for black history as a means of transformation and change is still quite relevant and quite useful. African American history month, with a bit of tweaking, is still a beacon of change and hope that is still surely needed in this world. The chains of slavery are gone—but we are all not yet free. The great diversity within the black community needs the glue of the African American past to remind us of not just how far we have traveled but lo, how far there is to go.

While there are many reasons and examples that I could point towards, let me raise five concerns or challenges that African Americans — in fact — all Americans — face that black history can help address:

The Challenge of Forgetting

You can tell a great deal about a country and a people by what they deem important enough to remember, to create moments for — what they put in their museum and what they celebrate. In Scandinavia — there are monuments to the Vikings as a symbol of freedom and the spirit of exploration. In Germany during the 1930s and 1940s, the Nazis celebrated their supposed Aryan supremacy through monument and song. While America traditionally revels in either Civil War battles or founding fathers. Yet I would suggest that we learn even more about a country by what it chooses to forget — its mistakes, its disappointments, and its embarrassments. In some ways, African American History month is a clarion call to remember. Yet it is a call that is often unheeded.

Let’s take the example of one of the great unmentionable in American history — slavery. For nearly 250 years slavery not only existed but it was one of the dominant forces in American life. Political clout and economic fortune depended on the labor of slaves. And the presence of this peculiar institution generated an array of books, publications, and stories that demonstrate how deeply it touched America. And while we can discuss basic information such as the fact that in 1860 — 4 million blacks were enslaved, and that a prime field hand cost $1,000, while a female, with her childbearing capability, brought $1,500, we find few moments to discuss the impact, legacy, and contemporary meaning of slavery.

In 1988, the Smithsonian Institution, about to open an exhibition that included slavery, decided to survey 10,000 Americans. The results were fascinating — 92% of white respondents felt slavery had little meaning to them — these respondents often said “my family did not arrive until after the end of slavery.” Even more disturbing was the fact that 79% of African Americans expressed no interest or some embarrassment about slavery. It is my hope that with greater focus and collaboration Black History Month can stimulate discussion about a subject that both divides and embarrasses.

As a historian, I have always felt that slavery is an African American success story because we found ways to survive, to preserve our culture and our families. Slavery is also ripe with heroes, such as slaves who ran away or rebelled, like Harriet Tubman or Denmark Vessey, but equally important are the forgotten slave fathers and mothers who raised families and kept a people alive. I am not embarrassed by my slave ancestors; I am in awe of their strength and their humanity. I would love to see the African American community rethink its connection to our slave past. I also think of something told to me by a Mr. Johnson, who was a former sharecropper I interviewed in Georgetown, SC:

Though the slaves were bought, they were also brave. Though they were sold, they were also strong.

The Challenge of Preserving a People’s Culture

While the African American community is no longer invisible, I am unsure that as a community we are taking the appropriate steps to ensure the preservation of African American cultural patrimony in appropriate institutions. Whether we like it or not, museums, archives, and libraries not only preserves culture they legitimize it. Therefore, it is incumbent of African Americans to work with cultural institutions to preserve their family photography, documents, and objects. While African Americans have few traditions of giving material to museums, it is crucial that more of the black past make it into American cultural repositories.

A good example is the Smithsonian, when the National Museum of American History wanted to mount an exhibition on slavery, it found it did not have any objects that described slavery. That is partially a response to a lack of giving by the African American Community. This lack of involvement also affects the preservation of black historic sites. Though there has been more attention paid to these sites, too much of our history has been paved over, gone through urban renewal, gentrified, or unidentified, or un-acknowledged. Hopefully a renewed Black History Month can focus attention on the importance of preserving African American culture.

There is no more powerful force than a people steeped in their history. And there is no higher cause than honoring our struggle and ancestors by remembering.

The Challenge of Maintaining a Community

As the African American Community diversifies and splinters, it is crucial to find mechanisms and opportunities to maintain our sense of community. As some families lose the connection with their southern roots, it is imperative that we understand our common heritage and history. The communal nature of black life has provided substance, guidance, and comfort for generations. And though our communities are quite diverse, it is our common heritage that continues to hold us together.

The Power of Inspiration

One thing has not changed. That is the need to draw inspiration and guidance from the past. And through that inspiration, people will find tools and paths that will help them live their lives. Who could not help but be inspired by Martin Luther King’s oratory, commitment to racial justice, and his ultimate sacrifice. Or by the arguments of William and Ellen Craft or Henry “Box” Brown who used great guile to escape from slavery. Who could not draw substance from the creativity of Madame CJ Walker or the audacity and courage of prize fighter Jack Johnson. Or who could not continue to struggle after listening to the mother of Emmitt Till share her story of sadness and perseverance. I know that when life is tough, I take solace in the poetry of Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, or Gwendolyn Brooks. And I find comfort in the rhythms of Louie Armstrong, Sam Cooke or Dinah Washington. And I draw inspiration from the anonymous slave who persevered so that the culture could continue.

Let me conclude by re-emphasizing that Black History Month continues to serve us well. In part because Woodson’s creation is as much about today as it is about the past. Experiencing Black History Month every year reminds us that history is not dead or distant from our lives.

Rather, I see the African American past in the way my daughter’s laugh reminds me of my grandmother. I experience the African American past when I think of my grandfather choosing to leave the South rather than continue to experience share cropping and segregation. Or when I remember sitting in the back yard listening to old men tell stories. Ultimately, African American History — and its celebration throughout February — is just as vibrant today as it was when Woodson created it 85 years ago. Because it helps us to remember there is no more powerful force than a people steeped in their history. And there is no higher cause than honoring our struggle and ancestors by remembering.

Lonnie Bunch Founding Director

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Home — Essay Samples — History — African American History — Black History Month: The Importance of Knowing African American History

Black History Month: The Importance of Knowing African American History

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Updated: 1 December, 2023

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• McNair, B. (2018). Gender stereotypes in the media. In The Routledge Companion to Media and Gender (pp. 57-66). Routledge.

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Black History Essay Topics

• Writing Essays
• Writing Research Papers
• English Grammar
• M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
• B.A., History, Armstrong State University

Black history is full of fascinating stories, rich culture, great art, and courageous acts that were undertaken within unthinkable circumstances. While Civil Rights events are the most common themes in our studies, we should resist equating Black history only with Civil Rights-era history. This list contains 50 prompts that might lead you into some interesting and little-known information about Black American history.

Note: Your first challenge in studying some of the topics below is finding resources. When conducting an internet search, be sure to place quotation marks around your search term (try different variations) to narrow your results.

• Black American newspapers
• Black Inventors
• Black soldiers in the American Revolution
• Black soldiers in the Civil War
• Buffalo Soldiers
• Buying time
• Camp Logan Riots
• Clennon Washington King, Jr.
• Coffey School of Aeronautics
• Crispus Attucks
• Domestic labor strikes in the South
• Finding lost family members after emancipation
• First African Baptist Church
• Formerly enslaved business owners
• Freedom's Journal
• Gospel music
• Gullah heritage
• Harlem Hellfighters
• Harlem Renaissance
• Harriet Tubman
• Historically Black Colleges
• History of rock-and-roll
• Jumping the broom
• Manumission papers
• Maroon villages in the eighteenth century
• Motown Records
• Multi-cultural pirate ships
• Narratives by Enslaved People
• Otelia Cromwell
• Ownership of property by enslaved people
• Purchasing freedom
• Ralph Waldo Tyler
• Register of Free Persons of Color
• Secret schools in antebellum America
• Sherman's March followers
• Susie King Taylor
• The Amistad
• The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
• The Communist Party (involvement)
• The Great Migration
• The Haitian Revolution
• Tuskegee Airmen
• Underground Railroad
• Urban enslavement (related to buying time)
• Wilberforce College, Ohio
• Celebrating Black History Month
• Important Cities in Black History
• What Is Black History Month and How Did It Begin?
• Black History and Women's Timeline: 1900–1919
• Black History Timeline: 1700 - 1799
• Black History Timeline: 1910–1919
• Biography of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, Black Historian
• Black History Timeline: 1865–1869
• Black History Month Printables
• Black History Timeline: 1920–1929
• Little Known Important Black Americans
• Black History and Women's Timeline: 1920-1929
• Important Black Women in American History
• Black History and Women Timeline 1870-1899
• Black History Timeline: 1940–1949
• Black History from 1950–1959

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Black History Month: Mozella Esther Lewis’s Thesis Established a Historical Record of the Contributions of Black People in Pharmacy at a Time When Such Research Was Scarce

The mission of the UCI School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences is to be a driving force for the advancement of health and wellness of individuals and society. We believe that plurality of experiences, accomplishments, and values leads to greater innovation and creativity.

