Black History Month: Facts about the history you may not know

Before it was a month-long celebration, the holiday began as Negro History Week in 1926. the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, led by historian Carter Woodson, announced the holiday on the second week of February.

Two historic figures in Black history in America -- Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass -- were both born in the second week of February on the 12th and 14th respectively. Woodson chose the dates of his history week to match. The NAACP, which celebrated 110 years of work in 2019, similarly came together on February 12, 1909, as a nod to Lincoln.

While the Association waged an official campaign with state Departments of Education to get Negro History Week into school programs, an informal campaign spread information about Black history among Black people all over the U.S. Churches and newspapers were key to the effort.

The February month is recognized up in Canada too, but elsewhere in the world countries celebrate it in October. Unofficial celebrations have taken place in Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

President Gerald Ford recognized Black History Month during the American Bicentennial, officially aligning the educational month with February in American schools forever after.