Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African American civil rights movement.  He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.  King is often presented as a heroic leader in the history of modern American liberalism.

A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career.  He led the 1955Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King's efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. There, he expanded American values to include the vision of a color blind society, and established his reputation as one of the greatest orators in American history.

In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other nonviolent means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and stopping the Vietnam War.

King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004;Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH QUOTES

For I am my mother's daughter, and the drums of Africa still beat in my heart. 

 ~    Mary McLeod Bethune

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the  slave.    I rise.  I rise.  I rise.  ~ Maya Angelou, "Still I Rise," And Still I Rise

For Africa to me... is more than a glamorous fact.  It is a historical truth.  No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place.  ~Maya Angelou

We should emphasize not Negro History, but the Negro in history.  What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice.  ~ Carter Woodson, 1926

This being Black History Month, I would like to ask people to celebrate the similarities and not focus on the differences between people of color and not of color.  ~Lynn Swann

The African-American experience is one of the most important threads in the American tapestry.  ~ Bill Frist

I don't want a Black History Month.  Black history is American history.  ~ Morgan Freeman

The African race is a rubber ball.  The harder you dash it to the ground, the higher it will rise.  ~ African Proverb

I am America.  I am the part you won't recognize.  But get used to me.  Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me.         ~ Muhammad Ali

You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.  ~Frederick Douglass
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

I swear to the Lord
I still can't see
Why Democracy means
Everybody but me.
~Langston Hughes

I am not tragically colored.  There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes.... Even in the helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation more or less.  No, I do not weep at the world - I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.  ~Zora Neale Hurston, How It Feels to Be Colored Me, 1928

Defining myself, as opposed to being defined by others, is one of the most difficult challenges I face.  ~Carol Moseley-Braun

  
Freedom is never given; it is won.  ~A. Philip Randolph

Black people have always been America's wilderness in search of a promised land.  ~Cornel West, "Nihilism in America," Race Matters, 1993

There is no Negro problem.  The problem is whether the American people have loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough, to live up to their own constitution.  ~Frederick Douglass

You can be up to your boobies in white satin, with gardenias in your hair and no sugar cane for miles, but you can still be working on a plantation.  ~Billie Holiday
Do not call for black power or green power.  Call for brain power.  ~Barbara Jordan

If we accept and acquiesce in the face of discrimination, we accept the responsibility ourselves and allow those responsible to salve their conscience by believing that they have our acceptance and concurrence.  We should, therefore, protest openly everything... that smacks of discrimination or slander.  ~Mary McLeod Bethune

Laundry is the only thing that should be separated by color.  ~Author Unknown

If there is no struggle, there is no progress.  ~Frederick Douglass

We are the wrong people of the wrong skin in the wrong continent and what in the hell is everybody being reasonable about?  ~June Jordan

We do not deride the fears of prospering white America.  A nation of violence and private property has every reason to dread the violated and the deprived.  ~June Jordan

No race can prosper till it learns there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.  ~Booker T. Washington

In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.  ~Booker T. Washington

The United States has been called the melting pot of the world.  But it seems to me that the colored man either missed getting into the pot or he got melted down.  ~Thurgood Marshall

It's just like when you've got some coffee that's too black, which means it's too strong.  What do you do?  You integrate it with cream, you make it weak.  But if you pour too much cream in it, you won't even know you ever had coffee.  It used to be hot, it becomes cool.  It used to be strong, it becomes weak.  It used to wake you up, now it puts you to sleep.  ~Malcolm X

Wherever there is a human being, I see God-given rights inherent in that being, whatever may be the sex or complexion.  ~William Lloyd Garrison

Racism isn't born, folks, it's taught.  I have a two-year-old son.  You know what he hates?  Naps!  End of list.  ~Dennis Leary

One day our descendants will think it incredible that we paid so much attention to things like the amount of melanin in our skin or the shape of our eyes or our gender instead of the unique identities of each of us as complex human beings.  ~Franklin Thomas