We, therefore, strive to maximize opportunities and inclusion for all our members and affiliates so that we can use our potential to achieve academic, scientific, and clinical excellence. Our goal is to serve all communities in the region, the state, and beyond.

This Black History Month, we are taking the opportunity to highlight the work of Mozella Esther Lewis, a pharmacist and trailblazer who, in the 1920s, compiled and published comprehensive research on Black people in pharmacy as her thesis and went on to own a successful pharmacy in Los Angeles in the 1930s.

In 1925 when  Mozella Esther Lewis’s thesis   was published in  American Druggist,  there was little documentation of Black people who had studied pharmacy and worked as pharmacists. Lewis, who was a Howard University School of Pharmacy student, took it upon herself to document how Black people in pharmacy had contributed to the profession and create a publicly available record of Black pharmacists and pharmacy students.

“History of the Negro in Pharmacy” by Mozella Esther Lewis is a historical document that chronicles the contributions of Black pharmacists and pharmacy students up to the time of its publication. The work endures as an impressive and important account of Black history and the history of pharmacy.

“Of the many histories of the Negro, there is none of the Negro pharmacist as such. Therefore the position of the Negro pharmacist has been seemingly a minor one in comparison to that of the other professions,” the thesis begins.

Lewis continues this reflection on the lack of historical records about Black people in pharmacy while clearly stating what she set out to accomplish in the work: “Negro achievements have been great, but if they remain unknown, no material good can be derived from them.”

The thesis starts by providing information on the history of pharmacy, tracing back to the beginnings of the profession in the ancient societies of Egypt, China, Greece, and more, before focusing in on the place of Black people in this history, and a void of information about such contributions.

“During all these years no mention of the Negro was made and the progress of pharmacy moved rapidly on… and after the seventeenth century all trace of [the] Negro in pharmacy was lost until recent years,” Lewis wrote.

Lewis then outlines some of this history and the strides made by Black people in pharmacy, including the operation of pharmacies and the pursuit of pharmacy education.

The bulk of research included in the thesis focuses on statistics about Black pharmacists and pharmacy students, as well as Black-owned pharmacies. Lewis lists a number of names of Black pharmacists and pharmacy students, including dates and places, as well as further information for some entries.

Some notable entries from Lewis’s thesis include:

• “William Henry Ballard, 1892, Northwestern University College of Pharmacy. Is proprietor of Ballard’s Pharmacy, Lexington, Ky., established in 1893. He was the first Negro to open a drug store in Kentucky. Retired from active service a few years ago, leaving the business in charge of his son.”
• “William O. Foster, 1904, Howard University College of Pharmacy, is president of the Foster Drug Co., established in 1907.”
• “Amanda V. Gray, 1903, Howard University College of Pharmacy, was pharmacist at the Women’s Clinic from 1903 to 1905 in Linneus, Mo. Since 1905 in partnership with her husband in the drug firm of Gray & Gray.”
• “Eldridge P. Landry, Flint Medical College, has been the pharmacist of the U. S. Food and Drug Inspection Laboratory in Savannah, Ga., since 1912.”
• “William A. Smith, 1909, Shaw University College of Pharmacy, began as pharmacist in Durham, N. C., in 1909, and was later employed in Greensboro, N. C. Passed the State Board in Massachusetts in 1912. He was with H. C. Blue, who established the Bay State Pharmacy in Boston in 1913, at the time the only drug store owned and operated by Negroes in the State of Massachusetts. He is also the only Negro member of the Massachusetts State Pharmaceutical Association.”
• “Daniel Smith is the only Negro pharmacognosist and microscopist known. Is a member of the faculty of Howard University College of Pharmacy, teaching these subjects.”

The achievement of Lewis’s thesis cannot be understated. The sheer amount of research involved in such an academic undertaking is striking, especially when factoring in the barriers that she undoubtedly faced while writing the piece — the effects of racism both limiting the materials available to her and surely hindering her personal research process as well.

“Her attempt to identify and gather data about black students at integrated schools and colleges of pharmacy was the first of its kind, and it still remains, perhaps, the only thorough investigation of this population of African-American pharmacy students across the country during the early twentieth century,” wrote Gregory Bond in  “Recovering and Expanding Mozella Esther Lewis’s Pioneering History of African-American Pharmacy Students, 1870–1925.”

Published in  Pharmacy in History  in 2016, Bond’s article offers additional facts that are in line with Lewis’s work and provides some historical context to her research, along with biographical information about Lewis herself. The accompanying publication of “History of the Negro in Pharmacy” in  Pharmacy in History  was reportedly the first time Lewis’s work had been published since 1925.

In attempting to contextualize Lewis’s thesis and create a portrait of the limited resources that were available to her at the time of writing “History of the Negro in Pharmacy,” Bond includes works that aimed to accomplish similar goals as Lewis’s research.

He mentions an earlier attempt to chronicle the contributions of Black pharmacists and pharmacy students, in “The Negro in Pharmacy,” published in  The Druggists Circular and Chemical Gazette  in November 1897.

“Before Lewis’s thesis, in fact, there had been few attempts to record the history of the black involvement in pharmacy,” Bond explained. “Like Lewis’s thesis itself, though, this groundbreaking  Druggists Circular  article seemed to have been largely forgotten after its initial publication, and it was never brought to her attention.”

Bond also acknowledged the work of Leo Vinton Butts, a 1920 graduate of the University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy: “Butts…, like Mozella Lewis, was one of the earliest chroniclers of African-American pharmacists, writing his thesis on ‘The Negro in Pharmacy.’ Butts had difficulty finding relevant information and lamented that ‘the library of the University of Wisconsin contains one of the best, if not the best, and largest pharmaceutical libraries in America… yet in all this library there is scarcely a reference to the negro in pharmacy.’”

Despite this sparsity of resources, Lewis was able to create a document that stands as one of the most significant historical records of the contributions of Black people in pharmacy at the time.

Lewis was awarded a Lehn & Fink Medal in Pharmacy in recognition of her work. Following the publication of her thesis and her graduation from Howard University, Lewis worked as a pharmacist at the Tuskegee Institute Hospital, in Washington, D.C., and in North Carolina before moving to Los Angeles. She founded the L & W Drug Store in 1934 with pharmacist Helen Lee Williams Hairston, who was also a Black woman.

“L & W Drug Store, which, as late as 1948, was reportedly the only pharmacy owned by African-American women in California, proved to be an immediate success, and the two co-owners soon developed reputations in L.A. as talented pharmacists,” wrote Bond.

The accomplishments of Mozella Esther Lewis, from her time at Howard University to the publication of “History of the Negro in Pharmacy” to the founding of a prosperous business, are exemplary of pioneering work in the pharmacy space and a reminder of why we celebrate Black History Month.

