February is Black History Month

The year 1976 marked the United States Bicentennial, the country’s 200th birthday. It was a time when citizens celebrated the creation of the United States of America as an independent republic. Nineteen seventy-six was significant in another way: it was when the U.S. began its annual observance of Black History Month.

February is Black History Month, or National African American History Month, when we commemorate the achievements by black Americans and recognize the contributions of African Americans in U.S. history.

The accomplishments of African Americans have been valuable throughout our history
in every aspect and it's an honor to show appreciation for how the American culture has been greatly influenced by African Americans.

You can be a part of Black History Month in many ways:

Read the poem “I, Too, Sing America” by poet Langston Hughes and think about the poem’s vocabulary, rhythm, and meaning.

Bake sweet potato biscuits, a traditional soul food treat, with this delicious recipe.

Read Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

See James Karales’s photographs of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches.

Examine these oral histories from elderly African Americans in Elbert County, Georgia, and Abbeville County., South Carolina on the National Park Service website.

Trace the history of the blues from its beginnings in the fields of the South to its global impact on today’s music. Visit the Kennedy Center to learn about B. B. King and other musicians.

View artist Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series, which depicts the migration of slaves from the South to the North in search of a better life.

Learn about the history of hip-hop music, a genre that emerged in the Bronx, New York City, in 1970.

Who was the first African American tennis player to win the U.S. Open? Who was the first African American woman elected to U.S. Congress? Find out about many famous firsts in black history on Biography.