Pressing Forward: Important Black History Month Truths
Graphic by Habib Salami.
OPINION
BY RANN MILLER | Pressing Forward
February 2026 doesn’t just mark this year’s celebration of Black History Month; it also marks the 100-year anniversary of Black History Month, originally Negro History Week.
Beginning in 1926, Dr. Carter G. Woodson conceived of an institution to correct the lies told about Black people and Black history, while simultaneously reclaiming Black history to inspire Black people—particularly Black youth—to action, namely on behalf of African Americans within an anti-Black society.
This is the understanding we all must have when “reverencing” Black History Month and celebrating this momentous anniversary. And yet, as with every February, there will be some—in the Black community specifically— who will take up space to criticize this time-honored tradition of celebrating Black history and Black history accumulation.
I remember as a child hearing Black folks argue against celebrating Black History Month. I’ve heard people complain that Black History Month was during the shortest month of the year, and that white folks gave it to us, and that’s why.
I’ve heard others argue that since Black history is American history, we shouldn’t relegate it to one month out of the year but teach it all year. Then, there are the folks angry at corporations that hijack the month to make money off Black history. Or angry that Black History Month is whitewashed in schools.
Those are some of the reasons that favor abolishing Black History Month celebrations. I’ve even heard students complain about “learning” the same events and people every year. It’s a legit gripe that I totally understand. And I even get the above-mentioned complaints. But honestly, all of these “complaints” about Black history month are lazy at best.
Because what they say to me is either you’re ignorant of Black history and Black struggle, or rather than genuinely approaching frustrations with questions to seek answers, folks come with nonsensical hot takes. It also says that finding a hot take to say instead of finding the truth for clarity is more important, and it is not. Well, like it or not, here is some truth…
White folks didn’t give us Black History Month, let alone choose February as the designated month of celebration. Black people created Black History Month… WE DID THAT. White folks at the time, and clearly now, want nothing to do with what they believe Black history is, and don’t want whatever they think Black history is taught in schools.
So, the insinuation that white people gave Black folks a month to celebrate, and the shortest month at that, is preposterous.
Whether it was the end to enslavement, the end of Jim Crow, voting rights, civil rights… we fought for that and took it.
Black History Month is in February because, when it was originally Negro History Week, Dr. Carter Woodson chose to host it during the week that included the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. If the birthdays were on opposing weeks, the week of Douglass’s birthday was the chosen week of observance.
Black History Month is specific and intentional because Black History isn’t simply a retelling of the past; it is a project of correcting the racist record of our past. It is political as much as it is historical. Black history tells the truth of our past and, in a compelling way, corrects racist lies and inspires future action towards racial justice.
That is something different altogether from American history, which is a project rooted in white settler colonialist mythmaking, which marks its lineage in the Greco-Roman past (which stole from Egypt), that has no desire to aim towards racial justice when it perpetuates racial injustice.
This is why we have Black History Month… not because Gerald Ford said so. As detailed in Jarvis Givens’ new book, I’ll Make Me A World, Ford didn’t have enough respect to avoid confusing Woodson’s birthday with the founding of ASALH (formerly ASNLH).
Black history is so much more than American history.
And sure, exporting Black culture for profit is nothing new. That hasn’t stopped Black folks from consuming bad Hip Hop, has it? Not to pick on Hip Hop specifically, but Black culture has been exported and appropriated for dollars, whether Hip Hop, Pop, or R&B. A major reason why is that we’re too busy chasing a bag versus working to preserve our cultural legacy. We don’t gatekeep to protect our Blackness, just our money, a semblance of power, and the ability to make more and have more.
If you’re concerned about the commodification and corporate opportunistic play of Black History Month, and it is a legit concern, don’t spend your dollars with people or groups that don’t value your heritage or only put dollar signs on your heritage. Buy your Black History Month regalia and other products from Black retailers and patronize those spots throughout the year.
… And if you’re tired of younger people complaining about learning the same things (and they have a point), how about learning something new to teach them something new. Rehearse what they already know with some new information, and follow that up with something they never heard before about something completely different. That’ll make a real difference.
Black History Month is a sacred traditional institution in the Black community. Sadly, many of us have become too familiar with it, and as a result, we have lost our reverence for it. But we mustn’t let the white power structure or ignorant Negroes among us take us off course. Teach, learn, and celebrate Black history all year, and use February for what Carter Woodson intended: a time of review.
Now that you know better, you can do better. So, do right by yourselves and by Black folks.
BIO: Rann Miller is a writer, author, and educator. A graduate of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Rann teaches AP United States History, is the author of Resistance Stories from Black History for Kids, and is an opinion columnist, featured in various news outlets exploring the intersections of race, education, politics, culture and history. You can follow on “X” @RealRannMiller, on IG, and TikTok @realrannmiller.
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