Marcus Smith
Lantern Staff
Black History Month began as Negro History Week in 1926 and was renamed Black History Month. It was first proposed by black educators and the Black United Students at Kent State University in 1969 and was first officially recognized by President Gerald Ford in 1976. Since it was first recognized, every president since has officially designated February as Black History Month.
Many important people in history have played an important role in Black History Month and include: Rosa Parks, Jesse Owens, Shirley Chisholm, Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama.
1. Little Rock Nine was a group of nine African- American students who enrolled in an all white school.
2. Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist Minister and Civil War activist. He is one of the most well-known spokespeople and Civil Rights leader. He was assassinated on the evening of April 4, 1968 before he was to lead a protest march.
3. Barack Obama was the 44th president of the United States and the first African-American president.
4. Jesse Owens was a four-time gold medalist that participated in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin where he broke two world records. After he returned home, he never met with and was not congratulated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and was not properly recognized until 1976 when President Ford awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
5. Shirley Chisholm became the first black congresswoman in 1968, and four years later, she became the first major party black candidate to make a bid for the U.S. presidency.
6. Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955 when she refused to give her seat up for a white passenger. Refusing to give her seat up left the city of Montgomery, Alabama, with no choice but to lift the law that required segregation on public buses.
7. Jackie Robinson became the first black athlete to play Major League Baseball in the year 1947 for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was also a Civil Rights activist, fighting for African-American athletes, social rights and other social and political causes. After he died in 1972, his wife established The Jackie Robinson Foundation to honor his life and work, which helped young people in need with scholarships and mentoring programs.
8. Oprah Winfrey is a billionaire who is best known for hosting her own talk show and then her own television network, OWN. Her Angel Network has raised over $50 million for charitable programs such as girls’ education in South Africa.
9. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years as a political prisoner in South Africa before he became their first black president.