Black History Month

1. Black History Month We should emphasize not Negro History, but the Negro in history. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice. ~Carter Woodson (1875-1950)on founding Negro History Week, 1926

2. The Life and Death of Malcolm X • Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, rose to prominence as a Black Muslim minister and helped the religious movement to grow. However, he was suspended after commenting that President Kennedy’s assassination was a matter of “chickens coming home to roost.” After a trip to Mecca he became an Orthodox Muslim and believed that blacks and whites could live together as brothers. His change in views lead to his assassination by 3 Black Muslims on February 21, 1965. He was 39 years old.

3. Malcolm X 1925-1965

4. Benjamin Banneker • Banneker was appointed by President George Washington to the District of Columbia Commission. When the chairman of the committee, Pierre Charles L'Enfant, suddenly resigned and left, taking the plans with him, Banneker reproduced the plans from memory, saving valuable time. Benjamin Banneker has been called the first African American intellectual. Banneker was appointed by President George Washington to the District of Columbia Commission, which was responsible for the survey work that established the city's original boundaries. When the chairman of the committee, Pierre Charles L'Enfant, suddenly resigned and left, taking the plans with him, Banneker reproduced the plans from memory, saving valuable time.

5. Benjamin Banneker 1731-1806

6. Sarah Breedlove Walker • After a series of bereavements that left her orphaned at 6 and widowed at 20, she and her daughter A'Lelia moved to St. Louis to start over. She worked days as a washerwoman and went to night school before inventing (1905) a process for straightening the hair of African-Americans. in 1910 she formed Madame C. J. Walker Laboratories in Indianapolis, where she developed products and trained her beauticians, known as “Walker Agents.” The agents and the products were recognized in black communities throughout the U.S. and Caribbean for promoting the philosophy that cleanliness and loveliness could advance the plight of African-Americans. At her death, the multi-million dollar estate was left to various philanthropic organizations and to her daughter, whose philanthropic endeavors were key to funding the Harlem Renaissance.

7. Sarah Breedlove Walker 1876-1919

8. Important Cities in Black History

9. Atlanta, Georgia • Home of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., leader of the Civil Rights Movement. The Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site, which includes the King Center for Social Justice, his birthplace, and the Ebenezer Baptist Church, has helped make Atlanta a major tourist attraction for those interested in black history.

10. Atlanta, Georgia The King Center, Dr. King preached at the old Ebenezer Church

11. Nicodemus, Kansas • As Reconstruction came to an end in the 1870s, many Southern blacks feared they would lose their civil liberties. Known as "Exodusters," thousands fled to a number of newly created black towns, such as Nicodemus. Founded in 1877, Nicodemus was promoted as "the Promised Land." Within two years the community had 700 residents. But bad weather and subsequent crop failures, followed by the Union Pacific Railroad's decision to bypass the town, spelled its doom. Nicodemus was soon deserted.

12. Nicodemus, Kansas I am anxious to reach your state ... because of the sacredness of her soil washed by the blood of humanitarians for the cause of freedom." -- S.L. Johnson, black Louisianan in a letter to Kansas Governor John St John, 1879 First Baptist Church, Nicodemus Nicodemus 1855

13. Harlem, New York • The political and cultural center of black American life in the 20th century has been the New York City neighborhood of Harlem, located north of Central Park in Manhattan. Led by intellectuals such as W.E.B. Du Bois and Marcus Gravy, black culture soon flourished, culminating in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. Although Harlem's political clout continued to grow, by 1960 the black middle class had largely abandoned it, leaving behind a poor community struggling with various social problems. The area is currently undergoing a revival.

14. Langston Hughes,"Harlem" (1951) The Renaissance Ballroom Harlem, New York

15. Ripley, Ohio • Ripley, Ohio is a 55-acre National Historic District on the Ohio River Scenic Byway in southwest Ohio, east of Cincinnati. Ripley gained a reputation throughout the United States for its strong beliefs in the abolition of slavery, and many of its citizens were active in the Underground Railroad movement. 

16. The Rankin House. Rankin said: "My house has been the door of freedom to many human beings, but while there was a hazard of life and property, there was much happiness in giving safety to the trembling fugitives. They were all children of God by creation and some of them I believe were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb." The Parker House Ripley, Ohio

17. Birmingham, Alabama In 1963, Birmingham became a tragic chapter in the civil rights movement when four young black girls attending Sunday school were killed when a bomb exploded at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a popular location for civil rights meetings. Riots erupted. It was here that Martin Luther King was arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests, and where he wrote his famous Letter From Birmingham City Jail, arguing that individuals have the moral duty to disobey unjust laws.

18. The 16th Street Baptist Church Birmingham, Alabama