Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Also known as African American History Month, the event’s origins trace back to historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. Other countries worldwide, including Canada and the United Kingdom, also devote a month to celebrating Black history.
In February, Zane State College will acknowledge the achievements and contributions of African Americans throughout history and the current day.
Maya Angelou
An acclaimed American poet, storyteller, activist, and autobiographer, Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri. Angelou had a broad career as a singer, dancer, actress, composer, and Hollywood’s first female black director, but became famous as a writer, editor, essayist, playwright, and poet. As a civil rights activist, Angelou worked for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. She was also an educator and served as the Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University.
By 1975, wrote Carol E. Neubauer in Southern Women Writers: The New Generation, Angelou was recognized “as a spokesperson for… all people who are committed to raising the moral standards of living in the United States.” She served on two presidential committees, for Gerald Ford in 1975 and Jimmy Carter in 1977. In 2000, Angelou was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Bill Clinton. In 2010, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S., by President Barack Obama. Angelou was awarded over 50 honorary degrees before her death.
Maya Angelou’s Alone is a poem about loneliness and togetherness, a ‘thinking out loud’ reflection on vulnerability and community ‘Nobody, but nobody, can make it out here alone.’ Though written in 1975, it resonates with the alone/together experiences we’ve all lived through during the pandemic. Please enjoy Alone Together – an intimate portrait of a world in lockdown, with a voiceover by Dr. Maya Angelou’s son, Guy Johnson: https://youtu.be/2X4St5kjQcc.
To read more about Maya Angelou and her legacy, visit https://www.mayaangelou.com/.
Sources: www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/maya-angelou, www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-history-month, and photo credit – https://www.flickr.com/photos/garysoup/3699353305.
FAQs
Black History Month was first proposed by Black educators and the Black United Students at Kent State University in February 1969. The first celebration of Black History Month took place at Kent State one year later, in February 1970.
What colleges did Maya Angelou attend? ›
Maya Angelou did not go to college. After completing high school, Marguerite Annie Johnson gave birth to her only son, and in 1951, she married Tosh Angelos. Around this time, Johnson was studying modern dance in San Francisco, and she spent a year in New York studying African dance with Pearl Primus.
How did Maya Angelou impact Black History Month? ›
Louis, Missouri, Maya Angelou is an icon of resilience, wisdom, and artistic brilliance. She left an indelible mark on literature, civil rights, as well as the hearts of those she touched. Black History Month honors the strong spirit of a woman whose impact on global culture transcends literature—Maya Angelou.
How many honorary degrees did Maya Angelou have? ›
In 2010, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S., by President Barack Obama. Angelou was awarded over 50 honorary degrees before her death.
Who was the first black woman to go to college? ›
1862: Mary Jane Patterson, a teacher, graduates with a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College. She is considered the first African-American woman to earn a bachelor's degree. 1863: Daniel A. Payne, a historian, educator, and minister, becomes the founder and first black president of Wilberforce University in Ohio.
Who was the first black person to go to Harvard? ›
Until now, most frequently cited as the first Black students at Harvard are David Laing, Jr., Isaac H. Snowden, and Martin R. Delany, who were admitted to the Harvard Medical School in November 1850.
Why is Maya Angelou so important to history? ›
A poet, singer, autobiographer, and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou inspires us with both the beauty and the call to action of her words. Her most famous work is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, an autobiography about her childhood. The book is a testament to the need for resilience in the face of discrimination.
Why is Maya Angelou important to Women's History Month? ›
African American memoirist, well-known poet, and civil rights activist was Ms. Maya Angelou. She is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning more than 50 years in addition to seven autobiographies, three books of essays, and several books of poetry.
Why did Maya Angelou go mute? ›
Returning to her mother's care briefly at the age of seven, Angelou was raped by her mother's boyfriend. He was later jailed and then killed when released from jail. Believing that her confession of the trauma had a hand in the man's death, Angelou became mute for six years.
Who is Maya Angelou's son? ›
In 2014, Angelou received a lifetime achievement award from the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials as part of a session billed "Women Who Move the Nation". Three weeks after completing school, at the age of 17, she gave birth to her son, Clyde (who later changed his name to Guy Johnson).
Answer and Explanation: Maya Angelou received many awards for her writing, but she was NOT the recipient of a Nobel Prize.
What is the first historically black college? ›
On February 25, 1837, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania became the nation's first Historically Black College and University (HBCU).
Who first celebrated Black History Month? ›
Carter G. Woodson was a scholar whose dedication to celebrating the historic contributions of Black people led to the establishment of Black History Month, marked every February since 1976.
What was the first college to have Black Studies? ›
The first Black Studies department and first and only College of Ethnic Studies was founded at San Francisco State in 1968 only after a 5-month long student and community strike, the longest student strike in university history, initiated by the Black Student Union and organized in partnership with the Third World ...
What was the first college to allow black students? ›
In any event, there were Blacks attending colleges before Oberlin passed its resolution in 1835; nevertheless, Oberlin was the first college to admit students without respect to race as a matter of official policy.
