Celebrating Black History Month

February 1, 2025

Every February, the United States celebrates Black History Month. During this month, we honor the contributions, accomplishments, and achievements of Black Americans throughout the history of the United States.

“The 2025 Black History Month theme, African Americans and Labor, focuses on the various and profound ways that work and working of all kinds – free and unfree, skilled, and unskilled, vocational and voluntary – intersect with the collective experiences of Black people. Indeed, work is at the very center of much of Black history and culture. Be it the traditional agricultural labor of enslaved Africans that fed Low Country colonies, debates among Black educators on the importance of vocational training, self-help strategies, and entrepreneurship in Black communities, or organized labor’s role in fighting both economic and social injustice, Black people’s work has been transformational throughout the U.S., Africa, and the Diaspora. The 2025 Black History Month theme, “African Americans and Labor,” sets out to highlight and celebrate the potent impact of this work.” Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

As we reflect on this year’s theme, our hope is that you will take time to explore, learn, and honor the legacy and contributions of Black Americans, from activists and civil rights pioneers such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks to local leaders in industry, politics, science, and culture, such as August Wilson and Charles Teenie Haris.

Additional reading below:

• Who was Harriet Tubman?
o https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/harriet-tubman
• Who was Sojourner Truth?
o https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/sojourner-truth
• Who was Marcus Garvey?
o https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/marcus-garvey
• Who was Martin Luther King Jr.?
o https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/martin-luther-king-jr
• Who was Malcolm X?
o https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/malcolm-x
• Who was Rosa Parks?
o https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/rosa-parks
• Who was August Wilson?
o https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Wilson
• Who was Charles Teenie Haris?
o https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Harris_(photographer)