This year marks the 100th anniversary of the recognition of Black history in America as a designated time period to observe and honor the contributions and achievements of Black people in the United States of America. If you have had little contact with Black culture, you might wonder why such an observance is appropriate or necessary as a national dialogue to be conducted yearly.

Carter G. Woodson of Harvard University began this tradition with Negro History Week in 1926. In 1976, President Gerald Ford declared it a month-long observance, renaming it Black History Month. February was chosen because it includes Fredrick Douglas’s and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays. Both were men of great importance to the efforts of Blacks to achieve freedom from slavery and full citizenship in America. We came to America stacked head to toe like sardines in a can, in the bottom of slave ships across vast oceans. Our journey to equality has been one filled with horror and strife, honor and excellence. We started out as property to be bought and sold like livestock at the auction block. We became the chief cause of the war that nearly ended the great democratic experiment in this country and cost the lives of around 620,000 Americans – more lives than all other wars we’ve fought combined. America is a nation whose major industry began with agriculture, including cotton, tobacco, and sugarcane.   

According to historical records, cotton was a major contributor to the American GDP, especially in the South. By 1850, over two billion pounds of cotton were produced annually. This was made possible by the forced labor of an estimated 1.8 million enslaved Blacks, making it the dominant economic driver of the economy at that time,  helping to create the industrial revolution in both America and England.

It is not hyperbole to say that Black people played a vital role in this country’s success from its very beginning. Today and every day, you will undoubtedly use something invented by or improved upon by a Black person, like the fountain pen, the refrigerator in your home, refrigerated transport, the traffic light, GPS, etc. 

Most people have heard of the Boston Massacre; most don’t know Crispus Attucks, a self-emancipated slave, a Black man, who led this protest and was the first to die in the effort to free the country from the tyranny of the King of England, as we began the fight for independence. In fact, Blacks have fought in every war of this nation – from Bunker Hill to Vietnam on D-Day and today. We fight and die to serve this country. 

Unfortunately, highlighting the contributions of Black Americans has been neglected by the mainstream of education and publication, historically in this country. 

To quote the great Martin Luther King, Jr:  “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” 

This quote suggests that progress is linear and inevitable. Unfortunately, we know all too well that moral progress is not possible without diligence and vigilance to ensure that the arc proceeds in the right direction. Between the years 1865-1870, the 13th,14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution were ratified and made into laws, making significant steps towards total freedom for former slaves in this country. This led to massive participation in the political process and the election of over 1,500 public officeholders. This level of political power was challenged and eliminated in the former Confederate states of the South, which were slave holders. They instituted black codes or Jim Crow Laws that dropped black voter participation from 90% to eventually only 3%.

In 1896, the Supreme Court of the United States in Plessy vs Ferguson ruled that separate but equal public facilities were constitutional. While this may seem like ancient history to some readers, for me, it meant that until I was ten years old, I could not drink from the same water fountain as most of you could. I contend that the moral arc can also bend like a pendulum to a place it once was in reaction to the energy required to move it forward. 

2026 marks the 100-year anniversary of Black History Month. Yet what we are witnessing this year is a backlash of the momentum we achieved as Americans by electing a Black man to the Presidency of the United States of America, not once but twice. The moral arc has swung to the opposite direction.

In the current administration, we have seen the outright elimination of policies and government agencies that worked to achieve fairness and equal opportunities for those who have suffered the outcomes of disenfranchisement. In addition, we are witnessing the most aggressive attempt towards the totalitarian dismantling of democracy in the 250 years of this country’s history. The First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment and even the right wing’s sacred Second Amendment are being trampled on with impunity by a government led by a man who stated he would only be a dictator on day one in office. 

Black History Month serves as a reminder that injustice toward one class of people opens the door to injustice toward all people. It is a reminder that Black history is American history.