The North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) recently announced that Travel’n On Radio Show won first place in the 2009 annual awards competition in the travel broadcast category.  NATJA Awards recognize excellence in travel writing, photojournalism and multimedia platforms. This awards competition, now in its 18th year, honors travel journalists, publications and destination marketing organizations.  Winners will be presented with their awards at the annual NATJA conference May 11-14, 2010 in Reno, Nevada.

Hosts Ian and Tonya Fitzpatrick were notified of their award while they were in Vancouver covering the 2010 Olympic Games.  ”The recognition from NATJA is huge for us and it validates our mission of providing compelling travel journalism,” stated Ian Fitzpatrick.  “This is indeed an honor.”  Tonya Fitzpatrick exclaimed, “We feel that we’re bringing home a Gold Medal of our own from these Olympic Games!”  

Travel’n On Radio is a weekly syndicated digital show that celebrates responsible travel, culture and heritage.  Each week listeners are treated to substantive and entertaining discussions between the Fitzpatricks and notable guests.  Past guests have included David Rockefeller, Jr., director Ken Burns, Stefanie Powers and many other newsmakers and celebrities.

The buzz of the Winter Games is far from over in Whistler as the resort prepares to welcome the world at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, March 12-21, 2010.

More than 95 per cent of the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games will be held in Whistler - Host Mountain Resort for the 2010 Winter Games - including three sports (alpine skiing, biathlon and cross-country skiing) representing 62 of the 64 medal events. Tickets for Paralympic events are available, starting at just $15, and can be purchased at http://www.vancouver2010.com/.

The 2010 Paralympic Winter Games bring an unprecedented opportunity for Whistler to build substantially on its international reputation as an accessible destination, and grow visitation from the people with disabilities.

At the same time as these Games are happening, there are no travel restrictions on the Sea to Sky Highway, four day lots are reopened for free public parking, Whistler Blackcomb is more than 90 per cent open for skiing and snowboarding, and there are great ski and stay packages available on whistler.com.Starting Wednesday, March 10 at 12 noon Pacific Standard Time, the first 200 people to call 1-800-WHISTLER to book a room in Whistler during the Paralympics will receive two free tickets for a Paralympic cross-country, biathlon, or alpine skiing event. This offer applies to reservations arriving between Friday, March 12 and Saturday, March 20. Rooms are available beginning at $179 CDN per night, based on double occupancy.

Whistler will be brimming with energy and excitement during the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games with WhistlerLive! - the arts and culture component to the Games which kept both locals and visitors entertained during February’s Olympic Winter Games - once again lighting up the village with concerts, live art, kids’ programs and a spectacular Fire & Ice Remix with international DJs every evening. Both Village Square and Whistler Medals Plaza will host renowned performers including Spirit of the West, The Trews, Kathleen Edwards, The Weakerthans, Serena Ryder, The Paperboys, 54-40 and The Sadies.

For the first time in Winter Games history, the closing ceremony for the Paralympic Winter Games will be held outside the host city (in this case, Vancouver). The ceremony takes place at Whistler Medals Plaza in the heart of the Village on March 21.

During the Paralympic Winter Games, the Dubh Linn Gate pub will play host to the Whistler Adaptive Sports House. Located in Skiers’ Plaza near the base of Whistler Mountain - and noted as one of the resort’s favourite spots for après ski - the Dubh Linn Gate will serve as a Games-time gathering place for athletes, volunteers and any visitors to Whistler, but also a place where the Whistler Adaptive Sports Program will raise awareness and funds to create a new sports centre in Whistler for athletes with disabilities.And with up to 60 cm of fresh snow in the forecast this week, skiers and boarders are reminded of enhanced access during March:

•·    Parking Lots 1, 2, 3 & 6 now open to public (free)
•·    Creekside Gondola is now open (with VANOC priority upload until March 21)
•·    Hours of operations extended: 8:30 am - 4:00 pm with the last upload at 4:00 pm.
•·    Whistler runs now open: Raven, Ptarmigan, Wild Card, Jimmy’s Joker, Bear Cub and Crabapple.
•·    Blackcomb runs now open: Springboard, Lower Cruiser and Lower Gear Jammer.

Tens of thousands of spectators enjoyed events and celebrations in Whistler during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in February, and approximately 3.5 billion people around the world enjoyed spectacular images of the resort on their televisions and online. The Olympic Winter Games were a runaway success as a tourism experience, and further cemented Whistler’s reputation as one of the world’s must-visit resort destinations.   