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The Spectator

Personal Essays on Black History Month

In 1926, Carter G. Woodson, a Harvard-trained educator, working with the Association for the Study of Negro Life established Black History Week – an opportunity to honor the largely unknown contributions of those of African descent and to celebrate the essence of a history that is integral to the narrative of America as apple pie. Nearly 100 years later (92 to be exact), black history in the United States remains incomplete, inauthentic and lopsided. The dominant narrative reinforces negative stereotypes and assumptions that devalue black and brown bodies in America. We are familiar with the common threads – school-to-prison pipeline, mass incarceration, educational achievement gaps to name a few. We are less familiar with (or perhaps less willing to acknowledge) the systemic and structural forces that sustain and lock in advantage; a self-reinforcing system that has been operating for hundreds of years. Moreover, often we recycle our praise for those commonly-known historical figures in black history; leaving a vast delta of information about the unique contributions of black people across disciplines and genres hidden, unacknowledged or forgotten. As an African American woman living in this moment, the promise and peril of what civil rights leaders in the 1950s and 1960s referred to as “beloved community,” seems ever present. It is hard to remain hopeful in the midst of such palpable divisiveness, polarizing forces, coarse language and deeds that are antithetical to creating a society that is inclusive, loving and just. Those who fought, sacrificed, and died deserve our reverence and gratitude, for sure. Significantly, however, to honor the legacy of their contributions demands not only celebratory moments, but also recommitting ourselves to action toward building beloved community. Remembering the past is important to create pathways toward greater understanding, productive dialogue, cross-cultural trust and reconciliation. Discovering those core pieces of American history is vital to building these bridges. The Southern Poverty Law Center recently published a study reflecting our failure as a nation to adequately educate about the difficult and complex history of American slavery; treating slavery as an event rather than integral part of who we are as a country. We must honestly confront our shared history and its relationship to contemporary racial gaps and inequities. Any discussion toward building beloved community cannot take place without confronting the difficult history of American slavery because this history continues to shape our conceptions of race, who belongs and fairness. With Black History Month upon us, I’m mindful of the students, scholars, activists and ordinary citizens who found the courage to remain determined and engaged in the midst of great challenges, vulnerability and danger in order to demand basic human dignity and racial justice. In fact, it was college students and other young people who declared Black History as a month-long exploration rather than a week. Confining black history to a week or month is not the point. The heart of the matter for me is that context matters. This moment signifies our shared history—black history matters for all of us—the story of how America developed, prospered and created an imperfect union, one that continues to bear fruit in rich and complex ways. It’s about educating ourselves and discovering those foundational pieces and hard truths of American history like the enslavement of free people of African descent, genocidal acts like lynching, segregation and the discrimination of Jim Crow, along with the numerous contributions made by black people to the fabric of American life and culture, as well as its infrastructure and industrial capacity. We remember so others will not forget; to affirm and to build a better world. We cannot change that which we do not know and understand or for which we hold little or no respect and curiosity. This month and beyond, I will acknowledge with pride those whose efforts continue to inspire and make history—from the freedom fighters of the Civil Rights Movement (too numerous to name), the vibrancy of the Harlem Renaissance, Pauli Murray, Audre Lorde; to more contemporary history makers including Black Lives Matter, Colin Kaepernick, Ana Duvernay, Shonda Rhimes, Beyoncé, authors like Ibram Kendi and Isabel Wilkerson, Black Panther – the movie, to the official portraits of former President Obama and Michelle Obama, both created by black artists whose subjects and works will hang in the National Gallery for all time. Additionally, as CDO, I will continue to build our capacity to embed and infuse diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the strategic priorities of the institution and to cultivate more productive ways of engaging across differences. The goal is that SU is a place where we harness the power of our differences, embrace creative tension and grow together. I remain hopeful in the midst of challenging times because of the courageous citizens on this campus and beyond who are doing their part to build a more just and humane society—toward beloved community. – Natasha Martin Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion

I’m half Black, half Cuban. Growing up my father never spoke Spanish in the house and I never asked why. My father was a man that never saw color, he always believed you should “trust the soul of a man rather than the look of him.” (Remember the Titans–Coach Yoast). In Petersburg, Va., where I was born and raised, my father became the first Negro in the 60’s to drive a city bus. At the time this was unheard of. He battled his way through racism, and other challenges of negative behavior because he was the only black bus driver for Petersburg Va. Transit Co. (see cover photo). I can remember my mother telling me a story about father’s first week at work. She described it as “hell pure”. Your father pulls up and says, “good morning everyone.” The white passengers were furious and they would not board the bus. So, a group of blacks walked pass the group of white passengers and boarded the bus, deposited their fare and said, “good morning.” After a few minutes the white passengers began to board the bus. They shouted racial slurs, they spit on my father and other passengers and said “hey nigger whose bus did you steal?” as they walked passed him. On top of that, they didn’t pay their fare. When all the passengers got seated, my father put the bus in park and removed his seat belt and stood up. He wasn’t a small man. He stood tall at a height of 6ft 5inches. He began to speak to all the passengers on the bus. This is what he said, “I’m the bus driver and this my route, but if I’m the driver of this bus, you will not disrespect me, put your hands on me or spit on me. Lastly if you have a problem with what I said or I have offended you, you can just remove yourself from my bus.” He returned to his seat, fastened his seat belt, and put the bus in gear and started driving toward Downtown Petersburg. During the bus ride the atmosphere on the bus was so silent you could hear a pin drop. After about a 50-minute bus ride, the bus arrives in Downtown Petersburg. The bus comes to a stop and my father opens the door and all passengers began to exit. As white passengers walked past my father to exit the bus, they deposited their fare and shook my fathers hand and apologized to him and the last white passenger asked if they would we him see later that day, to which my father responded, “yes you will and I will get you home safe to your family.” Black History Month, to me, means a celebration of knowledge. It’s a reflection of the past, present and future in African American Culture. It’s a reminder of all the positive and innovative things that have come from our culture and how it made a huge impact on future generations. It is a time for everyone to experience culture and the roots of many things that have evolved from those of African American decent. Also it’s a time to inform everyone who may not be exposed to African American History the rest of the year. Let’s all take the time to remember the hardships and struggle, but it doesn’t stop there. It’s a remembrance of what we strive for and how the ones before us have paved a way for the things we have today. – Ricco Bland Public Safety Officer

My grandmother was the most influential person in my life until her death in 1997. Today, I draw inspiration both from her memory and the legacy of love and compassion she left behind. I experienced a safe, secure, loving childhood that occurred at the valuable intersection of two circumstances; the youth of my parents and the love of my grandmother. I was positioned to witness the broad range of painful human experiences and given a unique set of assets and blessings that allowed me the ability to develop and grow my understanding of the world I inhabit. Early in my upbringing, my grandmother introduced me to the writings of W.E.B. DuBois. And while I was not fully capable on my own of making sense of his writings as a youngster, the messages of his experiences spoke truth to my reality as I began to mature and grow in my understanding of the world around me. His words of the early 1900s still ring true for me today and underscore the significance of Black History Month in my life so I share them with you in that spirit. After the Egyptian and the Indian, the Greek and the Roman, the Teuton and the Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world—a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. (DuBois, 1903) Accordingly, Black History Month is less a month and more a movement that remains alive in me with each breath I take. It is represented in my family who gave me voice and liberated me from the poor rural up bringing that shackled so many before and after me. Black History Month is about deliverance, freedom, reframing experiences, renaming reality and retelling the truth. H. Alexander Welcome (2004) asserted: The life histories of Whites are used as the standard against which Blacks are encouraged to strive. The employment of this ontology fallaciously limits the range of Black agency, producing deceitful narratives where the navigation of the social environment by Blacks is dictated by either a passive response to, or a passive adoption of, White scripts. The utilization of whiteness to determine and/or evaluate blackness begins when whiteness and White life histories come to represent what is “right.” (p. 61) Black History is about transformation, consciousness, definition, and debunking myths and lies. It is represented in the narratives and oral histories of my ancestors told to me by my grandparents and parents and to be shared forward with my own children and the generations to come. It is about an increased understanding of the contributions of Black people throughout our muddled history. It is ultimately about truth and reconciliation. – Alvin Sturdivant Vice President, Student Development

Picture Detroit, Michigan in the 1970’s and you can begin to imagine my childhood. By the time I was ten years old, the mayor of Detroit was a black man, Coleman Young. The superintendent of public schools, Arthur Jefferson, was also a black man. I was blessed to grow up in times permeated by James Brown (“I’m black and I’m proud), the Black Panthers, dashikis, afro hair, and going every Sunday to Triedstone Baptist Church and later Detroit’s Afro-American Mission. In my memory, I hear people reminding me that the history of my race was something of which to be proud. Calendars my parents received from black businesses in town served as black history storybooks. (I honestly can’t remember if they were sent by funeral homes or insurance agencies.) Every year, we received a new calendar depicting black people succeeding in various fields such as Dorie Miller, a Navy gunner killed at Pearl Harbor and honored for his bravery, and Ida B. Wells, the journalist and sociologist who brought lynching into the national consciousness. Black history was not confined to a month at my public school. Yet, February afforded an opportunity for heightened reflections on what it meant to be black in America. Today, February still feels like a time to remember, to catch hold of the past and allow it to inspire me in the present. I recently joked with a friend that I should write a book titled “The Re-education of this Negro” as I have struggled with the times – police brutality against young black men and women, regular reminders of mass incarceration and injustice under the law. At times, the bleakness of the current day overwhelms me. I wish I could say that seeing all of the wrongs propels me toward solutions but at times I feel immobilized by the weight of racism. In contrast, it seems to me that Dr. Woodson called black people to have a knowledge of history because an understanding of the accomplishments of one’s forbears was essential to inspiration, aspiration, and justice. Increasingly, as I struggle with this present darkness I feel the need to draw on the dreams and victories of those who came before. I want to remember how they maintained faith and laughter as well as how tears and sorrow drove them forward. What’s black history month to me? It is both a call and a light. Black history month is the call of many voices saying “Remember. Press on.” Black history month is a light in the darkness that shows a way forward. Black history is about more than a month but this month reminds me to pause and locate myself within history. – Holly Slay Ferraro Associate Professor, Management

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What we learned during Black History Month: Reflection, recognition, and relevance at Turnitin

Each February, in celebration of Black History Month, Turnitin honors the contributions and sacrifices of African Americans who have helped shape the United States.