   
To live anywhere in the world today and be against equality because of race or color is like living in Alaska and being against snow.  ~William Faulkner

Racial superiority is a mere pigment of the imagination.  ~Author Unknown

Racism is not an excuse to not do the best you can.  ~Arthur Ashe

I am an invisible man.... I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - and I might even be said to possess a mind.  I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.  ~Ralph Ellison

I think there's just one kind of folks.  Folks.  ~Harper Lee

The time is always right to do what is right.  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others.... One ever feels his twoness, - an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.  ~W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk, 1903

We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.  Our abundance has brought us neither peace of mind nor serenity of spirit.  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today we know with certainty that segregation is dead.  The only question remaining is how costly will be the funeral.  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our nation is a rainbow - red, yellow, brown, black, and white - and we're all precious in God's sight.  ~Jesse Jackson, speech at Democratic National Convention, San Francisco, 17 July 1984

"We, the people."  It is a very eloquent beginning.  But when that document was completed on the seventeenth of September in 1787 I was not included in that "We, the people."  I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, just left me out by mistake.  But through the process of amendment, interpretation and court decision I have finally been included in "We, the people."  ~Barbara Jordan

Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.  Martin Luther King, Jr.

I had no idea that history was being made.  I was just tired of giving up.  ~Rosa Parks

[W]hen you first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are), and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro... when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" - then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

 I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism.  ~Oprah Winfrey

The shadow of a mighty Negro past flits through the tale of Ethiopia the shadowy and of the Egypt the Sphinx.  Throughout history, the powers of single blacks flash here and there like falling stars, and die sometimes before the world has rightly gauged their brightness.  ~W.E.B. DuBois

We black men seem the sole oasis of simple faith and reverence in a dusty desert of dollars and smartness.  ~W.E.B. DuBois


To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.  ~W.E.B. DuBois


In this country American means white.  Everybody else has to hyphenate.  ~Toni Morrison


Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.  ~Abraham Lincoln

You can not possibly have a broader basis for government than that which includes all the people, with all their rights in their hands, and with an equal power to maintain their rights.  ~William Lloyd Garrison

I am working for the time when unqualified blacks, browns, and women join the unqualified men in running our government.  ~Cissy Farenthold


Be nice to whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.  ~Desmond Tutu

 Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.  ~Abraham Joshua Heschel

Prejudices are the chains forged by ignorance to keep men apart.  ~Countess of Blessington
 

 
Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope... and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.  ~Robert F. Kennedy

The majority of the Negroes who took part in the year-long boycott of Montgomery's buses were poor and untutored; but they understood the essence of the Montgomery movement; one elderly woman summed it up for the rest.  When asked after several weeks of walking whether she was tired, she answered:  "My feet is tired, but my soul is at rest." 

~Martin Luther King, Jr.

 Even when the polls are open to all, Negroes have shown themselves too slow to exercise their voting privileges.  There must be a concerted effort on the part of Negro leaders to arouse their people from their apathetic indifference.... In the past, apathy was a moral failure.  Today, it is a form of moral and political suicide.  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.


The Negro is the child of two cultures - Africa and America.  The problem is that in the search for wholeness all too many Negroes seek to embrace only one side of their natures.  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.


As I like to say to the people in Montgomery:  "The tension in this city is not between white people and Negro people.  The tension is, at bottom, between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness."  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

 There is such a thing as the freedom of exhaustion.  Some people are so worn down by the yoke of oppression that they give up.... The oppressed must never allow the conscience of the oppressor to slumber.... To accept injustice or segregation passively is to say to the oppressor that his actions are morally right.  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.


American means white, and Africanist people struggle to make the term applicable to themselves with ethnicity and hyphen after hyphen after hyphen.  ~Toni Morrison, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, 1992


My father was a slave and my people died to build this country, and I'm going to stay right here and have a part of it, just like you.  And no fascist-minded people like you will drive me from it.  ~Paul Robeson


When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person.  There was such a glory over everything.  ~Harriet Tubman, on her first escape from slavery, 1845

I felt that one had better die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or rat in a trap.  I had already determined to sell my life as dearly as possible if attacked.  I felt if I could take one lyncher with me, this would even up the score a little bit.  ~Ida B. Wells

 As long as the colored man look to white folks to put the crown on what he say... as long as he looks to white folks for approval... then he ain't never gonna find out who he is and what he's about.  ~August Wilson, .Jr.

