2025 THEME:
AFRICAN AMERICANS AND LABOR

This theme focuses on the various and profound ways that work and working of all kinds – free and unfree, skilled, and unskilled, vocational and voluntary – intersect with the collective experiences of Black people. Indeed, work is at the very center of much of Black history and culture.

Black History Month began in 1926 as a weekly celebration of African American history, and became a month-long observance in 1976.

February was chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

Black Resistance

A statement from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH):

Considering Black people’s work through the widest perspectives provides versatile and insightful platforms for examining Black life and culture through time and space.

In this instance, the notion of work constitutes compensated labor in factories, the military, government agencies, office buildings, public service, and private homes. But it also includes the community building of social justice activists, voluntary workers serving others, and institution building in churches, community groups, and social clubs and organizations. In each of these instances, the work Black people do and have done have been instrumental in shaping the lives, cultures, and histories of Black people and the societies in which they live.

Understanding Black labor and its impact in all these multivariate settings is integral to understanding Black people and their histories, lives, and cultures.

Celebrate the Black men and women who made history.

impact of the black lives matter movement

Black Lives Matter normalized the filming of police brutality toward Black individuals, leading to global awareness of the problem.
Black Lives Matter led to the implementation of various policy and organizational changes to policing, such as implicit bias trainings, body-worn cameras, and bans on no-knock warrants.
Black Lives Matter helped illuminate the inordinate amount of money spent on policing and civilian payouts for police brutality that come out of taxpayer pockets.
Black Lives Matter helped to inspire federal oversight for pertinent cities like Ferguson, Louisville, Baltimore, and Minneapolis.
Black Lives Matter modified data collection efforts in police academies, police departments, and the federal government to evaluate whether current policies effectively reduce racial disparities.
Black Lives Matter is etched in yellow paint on the street outside of the White House.

RESOURCEs

Safe Black Space
Umbrella under which various services are offered to address people of African ancestry’s reactions to cultural and racial trauma.

Dr. Ebony’s My Therapy Cards
Self-exploration card deck created with the intention of helping women of color grow and elevate in the areas of emotional and mental health.

Therapy for Black Girls
Online space encouraging the mental wellness of Black women and girls; referral tool to find a local therapist.

Loveland Foundation
Financial assistance to Black women and girls seeking therapy.

Therapy for Black Men
Therapist directory for Black men seeking therapy, including resources and personal stories.

National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC)
Civil rights organization dedicated to empowering Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and same-gender loving (LGBTQ+/SGL) people.

1. Black History Month was created by historian Carter G. Woodson in 1976.
2. Around 100,000 enslaved people escaped via the Underground Railroad from 1810 to 1850.
3. The first Black Senator was Hiram Rhodes Revels, representing Mississippi from 1870 to 1871.
4. Months before Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her bus seat to a White man in 1955, Claudette Colvin was arrested for doing the same.
5. Thurgood Marshall became the first Black man to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967.
6. The Black U.S. population in 1870 was 4.8 million. In 2020, it was 47 million.
7. Black entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker became America's first female self-made millionaire.
8. In 1904, George Coleman Poage became the first Black person to earn an Olympic medal.
9. The first Black astronaut in space was Guion Bluford in 1983.
10. Enslaved poet Phillis Wheatley was only 12 years old when she became the first published Black female author.

mental health & the black community

Stigma often prevents Black people from seeking treatment for mental illness. Many feel that discussions about mental health are inappropriate even among family.
Binge drinking, smoking (cigarettes and marijuana), illicit drug use and prescription pill misuse are more frequent among Black adults with mental illnesses.
Black adults are more likely to feel sadness, hopelessness, and worthlessness than White adults.
Blacks adults are less likely than White adults to die from suicide at all ages, but Black teenagers are more likely to attempt suicide than White teenagers.
Serious mental illness (SMI) rose among all ages of Black people between 2008 and 2018.
Black people hold beliefs related to stigma, psychological openness, and help-seeking, which in turn affects their coping behaviors.
Nearly 90% of Black people with a substance use disorder do not receive treatment.