February is Black History Month in the United States and Canada--and in honor of African American history, we bring you African American literature to read.

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This past month was Black History Month in the United States, an opportune time to reflect on the profound contributions of African Americans to the fabric of American society, to recognize the ongoing struggles for justice and equality, and to understand the relevance of these narratives in our current societal context. It was a month that asked us to not only look back at the past, but to acknowledge how Black history informs and shapes our present and future. In 1976, President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month, calling upon the public to " seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history. " Here at Turnitin, we honored this month in a variety of ways; led by BlackSource, our Employee Resource Group (ERG) for employees of Black and African Descent, we came together as BIPOC employees and allies to converse, collaborate, discover, and remember. And as this important month comes to a close, we’d like to reflect on a few things we learned this month that will stay with us even beyond the arrival of March.

We learned about the undeniable impact that Black individuals have had on all artistic fields, including music, literature, fashion, and more.

The theme for Black History Month in 2024 was "African Americans and the Arts," emphasizing the significant impact African Americans have had in various artistic fields. This theme underscores the importance of the arts in cultural expression and societal development​​. The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) offered us context for this year’s theme, diving into the stories of Black individuals who have made their mark. From the musical styles of McKinley ‘Muddy Waters’ Morganfield, Riley “BB” B. King, Jimi Hendrix, and Janelle Monáe, to the literary influences of Langston Hughes, Frantz Fanon, Toni Morrison, and Octavia Butler, we gained a deeper appreciation of the richness and extent of these artists’ legacies. We watched Marvel’s “Black Panther” and Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction”, and we were amazed by the visual worlds of British-Liberian painter Lina Iris Viktor and Kenyan-born sculptor Wangechi Mutu. To honor these artists goes beyond acknowledging how their work has shaped American culture; the true learnings for us centered on how art has been and will continue to be a powerful medium for advocacy and social change.

We learned that there still is important work to be done to forward racial and health equity in this country.

Navigating the American healthcare system can be particularly challenging for Black individuals due to a confluence of systemic, structural, and social factors deeply rooted in historical and ongoing racism and discrimination. The ongoing global health crisis has brought to light significant health disparities that disproportionately affect Black communities. African Americans are more likely to suffer from and die of conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Maternal and infant mortality rates are significantly higher among African Americans, and this group is also more likely to experience death from gun violence, particularly among children, according to Jamila Taylor, the Former Director of Health Care Reform and Senior Fellow with the Century Foundation. This year, the focus is on recognizing these disparities and promoting policies and practices that aim to achieve health equity. It’s crucial that everyone is aware of the inequities that exist in healthcare reform, and we’re doing what we can to educate ourselves at the local and federal level. As such, our Turnitin BlackSource ERG hosted a session this month with Modern Health, specifically focused on the self-care and wellbeing of the Black community. It’s clear that addressing these challenges requires a multifaceted approach that includes policy changes, expansion of healthcare access, elimination of discriminatory practices in healthcare delivery, and targeted efforts to address the social determinants of health that disproportionately affect African Americans.

We learned that “Excellence can look like anybody.”

Esteemed Turnitin Board Member and President of Rutgers University, Dr. Jonathan Holloway, sat down with members of our BlackSource ERG and over 150 Turnitin employees for a virtual conversation that covered everything from the use of AI-generative tools in the classroom to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) initiatives in higher education. Dr. Holloway spoke openly and honestly about his initial hesitation to embrace AI, joking that he identifies as a “luddite” despite leading a university team in the digital age. He’s come around, however, and recognizes that “AI properly deployed by faculty can be a powerful assistant helping people to learn how to write better.” When it came to the topic of DEIB, Dr. Holloway spoke passionately about supporting opportunities for all students to find success. “DEIB isn’t saying, ‘Everybody gets the same thing at the end of the day.’ It’s saying, ‘Everyone gets the same chance to start. The starting line for everyone is at the same place.’” He emphasized the value of discourse, staying curious, and the deepest of truths that “excellence can look like anybody.”

In sum: The relevance today of Black History Month

Roxanne Ford, the VP of Global People Partnerships at Turnitin and our BlackSource ERG’s People Team Advisor, asked employees at the start of the month to lean in to Senator John Lewis' powerful words, " get in good trouble, necessary trouble". She invited everyone to explore how Black individuals and communities have courageously pushed for progress, challenging injustices, amplifying marginalized voices, and working collectively towards a brighter future. Recognizing Black History Month is more than an act of historical remembrance; it's a commitment to learning from the past to inform our actions in the present and future. The themes of arts, health equity, and DEIB are not isolated topics but interconnected issues that affect the wellbeing and fabric of our society. By engaging with these themes, we're invited to contribute to a more inclusive, equitable, and just world. Let us all reflect on our collective journey, recognize the work still ahead, and re-engage with the ongoing struggle for civil rights and social justice in a meaningful way.

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Guest Essay

Black History Month Is About Seeing America Clearly

By Esau McCaulley

Contributing Opinion Writer

Growing up, I didn’t know anyone who did the kinds of jobs featured at career fairs or depicted on television shows. I had never met a Black doctor, lawyer, professor or scientist. Where does a young Black man go when looking for hope? My teachers, overworked as they were, pointed me toward Black luminaries from the past.

The first Black History Month project I recall was about George Washington Carver. I was enthralled with the idea that the early-20th-century agricultural scientist, born into slavery, came up with hundreds of uses for peanuts. By the time Black History Month rolled into full swing, my ode to the master of peanuts sat alongside posters lauding the accomplishments of such stalwarts as Martin Luther King Jr. (he always inspired multiple posters), Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington and Sojourner Truth.

Black history, in this frame, is the story of exemplars. We learn about the first Black surgeon, Supreme Court justice or astronaut. This version of Black history endeavors to show Black capability and challenge stereotypes. The lesson is clear: If this Black person from history overcame racism, so could we. With enough grit, determination and patience, we too could go to space or invent hundreds of uses for a common crop.

These exemplars were helpful. But the exercise also left me with a feeling that there was a long list of things Black people had never done and my job was to find one of those things and check it off the list. Then we could stand before the world and say: We have done all the things. Can we have justice now?

This exemplars-based approach to Black history also produced an unintentional consequence. It gave those outside our community license to use Black accomplishment against us. They told us that we needed more exceptional Black people, instead of questioning a society that required such greatness of us. Our very victories were transfigured into condemnations of those still languishing.

I was exposed to a second form of Black History Month when I got older: Black history as corrective. In this version, we learned about Black achievement that had been erased from the historical record. It points us to the African American female mathematicians involved in the space race, as recounted fictionally in the film “Hidden Figures” or the Tuskegee Airmen, whose contributions during World War II were long underappreciated. This is important. One reason that we are still chasing “firsts” is because too many of our accomplishments have been stolen from us. But the problem is that this way of teaching history is about amending a story, instead of telling a more truthful one.

It was not until I got to college that I began to see African American history for what it truly is. It is not a series of heroics or forgotten contributions. It is a different telling of the American story altogether.

What happens when we do not begin with the Mayflower but the slave ship, and tell American history from that perspective? The explicit aim of The Times’s 1619 Project was “to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.” This powerful, challenging idea led to a still-raging debate about racism in America that is playing out in school boards and local elections all over the country, with certain books and ideas being ruled out of bounds.

Americans have not been taught enough about anti-Black racism in our past and present. This, to my mind, is beyond dispute. We are poorer as a nation for these omissions. It is also true that scholars of good will can disagree when making sense of the lives of figures long dead. People are complex, and getting at the complexity is no small thing. Education should be a place where such matters are debated openly.

But endless discussions about the intent of the founding fathers miss a fundamental point. History is not merely the study of intent; it encompasses effect. Whether or not every founding father intended to create a government that sanctioned slavocracy, and later Jim Crow, those were the outcomes. To limit the question to the intent at the expense of the experience of the enslaved and their descendants is to prioritize white American intentions or ideals over Black bodies, a mistake our Republic has made over and over.

What cannot be doubted is that for African peoples brought to this land against our will, slavery and anti-Black racism are defining characteristics of our American experience. This is why Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I have a dream” speech draws upon the Declaration of Independence in its opening movement. He highlighted the fact that this declaration had little purchase in the lives of Black folks:

When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men — yes, Black men as well as white men — would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.

Black history, then, should be a challenge to our Republic and its core narrative. Instead of quibbling with this detail or that, it must raise a fundamental question about the quality of life Black people have been allowed to experience. If we are indeed a part of this nation, then our lives and experiences have a claim on our national narrative. African American history forces us to view the Black experience of injustice not as the interruption of or caveat to an otherwise grand narrative, but as a compelling story in its own right.

