Black History Month is celebrated every February to honor the achievements of African Americans who have shaped American history. Historian Carter G. Woodson hoped to raise awareness of African American's contributions to civilization by establishing Negro History Week. The event was first celebrated during a week in February 1926 that included both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass' birthdays. The week was later expanded to a month in 1976 during the United States bicentennial.
PHOTO: On March 20, 1969, Black hospital workers at the Medical College of South Carolina in Charleston went on strike to protest the firing of twelve employees and to call for higher wages and union recognition.
Photo
In the 1950s, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became known as the leader of the civil rights movement. More than 20 years before Dr. King, Modjeska Simkins began her own work for the civil rights of...
Photo
Mary continued to open more schools, created a hospital and promoted voting rights for African Americans. President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited her to become an advisor in 1936. Her job required her...
Photo
In 1904, Mary McLeod Bethune began a school for poor African American children in Daytona, Florida. With only $1.50 to start the school, she had to be very creative. The desks were made from packing...
Photo
At a time when there were few educational opportunities for African Americans, Mary McLeod Bethune created schools and a thriving college for them. Mary was born in Mayesville, South Carolina to freed...
Photo
On the evening of May 12, 1862, the captain and officers of the Planter left the ship to spend the night on the shore. Robert and the rest of the slave crew had to stay on board under captain's orders...
Photo
In 1839, Robert Smalls was born into slavery in Beaufort, South Carolina. As a slave, he worked in the Charleston shipyards. After learning the local harbor and surrounding waters, 23-year-old Robert...
Photo
Ruby still lives in New Orleans. She runs the Ruby Bridges Foundation to help troubled children at William Frantz and other schools. With the group, Ruby travels the country advocating the importance...
Photo
Ruby's friend, psychiatrist Dr. Robert Coles, wrote "The Story of Ruby Bridges." At William Frantz, Ruby attended an empty classroom. Some parents refused to let their children go to the integrated...
Lesson
Design and play unique, student-made versions of traditional Gullah musical instruments.
Photo
By the time Ruby was six years old, there were new laws stating that African American and white students had to integrate, or share, schools. People such as Martin Luther King, Jr. had worked for...
