As some of you are probably aware, February is Black History Month. Those of you who are aware of this fact have probably wondered why the shortest, coldest month of the year is devoted to black history. Some of you may have interpreted the choice as yet another example of whitey keeping the black man down. This is far from the truth.

Black History Month was originally Negro History Week, a concept pioneered and brought to fruition in 1926 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, an American Black historian. Dr. Woodson chose the second week in February as Negro History Week because two persons he felt had dramatically affected the lives of Black Americans were born during that month: Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. In 1976, this American event was lengthened to include the entire month and was renamed to Black History Month. Canada officially adopted this celebration of black history, sometimes called African Heritage Month, in 1995.