Why the Month of February?

Is February Black History Month Because It's the Shortest Month?

     I've often wondered that, if February was chosen because it held the least amount of days that society would have to bear all the Black History 'hoopla'... Of course that was when I was much younger and much more 'revolutionary' than I am now!! LOL

     Not only have I grown up though, I also learned that Black History Month was started by a person of color, so there was no question of February being chosen for a negative reason. I knew there had to be something else, and finally I've learned what it is.

     As I posted previously, Black History Month began as Negro History Week, and was begun by Carter G. Woodson.
 (You can read about it at On This Date in 1926....)  

     Starting with Gerald Ford in 1976, every president has declared February as Black History Month. It has never been a law or something the government said had to be, it's just something all the presidents designated.

     When it was just a week, it was the second week in February, so when it was expanded February was the obvious month, but the reason it was chosen for it in the first place was because two important birthdays both occur in that month—that of Abraham Lincoln,  the author of the Emancipation Proclamation (February 12), and that of Frederick Douglass, an early African American abolitionist (he never knew the exact date, but he chose February 14 to celebrate.)

Knowing this I've begun to wonder, will there be a Black History Month?
   
   


from 101 Little Known Black History Facts  http://pickettsmill.typepad.com/files/black20history20101_facts-1.pdf

I Bet You've Never Heard This One Before!!

Black History Fact: She Hid the Bed; and Got a Patent For It!! 

     I heard a 'Black History Fact' on the car radio the other day that was one I'd never heard of before; one that was surprising, and one that made me more aware than ever of how little we are being taught about the history of black people in this country. It seems to me that we are taught more about the history of how the slaves were brought here, their lives as slaves on the Massa's plantation picking cotton, and how hard they worked to try to escape being slaves than we are about any achievements made in more modern times. In my younger days I suppose there weren't as many to be taught about, but of what there was, it was only what was already 'old news'  (George Washington Carver, Harriett Tubman, Frederick Douglass) that students were taught. Now there is so much more that students could be learning about their culture, their ancestors, and themselves, but they are learning even less than they did then, not only because they are taught less, but also because they are not being instilled with the pride of their heritage that we were. 

That's one of my reasons for starting this blog, in the hope that I might be able to spread some of the 'Black History' that we were never taught in school, and show how much of an impact we actually have made (and continue to make) on modern American civilization. Barack Obama is not our only lasting legacy!

Sarah E. Goode & a diagram of her Cabinet Bed

This fact is about a woman who was born in 1850 into slavery. She was very aware of the challenges most of her friends and neighbors underwent in their day-to-day lives living in small, cramped spaces where there usually wasn't enough room for the people, let alone furniture and a bed. By the time she was 35 Sarah Elisabeth Goode had invented the Cabinet Bed; something like the Murphy Bed, but her bed did not roll up into the wall. Hers was designed to do dual duty as a bed at night and a rolltop writing desk during the day. Her invention had cubbyholes designed to hold stationary and writing supplies, and had a flat surface on which to write. 

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A larger diagram of the Cabinet Bed.

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A photo of what her invention may have looked like. 

     

Sarah Goode received her freedom at the end of the Civil War. She moved to Chicago, and there met her husband, Archibald Goode who was a carpenter. Together they ran their own furniture business, where they met a lot of people facing the issue of living in small spaces. These were just the kind of people for whom her Cabinet Bed was made.

             

Patent received by Sarah E. Goode, 1885

       Not much is known of Sarah E. Goode after she received the US patent in 1885, other than that she died in 1905.

 

Note:

A tailor in New York City, Thomas L. Jennings is credited with being the first African American to hold a U.S. patent. The patent, which was issued in 1821, was for a dry-cleaning process. 

On This Date in 1926....

"Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history."

This is a quote from the man who is responsible for much of the history of blacks being recorded and preserved; he also dedicated a period of time to the education of blacks about that history. 

The man was Carter G. Woodson, who was responsible for the creation of *Negro History Week. 

Carter Godwin Woodson was born in Buckingham County, VA in December of 1875. The family was poor, so Woodson had to work in the coal mines during his teenage years. He was finally able to attend high school at the age of 20, and graduated in less than 2 years. He then taught high school and studied at home and abroad, until he received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1912. In 1919 he became the dean of the School of Liberal Arts at Howard University, and in 1920 he became the dean of the School of Liberal Arts at what is now West Virginia State College.

Woodson's aim in life was to give the 'Negro' a reason to be proud of himself and who he came from; it was also to inform others of the place that 'Negros' held in the history of this country. (America) He wanted "the world to see the Negro as a participant rather than as a lay figure in history". In order to accomplish this, he organized the first annual Negro History Week, which of course is now Black History Month. He also established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History; founded and edited the Journal of Negro History; and in 1937 founded the Negro History Bulletin periodical, which is still in print as the Black History Bulletin.        

Carter Woodson was also responsible for the publication of many books. Among them are "The Mis-Education of the Negro Prior to 1861", "History of the Negro Church", and "The Rural Negro".

Carter G. Woodson passed away after a heart attack in his home on April 3, 1950. He was 74.

* This post has been corrected to reflect the actual name Woodson chose.

Much of the material for this post is from the African American Registry, a non-profit education organization. Some also came from Google Search, and from the websites of ASNLH and The Black History Bulletin.