After a very restful night we arrived back at the British Columbia International Media Center (BCMC) wide-eyed, bushy tailed and ready for a full day of work.  The challenge of working as media is that we often don’t have the opportunity to really enjoy the events that we’re covering.  However, this trip has been the exception and we have been having a lot of fun!

This day started with a press conference that was attended by the British Columbia Premier, Gordon Campbell.  We will introduce you to the Premier on an upcoming show.  We walked around some more–trying to take advantage of the wonderful weather here and we met a few more journalists, including a transplant from Tennessee who has written a delightful book entitled, Why I Love Vancouver.

We finished the evening at a local (chain) restaurant called Joey.  They served a wonderful Malbec wine which we enjoyed with a platter of fish tacos.  The lounge was filled with Canadians who chanted and cheered their fellow countrymen on.

Tomorrow we hope to begin a bit earlier so that we can make arrangements for interviews and travel to Whistler.  This city is so alive and…so are we!

After several flight cancellations from Washington DC we finally arrived in Vancouver at 11:15pm on Saturday evening, February 13, 2010.  Regrettably we missed the Opening Ceremony but in our short time here we have experienced a wonderful flavor of cultural diversity and national spirit.   We have been to Vancouver many times and each time our feeling about this city and our experience here is very special.

After obtaining our media credentials at the British Columbia International Media Center (BCMC) in Robson Square, Vancouver, we went on a walk about.  We’ve been to Vancouver many times but the Olympics has brought a positive and exciting energy to the city.  With over 250,000 visitors there is a bit of chaos that comes with large crowds but it is a civilized chaos.  Everyone is enjoying the Olympic experience and, for those of us who have traveled from a winter wonderland, we are enjoying the mild temperature and sunshine.  (We’ve spotted many people in tee-shirts, shorts and flip flops.  It truly is not that warm–maybe an average of 50 degrees farenheit, but for some it may be more like summer.)

Robson Square is the heart of the city and the location where all of the outdoor activities are taking place.  We are headquartered in the BCMC at Robson Square and are, thus, in the mix of major activities from the outdoor skating rink to the urban zip line and many cultural activities.   Only a few blocks away on the Waterfront is the Olympic Flame that sits ablaze on an artistic structure with the majestic snow-capped mountains as its backdrop.  Throughout the streets there are hundreds of snowboard looking structures that have been transformed into artistic features (similar to the many elephant and donkey artworks seem through the streets of Washington DC).

Our first Olympic day through downtown also provided some comic relief.  As we traveled through downtown Vancouver we came across the expansive motorcade of Vice President Joe Biden as he headed toward the figure skating venue.  One gentleman from England couldn’t believe the size of the motorcade and he remarked, “All this for one bloke?  Is this carbon neutral?!?”  That put a smile on the faces of many people who became annoyed at the long wait along the street they were forced to endure.

Now our station in the Media Center isn’t without multiple perks and enjoyment.  We’ve met several journalist–some from DC–and we’ve sat in on a few press conferences, including one with the Canadian women’s modul team.  We were also treated to a tasting of West Coast oysters from various Canadian provinces.  There are multiple video feeds throughout the center so we have advance notices on medal winners and qualifiers.

All in all our first day was very eventful and we are enjoying the experience.  Follow us here for daily updates or find us on Facebook or twitter @WorldFootprints and we invite you to view our slide show from Day One.

Thaipusam took place on January 30, on the full moon in the month of Thai in the Tamil calendar, which lands in the month of January or February.  More than 1.6 million devotees and visitors gathered at the Batu Caves in Malaysia to celebrate this religious holiday and cleanse their bodies of sin. The festival is celebrated in several states, including Selangor, Penang, Perak, Negri Sembilan and Johor

Thaipusam is a Hindu religious festival where devotees praise Murugan, the God of War. Worshippers pierce their cheeks with vels, or long and shinny steel rods; pierce their backs and chest with hook-like needles; and carry large kavadis, or ornate frames as acts of devotion and penance. While some worshippers slip into a trance, others walk quietly while reciting prayers.  This annual religious holiday draws the largest gathering in multi-racial Malaysia, more than one million devotees.