The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerence.  It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors, and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance.  ~Maya Angelou

 Is a civilization naturally backward because it is different?  Outside of cannibalism, which can be matched in this country, at least, by lynching, there is no vice and no degradation in native African customs which can begin to touch the horrors thrust upon them by white masters.  Drunkenness, terrible diseases, immorality, all these things have been gifts of European civilization.  ~W.E.B. DuBois

 Enslave the liberty of but one human being and the liberties of the world are put in peril.  ~William Lloyd Garrison

The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box.  As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it - whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.  ~Harper Lee

 Prejudice is the child of ignorance.  ~William Hazlitt

   

 I will always remember my delight when Mrs. Georgia Gilmore - an unlettered woman of unusual intelligence - told how an operator demanded that she get off the bus after paying her fare and board it again by the back door, and then drove away before she could get there.  She turned to Judge Carter and said:  "When they count the money, they do not know Negro money from white money."  ~Martin Luther King,  Jr.

 We did not hesitate to call our movement an army.  But it was a special army, with no supplies but its sincerity, no uniform but its determination, no arsenal except its faith, no currency but its conscience.  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
     

The problem with hatred and violence is that they intensity the fears of the white majority, and leave them less ashamed of their prejudices toward Negroes.  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

[W]e are the heirs of a past of rope, fire, and murder.  I for one am not ashamed of this past.  My shame is for those who became so inhuman that they could inflict this torture upon us.  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.


There comes a time when people get tired of being plunged into the abyss of exploitation and nagging injustice.  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.


When the Negro was completely an underdog, he needed white spokesmen.  Liberals played their parts in this period exceedingly well.... But now that the Negro has rejected his role as an underdog, he has become more assertive in his search for identity and group solidarity; he wants to speak for himself.  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.


If you will protest courageously, and yet with dignity and Christian love, when the history books are written in future generations, the historians will have to pause and say, "There lived a great people - a black people - who injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization."  This is our challenge and our overwhelming responsibility.

  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
 And so we shall have to do more than register and more than vote; we shall have to create leaders who embody virtues we can respect, who have moral and ethical principles we can applaud with enthusiasm.  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

 If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you to go on in spite of all.  And so today I still have a dream.  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH PEOPLE

NEW AND NOTEWORTHY: Martin Luther King Jr. January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968, (7 IMAGES) and I Have a Dream Address at March on Washington August 28, 1963. Washington, D.C. FULL STREAMING VIDEO

African American - Dr. Charles R. Drew, W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois, Eldridge Cleaver, Dred Scott, James Meredith at the University of Mississippi, 125th St. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Carter G. Woodson, Bessye J. Bearden, Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sr., Lewis Howard Latimer, Benjamin Banneker, Malcolm X, Althea Gibson.

African American 2 - Colonel Charles Young, 1st Vote for African Americans, Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C, Marcus Garvey, Central High School Little Rock, Arkansas, Louis Armstrong playing trumpet, Negro farmer plowing his field of four acres, Black Troops at Iwo Jima, Black Father and Child Father's Day.

	Portrait of James Weldon Johnson, James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871 – June 26, 1938) was a leading American author, poet, early civil rights activist, and prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Johnson composed the lyrics of "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing,"

George Washington Carver, full-length portrait, seated on steps (bottom center), facing front, with staff], He was born into slavery in Newton County, Marion Township, near Diamond Grove, now known as Diamond, Missouri.

Teaching the Negro recruits the use of the minie rifle, wood engraving., CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1863, NOTES: Illus. in: Harper's weekly, v. 7, 1863 March 14, p. 161

Martin Luther King and Malcolm X waiting for press conference.

