Black History Month

About this episode

This episode discusses the origins and significance of Black History Month, featuring insights from Dr. Jarvis Givens.

One hundred years ago, Dr. Carter G. Woodson created and launched the inaugural Negro History Week after his professors told him that Black people didn’t have a history worth studying. Negro History Week built on the success of Douglass Day and quickly spread through Black communities in the United States. Fifty years later, at the urging of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, President Gerald Ford called for Americans to celebrate Black History Month, which was finally ordered by Presidential Proclamation in 1986. Joining me in this episode is Dr. Jarvis Givens , Professor of Education and African and African American Studies at Harvard University and author of I'll Make Me a World: The 100-Year Journey of Black History Month . Our theme song is “ Frogs Legs Rag ,” composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode audio is “ Lift Every Voice and Sing ,” with lyrics by James Weldon Johnson and music by Jon Rosamond Johnson; this public domain performance is by the United States Army Field Band and the 82nd Airborne Chorus and features Staff Sgt. Kyra Dorn. The episode image is a portrait of Carter…

People in this episode

Host: Kelly Therese Pollock

Guest: Dr. Jarvis Givens

Topics covered

• Black History
• Carter G. Woodson
• Negro History Week
• Black History Month
• Education
• African American Studies

Keywords

• Black History Month
• Carter G. Woodson
• Negro History Week
• African American Studies
• Dr. Jarvis Givens
• education
• history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Harvard University, United States Army Field Band, 82nd Airborne Chorus, Smithsonian Digital Volunteers

Books & works: I'll Make Me a World: The 100-Year Journey of Black History Month, Frogs Legs Rag, Lift Every Voice and Sing

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