This February, America will recognize its 37th annual Black History Month. The significance of the month may not be noticed by some, but the month offers substantial importance to not only Black people, but everyone.

Beginning in February 1986, President Ronald Raegan passed a law officiating Black History Month stating that the month would “mark the beginning of the sixtieth annual public and private salute to Black History.” This sixtieth annual public and private salute is an allusion to “Negro History Week,” which began in 1926 by Historian, Carter G Woodson.

What many may not know is that before becoming a month-long observance, President Ford observed “Black History Week” in 1976, the height of the “Black Power” movement. Ford observed the week with hopes that it would “recognize the important contribution made to our nation’s life and culture by black citizens.”

During the 1970s, a time where racism was brought to the forefront of society, it was important for the nation to address the matter of recognition as it is today. Black people have made significant contributions to society economically and through pop culture, but the most substantial contributions lie within history. 

Despite being substantial, Black history still only makes up a small portion of history-course curriculum. In the report, “Research into the State of African American History and Culture in K-12 Public Schools” conducted by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, 8-9 percent of the history-course curriculum contains Black history.

Teaching Black history gives students the opportunity to learn morals that America prides itself on, such as independence, and the principle of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. What better way is there to teach those morals than the Emancipation Proclamation and the 14th and 15th Amendments?

The struggle of Black people throughout history is indisputable, but the wars, movements, and prominent figures who helped lessen these struggles is what makes Black history so prominent to today’s society.

“Black History is the story of how Black Americans gave their all to a country that gave them nothing, and they should always be remembered,” said senior and Black Student Union President Nyla Taylor.

Some could argue that part of the prominence of Black history is that it opened up the floodgates for other minority groups to begin their own fight for rights. For example, the women’s suffrage movement was “the offspring of abolition,” according to the National Parks Service.

In the very same article written by the National Parks Service, they state that “Several participants in the 1848 First Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls had already labored in the anti-slavery movement.” 

In 1869, the 15th Amendment was passed, which gave Black men the right to vote after the Civil War. This gave women the fuel they needed to strengthen their own fight for voting rights.

According to PBS, Suffragist leaders such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony campaigned against their lack of voting rights which resulted into two groups, the National Woman Suffrage Association, and the American Suffrage Association, who would later combine to become the National Woman’s Suffrage Association.

White women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony are historically recognized for their contributions to the movement; however, prominent Black women were on the forefront of the fight as well. Less recognized figures such as Maria W. Stewert and Sojourner Truth contributed heavily to the movement, one way being with the “Ain’t I a Woman” speech Truth gave at a National Women’s Rights Convention, which was later adapted into a book.

The reason why Stewart and Truth are less recognized is another reason why Black History month is so important. It’s vital to realize that many depictions of Black people in history books are through the white perspective, only increasing the value of the archives we have today from black people themselves. Works such as “The Narrative of Frederick Douglass” and Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech are notable examples of these archives.

For these reasons and more, Black history should be valued for its significance and impact it has on people of all races. The underrepresentation of accomplishments made by Black people is exactly why Black History Month exists today, but it’s not to be forgotten that Black history is American history.