Davis Family Library: 9am - 12am

blue poster with yellow, orange, and red text reading "Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Celebrate Black History Month. Carter G. Woodson originally founded Negro History Week in February to honor the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, two key figures in the fight for freedom and equality, a tradition that later evolved into Black History Month." with an artistic interpretation of a portrait of Carter G. Woodson

This year’s Black History Month theme is “a century of Black history commemorations,” honoring the legacy of Black History Month: from the first “Negro History Week” in 1926 to the 1986 Congressional Law designating February as Black History Month, to today. 

Carter G. Woodson founded the first Negro History Week to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. In 1976, as part of the Bicentennial celebrations, President Gerald Ford formally recognized Black History Month. As our nation celebrates 250 years, it is as important as ever to recognize and celebrate the contributions of Black Americans. 

Learn more about the history of Black History Month on the Association for the Study of African American Life and History website. 

Join the library’s Black History Month celebrations by exploring intellectual and artistic contributions: music, film, history, literature, and more, on display in the atrium this month. 

newspaper clipping from The Campus, dated February 28, 1946, detailing a Negro History Week commemoration in the library with an exhibit of books by and about Black men and women.
This article from The Campus, dated February 28, 1946, details a Negro History Week commemoration in the library with books by and about Black men and women. The library’s Black History celebrations date back to at least the 1940s! 
Real education means to inspire people to live more abundantly, to learn to begin with life as they find it and make it better.
— Carter G. Woodson, founder to Negro History Week 1926

Find these titles and more on display in the library atrium all month long!