Booker T. Washington, half-length portrait, seated at desk, facing right, Booker T. Washington protests Alabama's refusal to permit voting by African-Americans.

TITLE: The shackle broken - by the genius of freedom / lith. and print by E. Sachse & Co.. CALL NUMBER: PGA - Sachse--Shackle broken

A former slave, Mississippi Republican Hiram Revels, becomes first African-American U.S. Senator.

Harriet Tubman, full-length portrait, seated in chair, facing front, probably at her home in Auburn, New York. National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection.

One of a number of highly racist posters issued as part of a smear campaign against Pennsylvania gubernatorial nominee John White Geary by supporters of candidate Hiester Clymer.

Matthew Henson, America's greatest Negro explorer, went to Greenland in 1891, the quest for the North Pole was just taking form.

Sojourner Truth, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left. I sell the shadow to support the substance. African American Odyssey, Picturing African Americans in the Nineteenth Century.

He died for me!, Card showing woman symbolizing America holding wreath over dying Afro-American. From: Album varieties no. 3; The slave in 1863. Philadelphia, 1863.

Seated black soldier with pistol and jacket. Forms part of: Gladstone collection (Library of Congress). PUBLISHED: [between 1860 and 1870]

The Fifteenth Amendment and its results. Another of several large prints commemorating the celebration in Baltimore of the enactment of the Fifteenth Amendment.

The great November contest. Patriotism: versus Bummerism. The strongly racist character of the presidential campaign of 1868 is displayed

The Freedman's Bureau! An agency to keep the Negro in idleness at the expense of the white man.

"Rosa Parks Was Arrested for Civil Disobedience December 1, 1955 - Rosa Parks stood up for what she believed, or rather, sat down for what she believed.

Dred Scott, Wood engaving in 'Century Magazine', 1887.

Jack Johnson, boxer, full-length portrait, standing in ring, facing slightly right.

Frederick Douglass, CALL NUMBER: BIOG FILE - Douglass, Frederick [item] , head and shoulders, facing right.

BLACK HISTORY

The story of African Americans in the United States is one of both immeasurable suffering and soaring hope. Two and a half centuries of slavery and segregation prevented black men and women from exercising the rights of citizenship taken for granted by their white counterparts.

African Americans who fought for freedom from tyranny abroad, helping to liberate Europe from Nazi Germany in World War II, for example, returned to the United States and were denied the right to register to vote—and some were beaten or killed while attempting to do so. In much of the country, blacks were forbidden to share the same spaces—including schools, public transportation, and recreational facilities—as whites. And measures were taken to prohibit African Americans from living near whites. Nevertheless, African Americans persevered, building universities and achieving heights in all spheres of activity, from arts and entertainment to aviation and science.

It was just over a century ago, in 1909, that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was formed with the aim of abolishing segregation and discrimination in housing, education, employment, voting, and transportation and securing for African Americans their constitutional rights. The struggle for freedom was long and difficult and included, among other tactics, litigation, marches, and sit-ins. It was also almost universally nonviolent, a reflection of the spirit of the leader who came to personify the American civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Recent years have been momentous ones in the history of the United States and African Americans, years marking major anniversaries of the civil rights movement and the realization of those dreams at the highest level, with Barack Obama's election as the first African American president.

On April 4, 2008, the United States observed the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. King.

On August 28, 2008, precisely 45 years after Dr. King gave his famous I Have a Dream speech at theMarch on Washington, Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States, becoming the first African American to be nominated by a major U.S. party.

January 15, 2009, marked the 80th anniversary of Dr. King's birth. Five days later, on January 20, Americans celebrated one hard-won step in the fulfillment of his dream: Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th president of the United States.

Indeed, this event signaled the start of a new era in the civil rights movement, one in which all children can imagine the freedom to excel at anything and the possibility of being judged, to echo Dr. King, by the content of their character rather than the colour of their skin.

