PEOPLE: Black History Month 2023 Celebrates and honors African American historic creativity, accomplishments, and achievements
AGN.News Team
February 1, 2023
WASHINGTON (AGN.News) – Black History Month is an annual observance originating in the United States. In 2023, Black History Month 2023 is celebrated in the United States and Canada in the month of February 2023.
Black History Month 2023 is an annual observance honoring African Americans, their history of accomplishments and achievements in American and Canadian history.
Black History Month began as a way of remembering important individuals and events in the history of Black people of African ancestry and has since evolved into celebrations and ceremonies.
Origin of Black History Month
The precursor to Black History Month was created in 1926 in the United States, when historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History announced the second week of February to be “Negro History Week”.
This week was chosen because it coincided with the birthday of Abraham Lincoln on February 12 and the birthday of Frederick Douglass on February 14.
Both of these men worked tirelessly for African American freedom. Their efforts has resulted in generations of Black people, Black education and shared prosperity in local communities. They’re examples of leadership for today’s creative spirit among young and old African Americans alike.
Black History Month Accomplishments
Black History Month celebrations goes way beyond its initial acceptance of Black people in educational establishments. It represents historic creativity, accomplishments, and universal achievements of African Americans in all trades and professions.
It now has expanded to include recognition of African Americans in movies, TV commercials, health and wellness, awards, business, internet entrepreneurs, sports, television, movies, music, cosmetics, fashion designs, legal services, global news, corporate business, and politics.
The Wall Street Journal describes it as “a time when the culture and contributions of African Americans take center stage” in a variety of cultural institutions including theaters, libraries and museums.
Black History Month Role Models
Sports: On February 12, 2023, Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts will make history on Super Bowl Sunday. This is the first time in game history two Black Quarterbacks will be players on both teams. Thanks to the Black QBs who had to fight racism and defy stereotypes just to play the position.
Alondra Nelson, 55, was the first Black person and first woman of color to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the office’s 46-year history.
Keisha Lance Bottoms, 53, is an American attorney and politician who served as the 60th mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, from 2018 to 2022. In June 2022, Bottoms joined the Biden administration as senior advisor and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.
Anna Julia Haywood Cooper (1858-1964) was an American author, educator, sociologist, speaker, Black liberation activist, and one of the most prominent African American scholars in United States history.
She was born into slavery in 1858. Cooper went on to receive a world-class education and claim power and prestige in academic and social circles. In 1924, she received her PhD from the Sorbonne, University of Paris. Cooper became the fourth African American woman to earn a doctoral degree.
Ruby Nell Bridges Hall (68) is an American civil rights activist. She was the first African American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis on November 14, 1960.
William Felton Russell (1934-2022) was an American professional basketball player, known as Bill Russell, who played as a center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969.
He was a five-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) and a 12-time NBA All-Star. He was the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty that won 11 NBA championships during his 13-year career.
Bessie Coleman (1892-1926) was an early American civil aviator. She was the first African American woman and first Native American to hold a pilot license.
Rebecca Lee Crumpler, born Rebecca Davis, (1831-1895), was an American physician, nurse and author. After studying at the New England Female Medical College, in 1864 she became the first African American woman to become a doctor of medicine in the United States.
Abraham W. Bolden (87) is an American former United States Secret Service agent. He is the first African American Secret Service agent assigned to the Presidential Protective Division, appointed by John F. Kennedy in 1961.
Emmett Ethridge Butler (1908-1955) was a physician practicing in Gainesville, Georgia. He was born in Jefferson and grew up in Macon. He was a graduate of Morehouse College. He received his M.D. from Meharry Medical College in 1934. He was the first African American to be appointed to the Gainesville Board of Education.
Minnie M. (Geddings) Cox (1869–1933) was an American teacher who was appointed the first Black postmaster in Mississippi, serving the city of Indianola. Her appointment followed closely behind Anna M. Dumas, who was appointed to the same position in 1872 in Covington, Louisiana.
Cox attended Fisk University, a Historically Black University in Nashville, Tennessee. Cox was part of one of the largest classes at the time, with 100 graduates completing studies at the normal school to earn teaching degrees in 1888.
Frederick Madison Roberts (1879-1952) was an American newspaper owner and editor, educator and business owner; he became a politician, the first known man of African American descent elected to the California State Assembly.
He served there for 16 years and became known as “dean of the assembly.” He has been honored as the first person of African American descent to be elected to public office among the states on the West Coast of the United States.
Black History Honors Althea Gibson
Althea Neale Gibson (1927-2003) was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis.
In 1956, she became the first African American to win a Grand Slam title (the French Championships). The following year she won both Wimbledon and the US Nationals (precursor of the US Open), then won both again in 1958 and was voted Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years.
In all, she won 11 Grand Slam tournaments: five singles titles, five doubles titles, and one mixed doubles title. In the early 1960s she also became the first Black player to compete on the Women’s Professional Golf Tour.
Gibson was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame. “She is one of the greatest players who ever lived,” is what she’s been called.
At a time when racism and prejudice were widespread in sports and in society, Gibson was often compared to Jackie Robinson. “Her road to success was a challenging one”, said Billie Jean King, “but I never saw her back down.”
“To anyone, she was an inspiration, because of what she was able to do at a time when it was enormously difficult to play tennis at all if you were Black”, said former New York City Mayor David Dinkins.
Black History Month Celebrates Creativity
James Hemings (1765–1801) was the first American to train as a chef in France. Upon returning to the U.S. he taught others how to cook special dishes. Hemings is credited as being the creator of the world famous dish called Macaroni and Cheese.
In 1846, a slave name Antoine successfully grafted a pecan tree to create a new crop of pecan trees on the Oak Valley Plantation in Southern Mississippi. It’s now a world favorite pecan.
Johnny Brown (72) is an author, business owner, beauty and barber instructor, platform artist, and colorist. He was the first African American to create, design and owned a chain of barber shops in America.
Mahulda Gussie Brown Carrier (1894-1948) was a well-educated early 20th century Florida school teacher. She taught school in Levy County, Florida. She was well-liked and her unique teaching skills were rewarded.
She was the first African American licensed as a school principal in the state of Florida. She was a survivor of the Rosewood Massacre of January 1-7, 1923. In 2000, she was named as a Great Floridian for her contributions to the state of Florida.
Benjamin Lloyd Crump (53) is an American attorney who specializes in civil rights and catastrophic personal injury cases such as wrongful death lawsuits. Ben Crump is also founder of the firm Ben Crump Law of Tallahassee, Florida.
His practice has focused on cases such as Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, George Floyd, Keenan Anderson and Tyre Nichols, people affected by the Flint water crisis, and the plaintiffs behind the 2019 Johnson & Johnson baby powder lawsuit alleging the company’s talcum powder product led to ovarian cancer diagnoses.
Black History Month Tributes
This month we pay tribute to the many innocent victims of racially- motivated hate crimes and victims of Police violence.
African Americans like Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, George Floyd, Keenan Anderson, Breonna Taylor, Daunte Wright, Ahmaud Arbery, Tyre Nichols, and countless others who were victims of racism and violence.
Racism and prejudice has always been injected into the life and careers of Black achievers and creators. Thanks to their enduring fortitude African Americans have made enormous contributions to the success of virtually every institution in the United states and beyond.
This month we salute all laser-focused African Americans who works hard to be a creator despite the obstacles placed in their path. We invite everyone to celebrate Black History Month with us.
Alphabet Local Mobile Ads (ALMA) and its advisors and creators would like to thank everyone who have and continue to support our mission to support local and global businesses every day.
Global businesses are realizing the valuable and lasting contributions of African Americans throughout America’s history.
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