Black History Month

It's a well known fact that February is the month full of pink hearts and red roses, when couples flaunt their love for one another and singles complain about the Hallmark-made holiday of Valentine's Day. But February is also a time of remembrance for people who changed the world we live in today. February is the time of Black history Month, which celebrates African Americans who put their heart and soul into changing the world for the better.

Obvious African American leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, and of course our president Barack Obama are easily praised, but there are many other African Americans who changed the world. Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a Harvard graduate, initiated the celebration of Black History Month in 1926. He was a co-founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLAH). He picked the month of February to celebrate because of two men who altered the lives of African Americans, Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

African American people came a long way from how they were mistreated in the past. The Underground Railroad and abolition was a huge milestone for African Americans. Harriet Tubman, a former slave, was the most celebrated conductor that helped many slaves escape. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln made slavery in any state illegal and freed almost 3 million slaves. 100 years later, Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous "I have a dream" speech, where he expressed how blacks and whites are equal, which was a defining moment in the civil rights movement. A year later, the Civil Rights Act gave the government more power to protect citizens against discrimination between race, sex, religion, and national origin.

Since Harriet Tubman and other African American leaders of the past, more recent ones carry on the equality. Current African American leaders include Halle Berry, who became the first African American actress to take home an Oscar; Denzel Washington who also won an Oscar for his role in Training Day; Oprah Winfrey, whose talk show became the highest rated TV show in history; and President Barack Obama, who as the first African American president, is doing his best to lead the world towards being a better place.