The struggles of the civil rights movement were further remembered on February 1, 2010, which marked the 50th anniversary of the Greensboro sit-in.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by black Americans and a time for recognizing the central role of African Americans in U.S. history. The event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted 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 around the world, including Canada and the United Kingdom, also devote a month to celebrating black history.

Controversy

Black History Month sparks an annual debate about the continued usefulness of a month dedicated to the history of one race. Several journalists argue the advantages and disadvantages of emphasizing one month of the year to promote African American History.

When Carter G. Woodson started Negro History Week, his purpose was for the history of African Americans to become considered a more significant part of American history as a whole. According to historian John Hope Franklin, Woodson “continued to express hope that Negro History Week would outlive its usefulness”. The purpose of Black History Month is to promote awareness of African American history to the general public. It is arguable that despite the opinions of several critics, Black History Month has several advantages, and to an extent, Woodson’s hopes were realized. During Black History Month, African American history is taught to thousands of students at the elementary, high school and university levels respectively. African American history is an extremely important part of American history, and it is almost impossible to find an American History textbook that does not include passages about black history. It is seldom argued that America’s youth does not at least somewhat benefit from having an annual Black History Month, however, several critics argue that the adult population now perceives the month of February from a different angle.

One argument states the question: why is black history celebrated over the shortest month of the year?  It is argued that Black History Month has become a “ready made excuse to ignore African American history for the other 11 months of the year”, thus promoting racism. Journalists argue that by dedicating a single month of the year to black history, it provokes a tendency for people to assume that black history is separate from American history. It is no secret that although racism has come a long way in the past century, prejudice is still an imposing problem on American society. Joseph Wayne states that “One month out of every year, Americans are given permission to commemorate the achievements of black people. This rather condescending view fails to acknowledge that a people and a country’s past should be nurtured and revered; instead, at this time, the past of black Americans is handled in an expedient and cavalier fashion denigrating the very people it seeks to honour”.

Other critics claim that Black History Month has become a marketing or commercialization month, providing the opportunity to advertise and sell more goods. Society is missing the “essence of Carter G. Woodson’s dream” and in many cases companies are using the commemoration month to their advantage. Black history month has somewhat lost its significance among American society as the month of February is also American Heart Month, International Boost Self-Esteem Month, International Embroidery Month, Library Lovers Month, National Cherry Month, National Children’s Dental Health Month, National Snack Food Month, and Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month. It can also be argued that Black History Month has now been diversified into the idea of promoting multiculturalism within communities, rather than promoting awareness of the history of African Americans. Whether or not this statement is true or not, Carter G. Woodson believed that black history was a missing segment in the minds of most American Historians of his day. Although racism may never be fully eliminated, Black History Month has certainly played a key role in establish African American history as historically significant part of American History.

A potential and valid, though essentially unheard of, objection that could come from Canadians is that Black History Month, aka African-American History Month, promotes American history. Rosa Parks, MLK, Malcolm X etc were all Americans living in America dealing with American problems. It can be argued that Canadians celebrating African-American History Month makes as much sense as Canadians celebrating the American Revolution or American Civil War.

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Black History Month Facts

Black history month commemorates the significant events and achievements of the African-American population of the United States. This tradition marked its beginning officially from 1976. It is celebrated in the month of February in the United States of America. It celebrates all the historic events from 1915, wherein the thirteenth amendment of the American constitution abolished slavery in the US. Here are few black history month facts, which have made a huge difference to mankind today.

Who Started Black History Month?
It was Dr Carter Woodson who started the 'Negro History Week' to focus peoples attention and bring to their notice the role and contribution of African Americans in the American history. Dr Woodson was an African American who completed his PhD from Harvard. He found the need to become the voice of African Americans who were wrongly represented and treated in early times. He founded the 'Association for the Study of Negro Life and History' in 1915, which is now known as Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History. 

