Black History Month

Black History Month (a celebration that grew out of Negro History Week) is celebrated annually in the U.S, U.K and Canada. For the U.S and Canada the month is February, while in the U.K, they celebrate in October. What are the black people in these countries celebrating? Theirs is a story of a struggle for civil rights for people of colour, with Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Fanny Lou Hamer being the most prominent of names associated with this struggle.

Black History Month is also about firsts by black people. Their breaking in to fields previously banned to their race. Why was this so important? Because as a minority in the African Diaspora, they had to work hard for their voice to be heard, listened to and acknowledged.

Inventors such as George Washington Carver, activists like Malcolm X and Rosa Parks, athletes such as Willie Mays and Michael Jordan, and entertainers like Bessie Smith and Oprah Winfrey. Their names, as well as their personal histories, have become synonymous with the rich legacy that is African-American culture. They worked hard to leave their mark in history and it is only right, that their achievements be celebrated.

Here are some facts about Black History you might find interesting

·         Muhammad Ali, the self-proclaimed "greatest [boxer] of all time," was originally named after his father, who was named after the 19th-century abolitionist and politician Cassius Marcellus Clay.

·         Jazz, an African–American musical form born out of the blues, ragtime and marching bands, originated in Louisiana during the turn of the 19th century. The word "jazz" is a slang term that at one point referred to a sexual act.

·         Scientist and mathematician Benjamin Banneker is credited with helping to design the blueprints for Washington, D.C.

·         February 21, 1965; Malcom X, the militant leader who promoted Black Nationalism, was shot to death by three black muslims.

·         Before he became an NBA legend, Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.