Monday, February 18, 2008
Black History Month a time to remember past accomplishments; look to the future
February is Black History Month. Carter Godwin Woodson started Black History Month as Negro History Week in 1926. Virginia-born Woodson was the son of a slave who began high school at the age of 20 and then proceeded to study at Berea College in Ohio, the University of Chicago, the Sorbonne, and Harvard University, where he earned a doctorate in 1912.
It was his life’s mission to educate people about the accomplishments of black men and women. Woodson selected February because Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass were both born during the month. February also marks the founding of the NAACP in 1909. Black History Month was first celebrated in 1976.
 The UAW placed several of the above advertisements in African-American newspapers. |
The UAW is observing Black History Month with special advertisements in African-American newspapers that highlight the historic partnership between labor and civil rights organizations. In our union’s proud history, the UAW provided moral and financial support to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders in the struggle for equal opportunity for all U.S. citizens.
UAW members also joined the international movement against apartheid, South Africa’s policy of racial segregation, and strongly supported Nelson Mandela and other South African leaders in their fight for democracy and racial justice. Mandela was made an honorary UAW member upon his release from prison and visit to the Ford Rouge complex in 1990.
Here are some useful Web sites about black history:
Africans in America: America’s Journey Through Slavery (PBS)
The African American Mosaic Exhibition, U.S. Library of Congress
This Far by Faith: African American Spiritual Journeys (PBS)
Time.com: Celebrating Black History
Here are some other useful links: