Black History Month is celebrated every February as an homage to the achievements of African Americans who have shaped American history. The idea was started in 1915 by historian Carter G. Woodson. The Harvard-trained historian and others in his group wanted a way of promoting achievements of African Americans. That group is now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life History. The group chose the second week in February in 1926 to celebrate “Negro History Week.”. In the late 1960s, the week evolved into an entire month, thanks in large part to the civil rights movement.
"African Americans and Labor"
The 2025 Black History Month theme, African Americans and Labor, focuses on the various and profound ways that work and working of all kinds – free and unfree, skilled, and unskilled, vocational and voluntary – intersect with the collective experiences of Black people.
Be it the traditional agricultural labor of enslaved Africans that fed Low Country colonies, debates among Black educators on the importance of vocational training, self-help strategies and entrepreneurship in Black communities, or organized labor’s role in fighting both economic and social injustice, Black people’s work has been transformational throughout the U.S., Africa, and the Diaspora.
The 2025 Black History Month theme, “African Americans and Labor,” sets out to highlight and celebrate the potent impact of this work. For more information, click here.
