Black History Month - My Birh month BTW :P

Black History Month is a remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. Since 1976, it is celebrated annually in the United States of America and Canada in February and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the month of October. In the U.S., Black History Month is also referred to as African-American History Month.

 History

The remembrance has its roots in 1926 by United States historian Carter G. Woodson as "Negro History Week". Woodson chose the second week of February because it marked the birthdays of two Americans who greatly influenced the lives and social condition of African Americans: former President Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass. Woodson also founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

Purpose
When the tradition of Black History Month began, many in mainstream academia had barely begun to explore the history of black people. At that point, most representation of people of African descendant in history books only referenced the low social position they held as slaves, with infrequent exceptions such as that of George Washington Carver. W.E.B. DuBois' 1935 work Black Reconstruction was an early work in history that pointed to black contributions.

Controversy

Black History Month sparks an annual debate about the continued usefulness of a month dedicated to the history of one race. Some critics contend that Black History Month undermines the contention that African American history is simply American history. Critical op-ed pieces have appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer and USA Today. In October 2009, black British online magazine Catch a Vibe asked its readers if Black History Month was still relevant.