Photo credit: Derrys Richardson
African Americans frequently bemoan that it’s just our luck to have Black History Month designated in the shortest month of the year. I laugh, but I don’t joke about that because I know the history of the observance. I remember my church in Seattle celebrating Negro History Week in the 1960s when I was a child. I learned then that back in 1926, historian Carter G. Woodson created the national time of acknowledgment of Black achievement to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln — both in the same week of February. In 1976, President Ford recognized that many of the nation’s events happened throughout the month, and mentioned Black History Month as being part of the year-long Bicentennial Celebration. Black History Month is now celebrated in many parts of the world...