Black History Month 2025
February 2025 marks the 99th anniversary of a month-long celebration dedicated to educating and preserving Black History in the United States. We are honored and excited to celebrate Black History Month at Binya and keep this long standing tradition alive! The Association for African-American Life & History (ASALH) is a national organization founded by Dr. Carter G. Woodson in February of 1926. Considered the Father of Black History Month, Dr. Carter recognized the need for an extended, formal celebration of Black Life in America and also at the time, it was to celebrate the birthdays of two key figures in the fight for freedom and equality: Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Formerly known as Negro History Week, its name eventually evolved along with its duration and purpose. Present day, the goals of the month are to promote the research, preservation, and spread of Black life, history and culture to the global community. No one can argue the value of this intended purpose.
Each year, the ASALH comes up with the an annual theme. Choosing a theme is a way to unite speakers and authors, create cohesive and thoughtful programs and events, and further research and inquiry into specific topics in a more formal way. As the topic of Black History is of course, very broad, choosing a theme for the month helps narrow the focus. We love exploring the themes each year and find them extremely fascinating. This year, the theme is AFRICAN AMERICANS AND LABOR, which turns out — is actual very broad.
If you think about the context of African Americans and labor for a moment, you will see how examining the history through that lens is a huge undertaking especially without a set timeframe. You could explore the path of slave labor before the Emancipation Proclaimation, an obvious choice. You could explore the labor and work of unpaid social justice activists and the work that was done in the Civil Rights movement. Or today. You could examine the work of artists, poets, and musicians in the Diaspora. Perhaps you could explore the entrepreneurship of Black individuals in modern day society and their business or academic contributions. When you dig deeper into the concept of “African Americans and Labor”, you’ll find its almost as broad of a theme as just saying “black history” as theme.
You see quickly that the contributions of Black labor have shaped the very fabric of our history and our country today.
We’d also like to examine what it means to celebrate Black History Month. If you are looking to celebrate it — whether it be big or small - we invite you in the following ways.
Explore Black History through the National Archives, https://www.archives.gov/news/topics/african-american-history, or ASALH. You can explore resources on the PBS Channel, or even on Master Class. (We are interested in taking this class: https://www.masterclass.com/classes/black-history-black-freedom-and-black-love) You could also visit your local library’s dedicated section to African American History.
Support Black-owned businesses. We are excited to have found this resource, Addie Rawr, that maintains a Black Owned Business Shopping Guide, featuring exclusively-owned Black businesses.
Read books and stories written by Black authors. There is a Black History Month Book festival, view the books up for consideration for the official, winning prize: https://asalh.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Book-Prize-2025-1.png
Learn about Black leaders.
Organize educational events.
Watch films and documentaries created by Black filmmakers. There is a “Black Film Archive”, visit: https://blackfilmarchive.com, or networks like Peacock have categories that you can filter called “Black-led movies and TV shows.”
Commit to beyond February