Thaipusam is by far one of the most significant and unique cultural celebrations in Malaysia celebrated by Hindus.  Every year, hundreds of thousands of people march to temples in unison and peace.   Among those people, you can spot hundreds of devotees, often with piercings on their upper body and face, carrying Kavadis (metal structures) on their shoulders.  There’s dancing and colorful decorations everywhere.  People of all religions and cultures join in this splendid celebration.

Worshippers flock to one of the world’s most popular Hindu shrines at the Batu Caves, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. The shrine is dedicated to Murugan and is the focal point for Thaipusam in Malaysia. Devotees must climb a steep flight 272 steps before reaching the temple.  The Batu Caves has a ‘Cathedral Cave’ that rises more than 300 feet above the ground and is decked out with ornate Hindu shrines.

Source: Tourism Malyasia

Each of the 23 stunning wood podiums used 

at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and 

Paralympic Games tells a unique story 

of the people and communities of British 

Columbia.

The podiums are built from 18 distinct wood types, 

and the wood for each podium was harvested and donated from a specific 

area in the province. Donors include family run woodlots, First Nations, 

communities, small business and world leaders in sustainable forest products.

The podiums provide insight to British 

Columbia’s culture and geography, 

including the 10,000-year history of 

First Nations, forests managed by local 

communities and the importance of forestry 

to the Province’s economy.

Profiles for each of the 23 podiums, including the community, donor and 

wood type are posted at www.for.gov.bc.ca/mof/Olympics/podiums.

The wood podiums highlight the importance of forestry in British 

Columbia. The province is a global leader in sustainable 

forest management and the world’s largest exporter of softwood 

lumber, paper and bio-energy products that help mitigate climate 

change and provide innovative solutions to green building and 

energy needs.

If you booked or were planning to book your Vancouver accommodations aboard the NCL Star, please note that the organizers have cancelled the cruise ship as of a few minutes ago.   Refunds will be available to anyone who booked their accommodations aboard this ship and instructions follow. 

There are other options available for accommodation - like vacation rentals - so those who are seeking last minute accommodations or alternative accommodations should visit:   www.2010destinationplanner.com.

February 2, 2010. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is with regret that Newwest

tammy van dyke is a “serial entrepreneur” and humanitarian who’s greatest passion is sharing the hope of jesus.  in 2001, tammy co-founded world hope missions, a faith-based organization dedicated to helping women and child around the world. to date, world hope missions has helped bring clean water to remote villages, provided food and clothing to communities in need and has helped create small business opportunities for poverty-stricken families. 

Tammy was featured on the january 26, 2010 broadcast of our radio show as a ”travel angel.”  we applaud her for her generous heart, global citizenry and for the legacy of positive footprints she is leaving.  

Americans have recognized black history annually since 1926, first as “Negro History Week” and later as Black History Month and we greatly owe the celebration of this month of Black Heritage, more so, the study of black history to Dr. Carter G. Woodson.  The Harvard scholar was disturbed to find that history books largely ignored the black American population-and when blacks were depicted, they were reflected as socially inferior and stero-typed in a very uncomplimentary fashion.  Today, thanks to Dr. Woodson and others the historical story of how the month-long celebration of African-Americans came about is amazing and inspirational.

During Black History Month, there are many lesser known sites around the country where you can celebrate the month in a unique way.  The African-American Heritage Trail is quite long and the short list that follows doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of the attractions you can visit.

ALABAMA 

What better place to visit and learn about Civil Rights during Black History Month than “ground zero” for the Civil Rights Movement Alabama. The Alabama Tourism Department has produced a Civil Rights Trail brochure that includes Montgomery, Selma, Birmingham and Tuskegee. Each with their unique story.

FLORIDA

The L.B Brown House is located in beautiful Bartow, Florida, and in 2001 was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Having been built in the 1800’s by former slave Lawrence B. Brown, it contains nine rooms and is 1700 sq. ft. The structure is perhaps the only one of its kind in Florida that was built and owned by a former slave. The L.B. Brown House is now used as a museum to help educate the public about the significant contributions made by African-Americans to Florida history.

In honor of Black History Month, Tallahassee, Florida is hosting THE KINSEY COLLECTION: Shared Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey, Where Art and History Intersect.  The extraordinary exhibit, showcasing more than 90 rare books, sculptures, paintings, documents, manuscripts and vintage photographs, tells the story of African Americans in the Americas from 1632 to present. The collection is on display at The Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science in Florida’s Capital City now through March 23, 2010, before traveling to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

MARYLAND  

Maryland’s Eastern Shore, celebrates two of America’s greatest abolistionist heroes–Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass.  Both were born on the Eastern Shore, held as slaves on there, and each returned as free people to help others.  Talbot, Dorchester and Caroline Counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore highlights the history of the abolitionist movement and these two great heroes. 

