Black History Month Recap: Inspiring Achievements of Black Americans

by Tiffany Kuehl

2015-02-25

What we now know as Black History Month was created in 1926 to bring attention to contributions made by black people throughout American History. Originally, the second week in February was chosen to celebrate these accomplishments due to its correlation with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Now, the celebration has been extended to the full month of February and has been recognized in the United States since 1976.

This Black History Month, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge a few of the amazing contributions made by black Americans across multiple industries.

Air & Space

Dr. Mae Jemison – First black female to enter NASA’s training program and travel in space.

Court of Law

Jane Bolin – First black female to graduate from Yale law school, join the New York City Bar Association, and join the New York City Law Department. She was also the first black woman to serve as a judge in the New York City Domestic Relations Court.

Loving v. Virginia (1967) – Richard and Mildred Loving served a year in prison for violating Virginia’s law against interracial marriage. They took their case to the Supreme Court where prohibition against interracial marriage was ruled unconstitutional, forcing all states that still prohibited it to change their laws.

Sports

Alice Coachman – Became the first black woman to win a gold medal in the 1948 London Olympics.

To learn more about these people’s amazing accomplishments (and see a few more inspiring black American’s stories) read my full post on the Performance I Create blog.

As we commemorate the life, culture, and history of Black Americans, I hope the achievements of these people (and others) inspire people from all walks of life to achieve their own dreams.

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CC image courtesy of Marlon E on Flickr.

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