Ancestor Hunt > February is Black History Month

Celebrate Black History Month

The Niagara Movement

Niagara Movement Links

What is Black History Month?

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Also See: Black History Month 2006 & Black History Month 2007

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Celebrate Black History Month!

2005 National Theme: The Niagara Movement

This year's theme for Black History Month is The Niagara Movement.... In honor of the first African American meeting held to end racial discrimination.

This event took place at Niagara Falls in 1905.  2005 marks the 100th anniversary of this moment in black history.  The meeting founders are pictured in the photo at right in front of Niagara Falls.

They are:

Top row: H. A. Thompson, New York; Alonzo F. Herndon, Georgia; John Hope, Georgia; _?_.
2nd row: Fred McGhee, Minnesota; Norris Bumstead Herndon - son of Alonzo Franklin Herndon; J. Max Barber, Illinois; W. E. B. Du Bois, Atlanta; Robert Bonner, Massachusetts.
3rd Row: Henry L. Baily, Washington, D.C.; Clement G. Morgan, Massachusetts; W. H. H. Hart, Washington, D.C.; and B. S. Smith, Kansas.

Niagara Movement Links:

The Niagara Movement

The Niagara Movement - Newspaper clipping from the Cleveland Journal 8/24/1907.

The Niagara Movement - Newspaper clipping from the Cleveland Journal 12/28/1907.

Niagara Movement at Wikipedia

U.S. Civil Rights History

In February of each and every year, we celebrate Black History.  

This tradition was started by Carter G. Woodson.

He was born 1875, a son of former slaves in New Canton, Virginia.  Coming into the world just ten years after the 13th amendment was passed - abolishing slavery, he became a noted Black scholar and historian.  In 1915, he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.  On February 12, 1926, he started the first "Negro History Week".  He chose the second week of February to coincide with birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass because these men had such an impact on black history.  Until 1976, the second week in February was celebrated as Negro History Week by African Americans.  

During the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial Celebration, Negro History Week was expanded into "Black History Month" and is widely celebrated each year by Americans.

Carter G. Woodson died in April 3, 1950 but left a great legacy behind.

African American Research Possible?

Q: Just starting out with this interest, I have a novice's suspicion that I will run up against a brick wall when I reach the point in history where slavery devastated continuity in the tracking of African ancestry. Am I wrong to be a little discouraged? -- P.

A: Researching your African American ancestry is not something that is considered easy. However, in genealogy, there really are no guarantees regardless of what group you are researching. Each ethnic group will pose its own unique research obstacles.

Because you are just starting out, your initial research........

                                                                       Read the rest of this article

Finding Your African American Ancestors: A Beginner Guide

Black Roots: A Beginner's Guide to Tracing the African American Family Tree

African American Genealogy Research Links

African American Genealogy Help Links

Black History Online Records

1860 Census Slave Schedules

Slave Narratives - A large database at Ancestry.com

Census Finder - Free Census Records Online

Afrigeneas - Offers free genealogy databases of African American records.

Black Families of Alabama's Black Belt

Florida African American Roots

Georgia African American Genealogy

Afro Louisiana History and Genealogy

Mississippi African American Resources

African Americans in Missouri

People of Color in Old Tennessee

Select a state:

African American Trailblazers

Africana Heritage Project

Encyclopedia Britannica Guide to Black History

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

Retracing The Route To Freedom

Slaves and the Courts 1740-1860 at The Library of Congress

Biographies of Famous African Americans

Black History and Classical Music

Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington Papers

The Life of Harriet Tubman

Resting Places of U.S. Colored Troops

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