Would this leave us with only a tale of woe? No. There is a dark beauty to the American story. The beauty is not in our innocence. We have been party to too much death and terror for that. African American history requires the recasting of our central figures, where those on the sidelines are brought to the forefront. The enslaved must be allowed to unbend their backs and step into the light and claim the glory due to them. Washington and Lincoln must give way to Truth and Douglass as American marvels.

What makes America a wonder is that this is the land upon which my ancestors, despite the odds, fought for and often made a life for themselves. We are great because this land housed the poetry of Phillis Wheatley and Maya Angelou, the advocacy of Fannie Lou Hamer, the urgency of Nina Simone’s music, and the faith-inspired demand for change in Martin Luther King Jr.’s sermons.

This way of telling the story allows us to speak of American ideals even if the norm is failure rather than accomplishment. It allows our history to chronicle progress without diminishing the suffering necessary to bring it about. This means, too, that to tell the American story well, the contributions of us Black folks cannot be limited to February.

Black history offers America a chance to see itself both as what we have failed to become and as we wish ourselves to be. It is not to inspire hate for one race or to foment division. America seeing itself clearly is the first step toward owning and then learning from its mistakes. The second step is the long journey to become that which we hope to be: a more perfect — and just — union.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram .

Esau McCaulley ( @esaumccaulley ) is a contributing Opinion writer and an assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College in Illinois. He is the author of “ Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope ” and " Josey Johnson's Hair and the Holy Spirit ." He lives in Wheaton, Ill., with his wife and four children.

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African american studies: theses and dissertations.

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Bibliography of theses and dissertations on African American topics completed at Berkeley.

• African American Theses and Dissertations 1907-2001. This bibliography lists 600 theses and dissertations on African American topics completed at the University of California, Berkeley. The earliest thesis, by Emmet Gerald Alexander, State Education of the Negro in the South, was completed in 1907 in the Department of Education, while the most recent date from the calendar year 2001. The African experience in the Americas is the connecting thread which links these works completed in thirty three disciplines over the past eight decades. This experience is construed in its widest sense; included therefore are studies of Blacks in the Caribbean and in Central and Latin America as well as in North America. Theses not indubitably on this subject as revealed by their titles have been examined; we have retained only titles either entirely or substantially devoted to this subject. The collection is on microfilm in News/Micro Microfilm 2030.E. The originals have been moved to NRLF.

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Find Dissertations by searching Dissertations and Theses (Dissertation Abstracts) Full Text , which includes full-text of most dissertations since 1997. It indexes over 1.5 million dissertations completed in North American (including UC) and European universities from 1861 to the present. Listings after 1980 include abstracts, and some feature 24-page excerpts. 

If the dissertation is not available in the database, check UC Library Search . Dissertations completed at other UC campuses prior to 1996 or outside the UC system must be obtained through Interlibrary Loan .

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Black History Month @ GCC: BHM Texts & Essays

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• The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates About this Essay: Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.
• The 1619 Project by the New York Times About this project: The 1619 Project is an ongoing initiative from The New York Times Magazine that began in August 2019, the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.

Short Texts

• 5 Things You Might Not Know About The March On Washington And King’s ‘I Have A Dream’ Speech by Christopher Rhodes About this text: King and other organizers overcame many challenges to give his iconic speech, which was deeper and more radical than most people remember.
• Tracy Drake, a testimony on Black Motherhood with Tempestt Hazel About this text: For this testimony, we hear from Tracy Drake, a formerly Chicago-based archivist who is now at the Reed College Library in Portland, Oregon. She is also one of the founding members of The Blackivists, a collective of Black archivists doing memory work with and for Black communities. This is her testimony on Black motherhood, a companion piece to a writing called A Rant from a Nerdy Black Girl by Korra, a.k.a. ZP , which focuses on Black girlhood. This piece has been lightly edited for clarity.
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Selected E-Books

The Black Intellectual Tradition

Considering the development and ongoing influence of Black thought From 1900 to the present, people of African descent living in the United States have drawn on homegrown and diasporic minds to create a Black intellectual tradition engaged with ideas on race, racial oppression, and the world. This volume presents essays on the diverse thought behind the fight for racial justice as developed by African American artists and intellectuals; performers and protest activists; institutions and organizations; and educators and religious leaders. By including both women's and men's perspectives from the U.S. and the Diaspora, the essays explore the full landscape of the Black intellectual tradition. Throughout, contributors engage with important ideas ranging from the consideration of gender within the tradition, to intellectual products generated outside the intelligentsia, to the ongoing relationship between thought and concrete effort in the quest for liberation. Expansive in scope and interdisciplinary in practice, The Black Intellectual Tradition delves into the ideas that animated a people's striving for full participation in American life. Contributors: Derrick P. Alridge, Keisha N. Blain, Cornelius L. Bynum, Jeffrey Lamar Coleman, Pero Gaglo Dagbovie, Stephanie Y. Evans, Aaron David Gresson III, Claudrena N. Harold, Leonard Harris, Maurice J. Hobson, La TaSha B. Levy, Layli Maparyan, Zebulon V. Miletsky, R. Baxter Miller, Edward Onaci, Venetria K. Patton, James B. Stewart, and Nikki M. Taylor

To Shape a New World

Martin Luther King, Jr., may be America's most revered political figure, commemorated in statues, celebrations, and street names around the world. On the fiftieth anniversary of King's assassination, the man and his activism are as close to public consciousness as ever. But despite his stature, the significance of King's writings and political thought remains underappreciated. In To Shape a New World, Tommie Shelby and Brandon Terry write that the marginalization of King's ideas reflects a romantic, consensus history that renders the civil rights movement inherently conservative--an effort not at radical reform but at "living up to" enduring ideals laid down by the nation's founders. On this view, King marshaled lofty rhetoric to help redeem the ideas of universal (white) heroes, but produced little original thought. This failure to engage deeply and honestly with King's writings allows him to be conscripted into political projects he would not endorse, including the pernicious form of "color blindness" that insists, amid glaring race-based injustice, that racism has been overcome. Cornel West, Danielle Allen, Martha Nussbaum, Robert Gooding-Williams, and other authors join Shelby and Terry in careful, critical engagement with King's understudied writings on labor and welfare rights, voting rights, racism, civil disobedience, nonviolence, economic inequality, poverty, love, just-war theory, virtue ethics, political theology, imperialism, nationalism, reparations, and social justice. In King's exciting and learned work, the authors find an array of compelling challenges to some of the most pressing political dilemmas of our present, and rethink the legacy of this towering figure.

Antagonistic Cooperation

Ralph Ellison famously characterized ensemble jazz improvisation as "antagonistic cooperation." Both collaborative and competitive, musicians play with and against one another to create art and community. In Antagonistic Cooperation, Robert G. O'Meally shows how this idea runs throughout twentieth-century African American culture to provide a new history of Black creativity and aesthetics. From the collages of Romare Bearden and paintings of Jean-Michel Basquiat to the fiction of Ralph Ellison and Toni Morrison to the music of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, O'Meally explores how the worlds of African American jazz, art, and literature have informed one another. He argues that these artists drew on the improvisatory nature of jazz and the techniques of collage not as a way to depict a fractured or broken sense of Blackness but rather to see the Black self as beautifully layered and complex. They developed a shared set of methods and motives driven by the belief that art must involve a sense of community. O'Meally's readings of these artists and their work emphasize how they have not only contributed to understanding of Black history and culture but also provided hope for fulfilling the broken promises of American democracy.

To Make Negro Literature

In To Make Negro Literature Elizabeth McHenry traces African American authorship in the decade following the 1896 legalization of segregation. She shifts critical focus from the published texts of acclaimed writers to unfamiliar practitioners whose works reflect the unsettledness of African American letters in this period. Analyzing literary projects that were unpublished, unsuccessful, or only partially achieved, McHenry recovers a hidden genealogy of Black literature as having emerged tentatively, laboriously, and unevenly. She locates this history in books sold by subscription, in lists and bibliographies of African American authors and books assembled at the turn of the century, in the act of ghostwriting, and in manuscripts submitted to publishers for consideration and the letters of introduction that accompanied them. By attending to these sites and prioritizing overlooked archives, McHenry reveals a radically different literary landscape, revising concepts of Black authorship and offering a fresh account of the development of "Negro literature" focused on the never published, the barely read, and the unconventional.