Baltimore, Maryland has been the site of many significant historical events that helped pave the way for our country’s first African American president. As the birthplace of our national anthem, the city of Baltimore is no stranger to firsts. Home to the first African American Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall, visitors have the opportunity to extend their inauguration experience into a learning vacation with a wide variety of historical attractions including the National Great Blacks In Wax Museum, the country’s first wax museum for African American history; the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture; and the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park Museum, site of the nation’s first African American-owned shipyard.

MISSISSIPPI 

The Corinth Contraband Camp and is located in Corinth, Mississippi. A part of the National Park Service’s Shiloh National Military Park, the Contraband Site is called the Birthplace of Freedom. Around the time of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, many slaves in the Deep South heard that Corinth was occupied by Federal soldiers. These African-Americans sought freedom in Corinth under the security of the Army. Federal General Grenville Dodge understood what effect the defection of thousands of African-Americans would have on the Confederate war effort. He began to enlist the escaped slaves, who came into his lines as teamsters, cooks and laborers. He actively recruited male refugees, armed them, and put them in charge of security at the newly organized camp. Dodge’s refugee administrative efforts led to the formation of the 1st Alabama Infantry Regiment of African Descent, consisting of approximately 1000 men. The Corinth Camp resembled a small town, complete with a church, commissary, hospital, both frame and log houses, and a street grid with named streets and numbered houses. An American Missionary School operated where eager students of all ages sought knowledge day and night. Today, a portion of this camp has been set aside to commemorate the events which changed the lives of so many
people.

MISSOURI (Independence)

The 1827 Log Courthouse, 107 W. Kansas Avenue , for many years the only Courthouse between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean . This building was constructed by slave Samuel Shepherd and its sturdy walnut timbers served for a time as the courtroom by Administrative Judge Harry Truman before he became President of the United States.  The courthouse is closed November-March for the winter.There is no phone at the courthouse, but information is available by calling Tourism at 816-325-7111 or toll free at 800-748-7323.

The 1859 Jail, 217 N. Main, which operated as the county jail from pre-Civil War time through 1910. The jail was also built by noted slaves who were master stonemasons. The 2 foot thick limestone walls housed famous guerillas such as William Clark Quantrill of Quantrill’s Raiders, Southern sympathizers during the Civil War and famous outlaws like Frank James, brother of Jesse James, and a leader of the James Gang. Phone 816-252-1892.

Woodlawn Cemetery on Noland Road is the final resting place of many prominent black citizens of Independence.

The Second Baptist Church, 116 E. White Oak Avenue, is said to be the oldest African-American church in Missouri. The church was organized in 1864 by a group that first met in 1861 in a one-room house. (Not open for tours).

The National Frontier Trails Museum, 318 W. Pacific, which, in addition to major displays about the westward trails, mountain men and trappers, houses an exhibit of interest entitled: “I Remain Your Affectionate Wife.”  The exhibit spotlights seven original letters to a free black man who followed the California trail. The Gold Rush captured the imagination of the entire nation. Thousand of enterprising people filled with hopes and dreams of wealth migrated to California to “strike it rich”. Among these emigrants was David Brown, an African-American who settled in California. Left behind in Ohio was his wife, Rachel Brown. In these extraordinary letters, she describes her life without her man, her loneliness, and her hopes for a future life with David. Sadly, David and Rachel were never re-united.

The Truman Presidential Museum and Library, 500 U.S. 24 Highway, offers a glimpse into modern black history in a permanent exhibit where the desegregation of the armed forces is explored. One of the interactive “decision theaters” also includes a segment which explains Truman’s actions in pursuing desegregation, an act which was highly controversial at the time. Museum admission: $8 adults, $7 seniors, $3 youth, under 6 free. 816-268-8200 

NEW YORK 

Philipsburg Manor, in Sleepy Hollow, NY, is the country’s only fully staffed living history museum that focuses on the history of northern slavery. 

