White House Celebrates Black History Month

Black History Month, or African-American History Month, is observed in February to celebrate the important people and events in the history of the African diaspora.

This year, the White House hosted a number of events and activities to celebrate the contributions and the accomplishments of African Americans both past and present.

In 1926, according to White House, the great historian and author Carter G. Woodson pioneered “Negro History Week” — a time set aside to honor African Americans and their contributions to American history.

“If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition,” Woodson once wrote. “It becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.”

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“We don’t set aside this month each year to isolate or segregate or put under a glass case black history,” President Barack Obama said at last week’s Black History Month reception at the White House.

“We set it aside to illuminate those threads — those living threads that African Americans have woven into the tight tapestry of this nation — to make it stronger, and more beautiful, and more just, and more free,” Obama said.

Photo / Video courtesy: White House