DPAS: Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the Origin of African-American History Month?
2. What is the significance of the Niagara Movement?
3. What is the Origin of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day?
4. What is the origin of the African-American flag?
5. Who is Marcus Garvey?
6. What is the Black National Anthem?

The Origin of "Black History Month"

Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950), noted African-American scholar, historian, and son of former slaves, founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915, which was later renamed the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH). Dr. Woodson initiated Black History Week on February 12, 1926.

For many years the 2nd week of February (chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln) was celebrated by people of African descent in the United States. In 1976, as part of the nation's Bicentennial, the commemoration was expanded and became established as Black History Month. African-American History Month is now celebrated all over North America.

2005 Official Theme: The Niagara Movement

The Niagara Movement and the NAACP

The Niagara Movement, was founded in 1905, by a group of African-Americans, led by W. E. B. Du Bois, John Hope, and William Monroe Trotter, who called for full civil liberties, an end to racial discrimination, and recognition of human brotherhood. Their first meeting took place at Niagara Falls from July 11-14, 1905. The movement renounced Booker T. Washington's accommodation policies set forth in his 'Atlanta Compromise' speech, which he delivered in 1895. Their second meeting was held at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, the site of John Brown's raid. The group came to an end after Du Bois started supporting the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. However, the aggressive legal and moral strategy that emerged from this group would set the agenda for the modern civil rights movement of the 20th century.

Read more ...

• Oberlin (Ohio) Tribune reports on the Niagara Movement
• The Niagara Movement in History

The Origin of MLK Day

The Official theme is the same each year: "Remember! Celebrate! Act! Day On, Not A Day Off!!"

On April 8, 1968 – four days after Dr. King was assassinated – Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich) introduced the first legislation providing for a federal holiday. But that dream was not realized until nearly 20 years later

All through the 1970's and 80's controversy surrounded the idea of a Martin Luther King Day. Congresspersons and citizens had petitioned the President to make January 15, Martin Luther King's birthday, a federal legal holiday. Others wanted to make the holiday on the day he died, while others did not want to have a holiday at all.

January 15 had been observed as a legal holiday for many years in 27 states and Washington, D.C. Finally, in 1986, President Ronald Reagan declared the third Monday in January a federal legal holiday commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday. Yet, not until 1999 was the holiday celebrated by all 50 states. The holiday is celebrated in some form in 100 countries around the world.

For more information, visit the King Center for more links, a chronology of the celebration, biographical information, and much more!

What is the Origin of the African-American Flag?

Commissioned by Marcus Garvey, the "black flag" was originally the flag of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, a "back to Africa" organization of the 1920s. The red, black and green African Liberation or Black Nationalist flag is a symbol of universal African racial solidarity. The flag has three bars from top to bottom. Red represents the blood of all black people, black stands for the black race and green symbolizes land and nationhood. (Source: Chicago Public Library)

The UNIA still has about 2000 members worldwide. You can visit their website.

Marcus Garvey and His Legacy

Marcus Garvey was many things to many people. To the elite of the Harlem Renaissance, he was a buffoon. To J. Edgar Hoover, he was a dangerous activitist – so feared that Hoover hired the first African-American FBI agent solely to infiltrate the UNIA movement. But to hundreds of thousands – perhaps millions – of African people around the world he brought a message of hope, pride, organization, and unity which laid the foundation for the Black Power Movement that came later.

Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind. 90 min. Produced for The American Experience (2001). This video is rich in music and imagery, and many points of view are expressed through interviews with historians of African-American descent, Garvey's contemporaries and two sons, and former UNIA members. Available at Amazon.com.

The Black National Anthem

"Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" is the national anthem of African-Americans. Penned in 1900 by the late, great, multi-talented James Weldon Johnson, for a presentation in celebration of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln in Jacksonville, Florida, the song has endured the panoply of ethnic name changes, social movements, and political challenges. The anthem is printed below in its entirety.

LIFT EV'RY VOICE AND SING

Lift ev'ry voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring.
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list'ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast'ning rod.
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers signed?

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered.

Out from the gloomy past, Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light.
Keep us forever in the path we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee,
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, May we forever stand.
True to our God
True to our native land.

Words by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON
Music by ROSAMOND JOHNSON
Copyright by Edward M. Marks Music Col, R.C.A. Building, RadioCity, New York, N.Y.

Read more about James Weldon Johnson here.