Why is February Black History Month?
Considering the timeline of African American history, it was around 1926, that Dr Woodson initiated the celebration of the black history month in February. He chose this month, as February is marked by the birthdays of two great personalities of American history who had a very big influence on changing the social standing and condition of African Americans. These two personalities were former president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist Fredrick Douglass. Do you know when is black history month celebrated in other parts of the world? Well, apart from the United States, black history month is celebrated in Canada in the month of February and in the UK its celebrated in the month of October. 

Here is the list of a little known facts of Black History Month:

1.  Rapper Jay-Z allegedly developed his stage name as a reference to New York’s J/Z subway lines that have a stop in his Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, and neighborhood.

2. Martin Luther King, Jr. was stabbed by an African-American woman in 1958 while attending his book signing at Blumstein’s department store in Harlem. The next year, King and his wife visited India to study Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence.

3. As a child Muhammad Ali was refused an autograph by his idol, boxer Sugar Ray Robinson. When Ali became a prize-fighter, he vowed never to deny an autograph request, which he has honored to this day.

4.  Ella Fitzgerald had a three-octave range — a range greater than most professional Opera singers.

5. Famed guitarist Jimi Hendrix was known by close friends and family members simply as “Buster.”

6. Louis Armstrong bought his first coronet at the age of seven with money he borrowed from his employers. He taught himself to play while in a home for juvenile delinquents.

7. Due to his acclaimed “Banana Boat” song, most people assume Harry Belafonte was born in the Caribbean; in fact, the internationally renowned entertainment icon and human rights activist was born in Harlem, New York.

8. Before becoming a professional musician, Chuck Berry studied to be a hairdresser.

9. Legendary singer James Brown performed in front of a televised audience in Boston the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Brown is often given credit for preventing riots with the performance.

10. Female science fiction author Octavia Butler was dyslexic. Despite her disorder, she went on to win two Hugo awards and two Nebulas for her writing.

11. The “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson, co-wrote the single “We Are the World” with Motown legend Lionel Richie. The single became one of the best-selling singles of all time, with nearly 20 million copies sold and millions of dollars donated to famine relief in Africa.

Some Black History Month Facts for Kids

You can site examples of famous African Americans who made a contribution to the world in a way that can be understood by kids. Here are a few people that kids can relate to.

• George Washington Carver (1860-1943) - He was the guy who gave the world, the kids favorite peanut butter. So it's all because of George Washington Carver, kids today enjoy their peanut butter sandwiches so much.
• Madame C.J. Walker (1867-1919) - Was the first African American to come with haircare invention and went on to become the first self made female millionaire of North America
• Harriet Tubman (1820-1913) - She earned the name Moses, as she helped hundreds of slaves escape to the northern U.S and Canada.
• Mary Ann Shad (1823-1893) - She was the first female black lawyer and also the first female newspaper editor of the U.S. She was also the first woman to open a school in Canada that was open to all the races.
• Robert Johnson (1911-1938) - He was the famous guitarist who inspired various other artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and B.B. King.
• Jesse Owens (1913-2005) - He was the first American to have won 4 gold medals in one Olympics. He was subjected to racism all through his college life but he still stood strong and made the record of the gold medals in Berlin Olympics of 1936.
• Rosa Parks (1913-2005) - She is one of the most famous women in American history. She was the woman who stood for her rights and refused to give up a seat on the bus to a white man which sparked off the civil rights movement. Rosa Parks went to jail for her refusal but ultimately came out a winner in the case against the state.
• Jackie Robinson (1919-1972) - He was the first black player to play in Major League Baseball. Even though he had to face the wrath of people, Jackie Robinson emerged winner when he was awarded rookie of the year in his second season
• Sidney Poitier (1924) - He was the first African American to win an Academy Award for the Best Actor in 1963.
• Martin Luther King Junior (1929-1968) - One of the most influential personalities who rigidly practiced the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. Martin Luther King Jr led anti-violence demonstrations against racial discrimination, one of which was to Washington.

These are the few African Americans who made a difference by being the first in their field and paved a way for others to follow suit. Sometimes getting kids to learn these important things needs some planning of fun activities. Here are a few fun ways that will help children learn about black history month with some fun activities associated with it.