Celebrate Black History Month
Black History Month is a time to remember the people and the events that shaped the present-day situation of African-Americans. It is a situation filled both with hope and lamentation for the difficulties experienced on the roads into and out of slavery. If you intend to speak about Black History Month or teach a class to young children about the subject, we recommend these items to help illuminate the events and people that changed history.
People
• Frederick Douglass – His story of life as a slave and his emergence from slavery was one of the first to move American hearts prior to the Civil War.
• Sojourner Truth – She escaped slavery and told her story to amazed audiences in the North.
• Harriet Tubman – After escaping slavery, she went back and brought others to freedom through the Underground Railroad.
• Nat Turner – His slave rebellion was one of the sparks that brought on the conflagration of the United States Civil War.
• Rosa Parks – Her refusal to take the back seat helped to bring about the culmination of the Civil Rights movement.
• Martin Luther King – He was pastor to his local flock before he became a shepherd for all African-Americans in the 1960s.
• Barack Obama – As the nation’s first black president, he sailed into a second term and proved that improved racial harmony was here to stay.
Events
• 1619 – This year, the first Africans were brought into slavery in the region of North America that would eventually become the United States of America.
• The Boston Massacre – As the American Revolution neared, tempers flared against the British, and some African-Americans, such as Crispus Attucks, stood for independence even in a country that enslaved their brothers and sisters.
• The Civil War – African-Americans fought for and received their freedom in this bloody struggle between a free society and a slave society.
• The Civil Rights Movement – It took nearly a century after the war for African-Americans to make moves against the headwinds of racism in the United States.
Each of these themes can be developed fruitfully. Black History Month is an opportunity to learn from our past to create a brighter future. This February, let our products help you deliver the inspiring messages of Black History Month.