Desegregating the Past

At the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa, visitors confront the past upon arrival. They must decide whether to enter the museum through a door marked "whites" or another marked "non-whites." Inside, along with text, they encounter hanging nooses and other reminders of apartheid-era atrocities. In the United States, museum exhibitions about racial violence and segregation are mostly confined to black history museums, with national history museums sidelining such difficult material. Even the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture is dedicated not to violent histories of racial domination but to a more generalized narrative about black identity and culture. The scale at which violent racial pasts have been incorporated into South African national historical narratives is lacking in the U.S. Desegregating the Past considers why this is the case, tracking the production and display of historical representations of racial pasts at museums in both countries and what it reveals about underlying social anxieties, unsettled emotions, and aspirations surrounding contemporary social fault lines around race. Robyn Autry consults museum archives, conducts interviews with staff, and recounts the public and private battles fought over the creation and content of history museums. Despite vast differences in the development of South African and U.S. society, Autry finds a common set of ideological, political, economic, and institutional dilemmas arising out of the selective reconstruction of the past. Museums have played a major role in shaping public memory, at times recognizing and at other times blurring the ongoing influence of historical crimes. The narratives museums produce to engage with difficult, violent histories expose present anxieties concerning identity, (mis)recognition, and ongoing conflict.

Justice for All

Civil rights leader and legislator Lloyd A. Barbee frequently signed his correspondence with "Justice for All," a phrase that embodied his life's work of fighting for equality and fairness. An attorney most remembered for the landmark case that desegregated Milwaukee Public Schools in 1972, Barbee stood up for justice throughout his career, from defending University of Wisconsin students who were expelled after pushing the school to offer black history courses, to representing a famous comedian who was arrested after stepping out of a line at a protest march. As the only African American in the Wisconsin legislature from 1965 to 1977, Barbee advocated for fair housing, criminal justice reform, equal employment opportunities, women's rights, and access to quality education for all, as well as being an early advocate for gay rights and abortion access. This collection features Barbee's writings from the front lines of the civil rights movement, along with his reflections from later in life on the challenges of legislating as a minority, the logistics of coalition building, and the value of moving the needle on issues that would outlast him. Edited by his daughter, civil rights lawyer Daphne E. Barbee-Wooten, these documents are both a record of a significant period of conflict and progress, as well as a resource on issues that continue to be relevant to activists, lawmakers, and educators.

Black Public History in Chicago

In civil-rights-era Chicago, a dedicated group of black activists, educators, and organizations employed black public history as more than cultural activism. Their work and vision energized a movement that promoted political progress in the crucial time between World War II and the onset of the Cold War. Ian Rocksborough-Smith's meticulous research and adept storytelling provide the first in-depth look at how these committed individuals leveraged Chicago's black public history. Their goal: to engage with the struggle for racial equality. Rocksborough-Smith shows teachers working to advance curriculum reform in public schools, while well-known activists Margaret and Charles Burroughs pushed for greater recognition of black history by founding the DuSable Museum of African American History. Organizations like the Afro-American Heritage Association, meanwhile, used black public history work to connect radical politics and nationalism. Together, these people and their projects advanced important ideas about race, citizenship, education, and intellectual labor that paralleled the shifting terrain of mid-twentieth-century civil rights.

Strange Fruit, Volume II

Like all legends, people fade away, but not before leaving an incredible legacy. Strange Fruit, Volume II: More Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History is a collection of stories from early African American history that represent the oddity of success in the face of great adversity. Each of the eight illustrated chapters chronicles an uncelebrated African American hero or event. Joel Christian Gill offers historical and cultural commentary on heroes whose stories are not often found in history books, such as Cathay Williams, the only known female Buffalo Soldier, and Eugene Bullard, a fighter pilot who flew for France during World War I. These beautifully illustrated stories offer a refreshing look at remarkable African Americans.  The stories included in Volume II are: Jourdan Anderson who requested payment from his former slave owner; Stagecoach Mary Fields, the first African-American female star route mail carrier; Willie Kennard, the Sheriff of the Colorado gold mining town of Yankee Hill; Cathay Williams, the only known female Buffalo Soldier; Blind Tom Wiggins, an autistic musical prodigy; Millie and Christine McCoy, conjoined twins known as "The Two-Headed Nightingale"; Victor Green, the creator and publisher of "The Green Book for the Negro Motorist"; and Eugene Bullard, a fighter pilot who flew for France during WWI.

The Scholar and the Struggle

Lawrence Reddick (1910-1995) was among the most notable African American intellectuals of his generation. The second curator of the Schomburg Library and a University of Chicago PhD, Reddick helped spearhead Carter Woodson's black history movement in the 1930s, guide the Double Victory campaign during World War II, lead the Southern Christian Leadership Conference during the Cold War, mentor Martin Luther King Jr. throughout his entire public life, direct the Opportunities Industrialization Center Institute during the 1960s, and forcefully confront institutional racism within academia during the Black Power era. A lifelong Pan-Africanist, Reddick also fought for decolonization and black self-determination alongside Kwame Nkrumah, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Leopold Senghor, and W. E. B. Du Bois. Beyond participating in such struggles, Reddick documented and interpreted them for black and white publics alike. In The Scholar and the Struggle, David A. Varel tells Reddick's compelling story. His biography reveals the many essential but underappreciated roles played by intellectuals in the black freedom struggle and connects the past to the present in powerful, unforgettable ways.

Teaching Black History to White People

Leonard Moore has been teaching Black history for twenty-five years, mostly to white people. Drawing on decades of experience in the classroom and on college campuses throughout the South, as well as on his own personal history, Moore illustrates how an understanding of Black history is necessary for everyone. With Teaching Black History to White People, which is "part memoir, part Black history, part pedagogy, and part how-to guide," Moore delivers an accessible and engaging primer on the Black experience in America. He poses provocative questions, such as "Why is the teaching of Black history so controversial?" and "What came first: slavery or racism?" These questions don't have easy answers, and Moore insists that embracing discomfort is necessary for engaging in open and honest conversations about race. Moore includes a syllabus and other tools for actionable steps that white people can take to move beyond performative justice and toward racial reparations, healing, and reconciliation.

Black History

Over the years, history has become the forgotten child of the academic household. Only recently has it been brought to our attention that our students don't know even basic American history. In June 2011, results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that U.S. students were less proficient in American history than any other subject. Teachers need to make learning American history fun and stop teaching to the test. Some of the most interesting people and events of the past are often bypassed in the classroom. This includes a large number of African-Americans who helped build this country. Black History: More than Just a Month pays tribute to these forgotten individuals and their accomplishments. There are many individuals who have changed our history and, even if they don't make it onto the state test, their accomplishments deserve attention. Some of the people included are war heroes, inventors, celebrities, and athletes. This book is great for history buffs and will be a good supplement to any history class. Book jacket.

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56 African American History Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best african american history topic ideas & essay examples, 🔍 good essay topics on african american history, ✅ most interesting african american history topics to write about.

