Every year, during the month of February, people in the United States honor and celebrate the contributions and achievements of African-Americans to the country as part of Black History Month.

Noticing that the people in the country had very little or no information about the accomplishments of Black people and their involvement in molding the country into what it became, historian Carter G. Woodson and renowned minister Jesse E. Moorland founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915.

The group, now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), in 1926 declared the second week of February as the "National Negro History Week."

In 1976, U.S. President Gerald Ford gave official recognition to this week as to “honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” Since then, this week-long event became Black History Month and is celebrated in the U.S. every February.

The theme for this year's Black History Month is, "The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity," which focuses on exploring how the black families in the country have been “reverenced, stereotyped, and vilified from the days of slavery to our own time."

Here are few quotes taken from Parade.com that commemorate the importance of this celebration-

  • "Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations." — Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African-American female astronaut
  • "I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality…. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word." — Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • "The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression." — W.E.B. Du Bois
  • "In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute." — Thurgood Marshall, first African American U.S. Supreme Court member
  • "Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated." — Coretta Scott King
  • "Whatever we believe about ourselves and our ability comes true for us." — Susan L. Taylor, journalist
  • "Defining myself, as opposed to being defined by others, is one of the most difficult challenges I face." — Carol Moseley-Braun, politician and lawyer
  • "One day our descendants will think it incredible that we paid so much attention to things like the amount of melanin in our skin or the shape of our eyes or our gender instead of the unique identities of each of us as complex human beings." — Franklin Thomas, activist, philanthropist, and former president of the Ford Foundation
  • "My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together." —Desmond Tutu
  • "Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly." — Langston Hughes
  • "If there is no struggle, there is no progress." — Frederick Douglass
  • "The time is always right to do what is right." — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
  • "Have a vision. Be demanding." — Colin Powell
  • "Freedom is never given; it is won." — A. Philip Randolph, civil rights activist
  • "Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed." — Booker T. Washington
Martin Luther King Jr.
In this photo, American civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King (1929 - 1968) arriving at London Airport. Getty Images / J. Wilds
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