By MURPHY BROWNE (Abena Agbetu)
African American scholar/historian, Carter Godwin Woodson founded Negro History Week in 1926.
The week, which eventually became Black History Month, is also known as African Heritage Month or African Liberation Month.
As we express our Kujichagulia/Self-Determination, we name the month of February as we see fit and tell our story.
The African proverb: “Until the lion has its own historian, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter” comes to mind during this month. Our history has been ignored and even distorted for centuries, since the enslavement of our ancestors.
Mutabaruka, an African Jamaican Rastafari dub poet, musician, actor, educator and talk-show host, has famously said: “Slavery isn’t African history. It Interrupted African history.”
Although slavery is not the entirety of African history or the history of the descendants of enslaved Africans, it has had a profound effect on us as a people. The enslavement of Africans whose descendants live in every corner of the earth are affected by the 400-year enslavement of their ancestors.
Carter Godwin Woodson was an African American historian, author and journalist. He was one of the first scholars to study African American history. He founded the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) on September 9, 1915, to address the lack of information on the history, culture and accomplishments of African Americans.
The effects of 400 years of enslavement still haunt us almost 115 years after Woodson launched the ASALH. Woodson made the documentation and promotion of the history of Africans his life’s work. He wrote and published 19 books about African history and culture. His most popular book is “The Mis-education of the Negro,” which was published in 1933 in which he addresses a problem that plagues our community to this day:
“When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his ‘proper place’ and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.”
Woodson was also a regular contributor to the publication of another African descendant who was very passionate about educating Africans about their history. Woodson frequently wrote articles for the weekly publication “Negro World” which was owned by The Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey. The two men shared similar values and thoughts on the condition – and how to improve the lot – of Africans “at home and abroad”.
Woodson launched Negro History Week during the second week of February 1926, to honour Frederick Douglass.
The history of Africans in Canada has been recognized and celebrated since the 1950s when the Canadian Negro Women’s Association began the celebration of the community’s history in Canada. This work was continued by the efforts of Stan Grizzle and the Ontario Black History Society (OBHS) which led to the recognition province-wide in 1979 of February as Black History Month.
In December 1995, Canada’s federal parliament officially recognized February as Black History Month. The motion, which was initiated by then Member of Parliament Jean Augustine, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, received unanimous approval.
Dr. Augustine was the first African Canadian woman elected, in 1993, to the Canadian Federal Parliament in its then 126-year history (established July 1, 1867).
The first national observation of February as Black History Month in Canada was in 1996.
The Canadian government unveiled the theme for Black History Month 2025 on January 21, Lincoln Alexander Day. The theme is: “Black Legacy and Leadership: Celebrating Canadian History and Uplifting Future Generations.”
There has been an African presence (enslaved and free) in Canada even before the country was named Canada. The first documented person of African descent to arrive in Canada is Mathieu DaCosta, in the 1600s. He was part of the 1603 expedition of French explorer Samuel de Champlain, as an interpreter for the French with the Mi’kmaq people. First launched in 1996, the “Mathieu Da Costa Challenge” is a national contest for youth ages 9 to 18.
The history of the enslavement of Africans in this country began in 1628 with the documented sale of six-year-old Olivier LeJeune in Quebec and ended on August 1, 1834, when slavery was abolished.
The child who was sold in Quebec and given the name Olivier LeJeune was an African child who was kidnapped from the African continent. He was sold by David Kirke who was one of the English privateering Kirke brothers. During his life of enslavement in Quebec Olivier LeJeune was sold several times. He was buried on May 10, 1654, when he was approximately 32 years old.
Enslaved Africans were not known for their longevity.
We have come a long way since the days when Dr. Woodson established “Negro History Week.” During this month whether we name it Black History Month, African History Month or African Liberation Month we need to recognize and commemorate the global history of Africans.
The theme for Black History Month 2025 is: “Black Legacy and Leadership: Celebrating Canadian History and Uplifting Future Generations.”
Let us do that.
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