• African American History Timeline (1619 – 1865) As the expansion of the textile factories led irresistibly to a rise in the market for servitude Africans, there was a possibility of a slave insurrection, such as the one that prevailed in Haiti in […]
• African Americans: History and Modernity Most African Americans are descendants of enslaved people brought from Africa, and the research focuses on the connection between the current state of African Americans concerning their history. We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
• History and True Meaning of African American Slave Music The ancestors of African Americans were forcibly separated from their homes and brought to the United States to work on the plantations of the Old South.
• The Series of Injustices Spanned the History of African Americans A series of failures for Americans began with the emergence of slavery in the USA. However, it is impossible to talk about the complete eradication of racism in the country.
• The African American History: The Historical Weight of 1776 A number of us, who arrived unexpectedly, became indentured to Virginia masters through a bidding process that was to some extent similar to later slave auctions that would become all in all widespread in the […]
• Lynching History of African Americans: An Absurd Illegal Justice System in the 19th Century Another attempt to explain the origin of lynch law is that of regulators and moderators. According to Rhodes, this theory is not applicable because the name of the law and order maintenance unit was aregulators’ […]
• African Americans Struggle Against Slavery The following paragraphs will explain in detail the two articles on slavery and the African American’s struggle to break away from the heavy and long bonds of slavery. The website tells me that Dredd Scott […]
• African American History: The Struggle for Freedom The history of the Jacksons Rainbow coalition shows the rise of the support of the African American politicians in the Democratic party.
• African American History in the 20th Century The NAACP was radical since it fought many legal battles and fought against ideologies of some of the most prominent African American leaders like those of the late Booker Washington and the government.
• African American History After Reconstruction The bureau also helped champion African Americans’ rights by pushing for the 14th and 15th amendments of the constitution that would give African Americans voting rights.
• King Jr. and Malcolm X in African American History Malcolm was able to sell his ideas to the African Americans in various meetings in the streets of Harlem and in major universities across the United States.
• Robert R. Moton’s Role in African American History In conclusion, this article has helped to get a better understanding of the topic and what events took place at that time.
• History of Higher Education for African Americans Even if I had the opportunity to participate in higher education, I could not have managed to take advantage of it since it was expensive, and I would have nothing to eat after school.
• African American History and Its Importance in Modern Days Without a clear understanding of this part of history, slavery would not have evolved to the current citizenship, freedom and human rights that we enjoy in our constitution.
• History of African Americans The readings that are going to be discussed in the paper tell the history of African Americans, their struggles for civil rights, and their integration into the social and political life of the country.
• Perspectives in African American History and Culture The point is that a person has both, mind and body, and if a person could not accept the idea of being enslaved, he/she was not a slave.
• The History of the Black Lives Matter Movement
• African American History: 1865 to the Present
• The Black History Month: The Importance of Black History
• Overview of African American History and Culture
• African American History: Religious Influences 1770 – 1831
• The Brief History of Black Nationalism
• Who Is Considered the Father of Black History
• African American History: Tribute to Sojourner Truth
• Ame and Ame Zion Churches in African American History
• Black Slaveowners in African American History
• Capitalism and Its Impact on African American History
• Education of All Perspectives of the African American History
• Changes Brewing for African American History
• Exploring African American History: The Harlem Renaissance
• Impact of the African American History on African Americans
• The Concept of Freedom in African American History
• How Does African American History Differ From Others
• African American History and “Warmth of Other Suns”
• How the 2008 Election Affected African American History
• Irene Gomez-Leon: African American History
• History of Black Wall Street ‘Little Africa’
• African American History Before 1877: Main Events and Figures
• Language Awareness: The N-Word in African American History
• Slavery and Its Significance in the African American History
• African American History During the Antebellum Period
• The Impact of the Civil War on African American History
• Analysis of Why African American History Is Important
• African American History Figure: Matthew Alexander Henson
• The Impact of Black Soldiers on American History
• The Origins and Importance of Black History Month
• Black Nationalism in African American History
• Analysis of Arguments Against Black History Month
• The Advantages and Disadvantages of Black History
• Brief History of Black Males in American Society
• Racism Enacted Throughout the History of Black Films
• The History of Harlem – Cultural Epicenter of America’s Black Community
• African American Youth and Their Lack of Interest in Black History Month
• Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times
• Underrated and Unwritten Black History Heroes: John Carlos and Tommie Smith
• The Connotation of African-American History and Black History
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• Organization of Black Designers
• Tuskegee Airmen Inc.
• United Negro College Fund (UNCF)

African American Political History

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Recommended black history month titles for every grade level.

From anthologies to graphic novels, fantasies to realistic tales depicting everyday issues, there are so many rich stories and themes to explore in the classroom with your students during Black History Month (February) and any time of the year. All kids deserve to see themselves represented in the books they read, and all kids can benefit from reading books about people unlike themselves. There’s something to offer every type of reader in each of these stories. These book recommendations offer windows into the world of Black lives and can lead to greater understanding and empathy.

The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander

Originally performed for ESPN’s The Undefeated, this poem is a love letter to Black life in the United States. It highlights the unspeakable trauma of slavery, the faith and fire of the civil rights movement, and the grit, passion, and perseverance of some of the world’s greatest heroes. Robust back matter at the end provides valuable historical context and additional detail for those wishing to learn more.

I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick D. Barnes

An upbeat, empowering picture book from the team that created the award-winning Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut . “I am a nonstop ball of energy. Powerful and full of light. I am a go-getter. A difference maker. A leader.” The confident Black narrator of this book is proud of everything that makes him who he is. He’s got big plans, and no doubt he’ll see them through. He’s creative, adventurous, smart, funny and a good friend. Sometimes he falls, but he always gets back up. Other times he’s afraid because he’s so often misunderstood and called what he is not. So slow down and really look and listen when somebody tells you – and shows you – who they are. There are superheroes in our midst!

ABCs Of Black History by Rio Cortez

A beautiful alphabet picture book that presents key names, moments and places in Black history with text lyrically written by poet Rio Cortez. This is an opportunity for children to learn their ABCs to the sound of words beyond apple, boy and cat, as well as an opportunity for young thinkers to prepare for big ideas.

A Place Inside of Me by Zetta Elliott

From award-winning author, Zetta Elliott, and rising star illustrator, Noa Denmon, comes a beautiful #OwnVoices poetic picture book about a brown child discovering and accepting their emotional landscape. Summertime is filled with joy – skateboarding and playing basketball – until his community is deeply wounded by a police shooting. As fall turns to winter and then spring, fear grows into anger, then pride and peace.

Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry

Zuri’s hair has a mind of its own. It kinks, coils and curls every which way. Zuri knows it’s beautiful. When Daddy steps in to style it for an extra special occasion, he has a lot to learn. But he LOVES Zuri, and he’ll do anything to make her and her hair happy. Tender and empowering, Hair Love is an ode to self-confidence, loving your natural hair and a celebration of daddies and daughters everywhere.

Black Is A Rainbow Color by Angela Joy

A child reflects on the meaning of being Black in this moving and powerful anthem about a people, a culture, a history and a legacy that lives on. From the wheels of a bicycle to the robe on Thurgood Marshall’s back, Black surrounds our lives. It is a color to simply describe some of our favorite things, but it also evokes a deeper sentiment about the incredible people who helped change the world and a community that continues to grow and thrive.

Respect: Aretha Franklin, The Queen of Soul by Carole Boston Weatherford

Aretha Franklin was born to sing. The daughter of a pastor and a gospel singer, her musical talent was clear from her earliest days in her father’s Detroit church. Aretha sang with a soaring voice that spanned more than three octaves. Her incredible talent and string of hit songs earned her the title “Queen of Soul.” This Queen was a multi-Grammy winner and the first female inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to being a singer, songwriter and pianist, she was also an activist. Her song “Respect” was an anthem for people fighting for civil rights and women’s rights.

Tristan Strong Punches A Hole in The Sky by Kwame Mbalia

Seventh grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in. Tristan is dreading the month he’s going to spend on his grandparents’ farm in Alabama, where he’s being sent to heal from the tragedy. But on his first night there, a sticky creature shows up in his bedroom and steals Eddie’s notebook. Tristan chases after it and a tug-of-war ensues between them underneath a Bottle Tree. In a last attempt to wrestle the journal out of the creature’s hands, Tristan punches the tree, accidentally ripping open a chasm into the MidPass, a volatile place with a burning sea, haunted bone ships and iron monsters that are hunting the inhabitants of this world. Who will win the battle and how will Tristan get home?

28 Days: Moments in Black History That Changed the World by Charles R. Jr. Smith

A picture book that examines the lives of many of the men and women who revolutionized life for African Americans throughout history. Each day features a different influential figure from Crispus Attucks, the first man shot in the Boston Massacre, sparking the Revolutionary War, to Madame C. J. Walker, who after years of adversity became the wealthiest Black woman in the country, to Barack Obama, the country’s first African American president.

William Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of The Underground Railroad by Don Tate

William Still’s parents escaped slavery but had to leave two of their children behind, a tragedy that haunted the family. As a young man, William went to work for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, where he raised money, planned rescues and helped freedom seekers who had traveled north. And then one day, a strangely familiar man came into William’s office, searching for information about his long-lost family. Could it be? Motivated by his own family’s experience, William began collecting the stories of thousands of other freedom seekers. As a result, he was able to reunite other families and build a remarkable source of information, including encounters with Harriet Tubman, Henry “Box” Brown and William and Ellen Craft.

Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration by Samara Cole Doyon

Magnificent Homespun Brown is an exploration of the natural world and family bonds through the eyes of a young, mixed-race narrator: a living, breathing, dazzlingly multi-faceted, exuberant masterpiece, firmly grounded in her sense of self-worth and belonging. This is a story – a poem, a song, a celebration – about feeling at home in your own beloved skin.

Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History by Vashti Harrison

Author-illustrator Vashti Harrison shines a bold, joyous light on Black men through history. This beautifully illustrated volume educates and inspires as it relates true stories of Black men in history. Illuminating text paired with irresistible full-color art bring to life both iconic and lesser-known figures.

Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison

Featuring forty trailblazing Black women in American history, Little Leaders educates and inspires as it relates true stories of breaking boundaries and achieving beyond expectations. Among these biographies, readers will find bold women whose actions and beliefs contributed to making the world better for generations of girls and women to come. Whether they were putting pen to paper, soaring through the air or speaking up for the rights of others, the women profiled in these pages were all taking a stand against a world that didn’t always accept them.

