The precursor to Black History Month was created in 1926, when the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History declared the second week of February as "Negro History Week" to recognize the contributions of Black Americans to US history.
Frustrated by the lack of awareness of the Black community's accomplishments, historian Carter G. Woodson — known as the "Father of Black History" and the son of former slaves — along with other activists and civic leaders founded the Association. The organization, now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, created research and publication outlets for Black scholars, including the Journal of Negro History and the Negro History Bulletin.
"If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated," Woodson wrote in the Journal of Negro History in 1926.