Black Employment Program

About National African American History Month

Each February is designated as African American History Month or Black History Month in the United States to commemorate the rich and varied contributions of African Americans to the culture and history of the United States and the world.

In 1926, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a Harvard Ph.D. who 11 years earlier had founded the Association for the Study of Afro- American Life and History, initiated Negro History Week. In those early days, the words Afro and Black were seldom used. It was Dr. Woodson's hope that through this special observance, all Americans would be reminded of their ethnic roots, and that togetherness in the United States' racial groups would develop out of a mutual respect. Dr. Woodson chose for Negro History Week the period of February which contains the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. From its initiation, observance of Afro-American History Month has involved many ethnic groups, not only Black Americans. This event evolved into the establishment in 1976 of February as "Black History Month." This commemoration is also referred to as "African American History Month."

Office of Civil Rights (OCR)
U.S. Department of Commerce

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Page last updatedJune 13, 2017

The National Park Service's Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement.

Smithsonian Institution Black History Month

Call to Serve -- a joint initiative sponsored by the Partnership for Public Service and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, providing information on careers in the federal government. Search the directory of federal internships and information with a network of over 600 colleges.   In addition, you'll find information about multiple vacancies in the federal sector, subdivided by jobs that require language skills, loan repayment programs, etc. 

• Blacks in Government (BIG)
• National Association for Education Opportunity in Higher Education
• PBS African American World Reference Room
• African American Museums
• Association of African American Museums
• Association for the Study of African American Life and History
• AFRO-American Almanac - includes biographies and historical information.
• Encyclopedia Britannica Guide to Black History
• The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project - Stanford University's collection of papers, speeches, sermons and articles by and about the civil rights leader.
• The Shaw Memorial
• University of Chicago African-American Studies Archive
• National Public Radio Black History Month page
• EverythingBlack.com
• The Internet African-American History Challenge - a quiz from Bright Moments.com
• InfoPlease.com Black History Month site.
• About.com African-American History site
• The Internet African-American History Challenge - an interactive quizz
• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library.
• Blacks in Government (BIG)
• The Anacostia Musuem and Center for African American History and Culture - A branch of the Smithsonian Insitution
• Harlem 1900-1940 - An online exhibition of photographs from the era of the Harlem Renaissance.
• National Museum of African Art
• National Civil Rights Museum
• Selected African American Artists at the National Gallery
• The New York Public Library's Images of African Americans from the 19th Century.
• The History Channel has extensive biographies of historical African Americans.

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