A Black Woman Did That! 40 Boundary-Breaking, Bar-Raising, World-Changing Women by Malaika Adero

This book spotlights vibrant, inspiring Black women whose accomplishments have changed the world for the better. It is a celebration of strong, resilient, innovative and inspiring women of color. With a vibrant mixture of photography, illustration, biography and storytelling, author Malaika Adero will spotlight well-known historical figures and women who are pushing boundaries today. Readers will recognize some names in the book but will also be introduced to many important Black women who have changed history or who are reshaping the cultural landscape.

One Last Word by Nikki Grimes

From the New York Times bestselling and Coretta Scott King award-winning author Nikki Grimes comes an emotional, special new collection of poetry inspired by the Harlem Renaissance paired with full-color, original art from today’s most exciting African American illustrators.

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson

National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson’s stirring novel explores how a family moves forward when their glory days have passed. For as long as ZJ can remember, his dad has been everyone’s hero. As a charming, talented pro football star, he’s as beloved to the neighborhood kids he plays with as he is to his millions of adoring sports fans. But lately life at ZJ’s house is anything but charming. His dad is having trouble remembering things and seems to be angry all the time. ZJ’s mom explains it’s because of all the head injuries his dad sustained during his career. ZJ can understand that, but it doesn’t make the sting any less real when his own father forgets his name. As ZJ contemplates his new reality, he has to figure out how to hold on tight to family traditions and recollections of the glory days.

Have I Ever Told You Black Lives Matter by Shani King

From the author of Have I Ever Told You? comes a bold, new book about Black lives throughout history. This is a book of pride and history for young readers – a critical testament to the BLM movement. It’s a window into the Black experience and a mirror to the honorable path that Black leaders have paved. The book will include short biographies of each figure mentioned.

Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to Peace by Ashley Bryan

In May 1942, at the age of eighteen, Ashley Bryan was drafted to fight in World War II. For the next three years, he would face the horrors of war as a Black soldier in a segregated army. He endured the terrible lies white officers told about the Black soldiers to isolate them from anyone who showed kindness – including each other. He received worse treatment than even Nazi POWs. He was assigned the grimmest, most horrific tasks, like burying fallen soldiers but was told to remove the Black soldiers first because the media didn’t want them in their newsreels. For the next forty years, Ashley would keep his time in the war a secret. But now, he tells his story. The story of the kind people who supported him. The story of the bright moments that guided him through the dark. And the story of his passion for art that would save him time and time again.

Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. As a ghost, he observes the devastation that’s been unleashed on his family and community in the wake of what they see as an unjust and brutal killing. Soon Jerome meets another ghost: Emmett Till, a boy from a very different time but similar circumstances. Emmett helps Jerome process what has happened, on a journey towards recognizing how historical racism may have led to the events that ended his life. Jerome also meets Sarah, the daughter of the police officer, who grapples with her father’s actions. Once again Jewell Parker Rhodes deftly weaves historical and socio-political layers into a gripping and poignant story about how children and families face the complexities of today’s world, and how one boy grows to understand American Blackness in the aftermath of his own death.

Lifting as We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for The Ballot Box by Evette Dionne

For African American women, the fight for the right to vote was only one battle. An eye-opening book that tells the important, overlooked story of Black women as a force in the suffrage movement, even though fellow suffragists did not accept them as equal partners in the struggle. Women of color, especially African American women, were fighting for their right to vote and to be treated as full, equal citizens of the United States. Their battlefront wasn’t just about gender. African American women had to deal with white abolitionist-suffragists who drew the line at sharing power with their Black sisters. They had to overcome deep, exclusionary racial prejudices that were rife in the American suffrage movement. Lifting as We Climb is the empowering story of African American women who refused to accept all this.

Black Heroes of The Wild West by James Otis Smith

This graphic novel celebrates the extraordinary true tales of three Black heroes who took control of their destinies and stood up for their communities in the Old West. Born into slavery in Tennessee, Mary Fields became famous as “Stagecoach Mary,” a cigar-chomping, card playing coach driver who never missed a delivery. Bass Reeves, the first Black Deputy US Marshal west of the Mississippi, was one of the wiliest lawmen in the territories, bringing thousands of outlaws to justice with his smarts. Bob Lemmons lived to be 99 years old and was so good with horses that the wild mustangs on the plains of Texas took him for one of their own.

Grades 9-12

Stamped: racism, antiracism, and you by jason reynolds and ibram x. kendi.

This is NOT a history book. This is a book about the here and now. A book to help us better understand why we are where we are. A book about race. The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. This remarkable reimagining of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning reveals the history of racist ideas in America and inspires hope for an antiracist future. It takes you on a race journey from then to now, shows you why we feel how we feel, and why the poison of racism lingers. It also proves that while racist ideas have always been easy to fabricate and distribute, they can also be discredited. Through a gripping, fast-paced and energizing narrative written by beloved award-winner Jason Reynolds, this book shines a light on the many insidious forms of racist ideas and on ways readers can identify and stamp out racist thoughts in their daily lives.

Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, because of a biased system he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated. Then, one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. “Boys just being boys” turns out to be true only when those boys are white. Suddenly at just sixteen years old, Amal’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words and his art.

The Black Friend: On Being A Better White Person by Joseph Douglass

Writing from the perspective of a friend, Frederick Joseph offers candid reflections on his own experiences with racism and conversations with prominent artists and activists about theirs — creating an essential read for white people who are committed anti-racists and those newly come to the cause of racial justice. “We don’t see color.” “I didn’t know Black people liked Star Wars!” “What hood are you from?” For Frederick Joseph, life as a transfer student in a largely white high school was full of wince-worthy moments that he often simply let go. As he grew older, however, he saw these as missed opportunities not only to stand up for himself, but to spread awareness to those white people who didn’t see the negative impact they were having. Touching on everything from cultural appropriation to power dynamics, “reverse racism” to white privilege, microaggressions to the tragic results of overt racism, this book serves as conversation starter, tool kit and invaluable window into the life of a former “token Black kid” who now presents himself as the friend many readers need.

I Am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina

Alfonso can’t wait to play the role of Hamlet in his school’s hip-hop rendition of the classic play. But as he is buying his first suit, an off-duty police officer mistakes a clothes hanger for a gun and shoots Alfonso. When Alfonso wakes up in the afterlife, he’s on a ghost train guided by well-known victims of police shootings, who teach him what he needs to know about this subterranean spiritual world. Meanwhile, Alfonso’s family and friends struggle with their grief and seek justice for Alfonso in the streets.

Changing the Equation: 50+ Black Women in STEM by Tonya Bolden

Award-winning author Tonya Bolden explores the Black women who have changed the world of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in America. Including groundbreaking computer scientists, doctors, inventors, physicists, pharmacists, mathematicians, aviators, and many more, this book celebrates more than 50 women who have shattered the glass ceiling, defied racial discrimination, and pioneered in their fields. In these profiles, young readers will find role models, inspirations and maybe even reasons to be the STEM leaders of tomorrow. These stories help young readers to dream big and stay curious.

Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America by Ibi Zoboi, Ed.

Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi and featuring some of the most acclaimed, bestselling Black authors writing for teens today – Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and Black in America. Black is … sisters navigating their relationship at summer camp in Portland, Oregon, as written by Rene Watson. Black is … three friends walking back from the community pool talking about nothing and everything, in a story by Jason Reynolds. Black is … Nic Stone’s bougie debutante dating a boy her momma would never approve of. Black is … two girls kissing in Justina Ireland’s story set in Maryland. Black is urban and rural, wealthy and poor, mixed race, immigrants, and more because there are countless ways to be Black enough.

Say Her Name by Zetta Elliott

Inspired by the #SayHerName campaign launched by the African American Policy Forum, these poems pay tribute to victims of police brutality as well as the activists of that Black Lives Matter movement. Elliott engages poets from the past two centuries to create a chorus of voices celebrating the creativity, resilience and courage of Black women and girls. This collection features forty-nine powerful poems, four of which are tribute poems inspired by the works of Lucille Clifton, Audre Lorde, Nikki Giovanni and Phillis Wheatley. This provocative collection will move every reader to reflect, respond and act.

What are your favorite titles to explore with your students during Black History Month? Tell us in the comments below!

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Im not positive where you are getting your information, but great topic. I needs to spend some time learning much more or working out more. Shelia Ari Hedwig

I agree with every factor that you have pointed out. Thank you for sharing your beautiful thoughts on this.

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ABC7 CHICAGO: Loyola’s AfroDescent Dance Team highlighted as part of Black History Month special.

February 25, 2023

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