OHIO 

On Cleveland, Ohio’s Public Square, the Soldiers and Sailors Monument (honoring those who fought in the Civil War) is nearing the completion of a $2 million refurbishment.  In the next couple of weeks we will be re-installing the “broken shackles of slavery” held by Lincoln while he “arms” a freed slave all of which is depicted on one of the interior reliefs.

Ohio is home to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and several other Black History-related attractions. It covers a wide range of topics from slavery and the Underground Railroad to genealogy. General admission is $12, children 6-12 are $8, children under 6 are free. You can check out some of the other sites at Passage to Freedom. These include Harriet Beecher Stowe’s house, also in Cincinnati, and free.

VIRGINIA 

Robert Russa Moton Museum, Farmville, VA: Developing museum and historic site is housed in the original building and grounds of R.R. Moton High School where in 1951 the student body walked out to protest unequal conditions. The resulting lawsuit became part of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case. The museum is the key point of another developing attraction in Virginia, the Civil Rights in Education Heritage Trail.

The American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar, Richmond, VA: This fairly new museum is the only Civil War museum to explore that war from three equal perspectives - Union, Confederate and African-American. It contains one of the finest collections of African-American Civil War artifacts in existence. 

 By Daryl Michael Scott for ASALH at www.asalh.org

The story of Black History Month begins in Chicago during the late summer of 1915. An alumnus of the University of Chicago with many friends in the city, Carter G. Woodson traveled from Washington, D.C. to participate in a national celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of emancipation sponsored by the state of Illinois.  Thousands of African Americans traveled from across the country to see exhibits highlighting the progress their people had made since the destruction of slavery.  Awarded a doctorate in Harvard three years earlier, Woodson joined the other exhibitors with a black history display.

Despite being held at the Coliseum, the site of the 1912 Republican convention, an overflow crowd of six to twelve thousand waited outside for their turn to view the exhibits. Inspired by the three-week celebration, Woodson decided to form an organization to promote the scientific study of black life and history before leaving town.  On September 9th, Woodson met at the Wabash YMCA with A. L. Jackson and three others and formed the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH).

Carter G. Woodson believed that publishing scientific history would transform race relations by dispelling the wide-spread falsehoods about the achievements of Africans and peoples of African descent.  He hoped that others would popularize the findings that he and other black intellectuals would publish in The Journal of Negro History, which he established in 1916.  As early as 1920, Woodson urged black civic organizations to promote the achievements that researchers were uncovering.  A graduate member of Omega Psi Phi, he urged his fraternity
brothers to take up the work. In 1924, they responded with the creation of Negro History and Literature Week, which they renamed Negro Achievement Week.  Their outreach was significant, but Woodson desired greater impact.  As he told an audience of Hampton Institute students, “We are going back to that beautiful history and it is going to inspire us to greater achievements.”  In 1925, he decided that the Association had to shoulder the responsibility.  Going forward it would both create and  popularize knowledge about the black past. He sent out a press release announcing Negro History Week in February, 1926.

Woodson chose February for reasons of tradition and reform.  It is commonly said that Woodson selected February to encompass the birthdays of two great Americans who played a prominent role in shaping black history, namely Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, whose birthdays are the 12th and the 14th, respectively.  More importantly, he chose them for reasons of tradition.  Since Lincoln’s assassination in 1865, the black community, along with other Republicans, had been celebrating the fallen President’s birthday.  And since the late 1890s, black communities across the country had been celebrating Douglass’.  Well aware of the pre-existing celebrations, Woodson built Negro History Week around traditional days of commemorating the black past.  He was asking the public to extend their study of black history, not to create a newtradition.  In doing so, he increased his chances for success.

Yet Woodson was up to something more than building on tradition. Without saying so, he aimed to reform it from the study of two great men to a great race.  Though he admired both men, Woodson had never been fond of the celebrations held in their honor. He railed against the “ignorant spellbinders” who addressed large, convivial gatherings and displayed their lack of knowledge about the men and their contributions to history.  More importantly, Woodson believed that history was made by the people, not simply or primarily by great men.  He envisioned the study and celebration of the Negro as a race, not simply as the producers of a great man. And Lincoln, however great, had not freed the slaves—the Union Army, including hundreds of thousands of black soldiers and sailors, had done that. Rather than focusing on two men, the black community, he believed, should focus on the countless black men and women who had contributed to the advance of human civilization.

From the beginning, Woodson was overwhelmed by the response to his call.  Negro History Week appeared across the country in schools and before the public.  The 1920s was the decade of the New Negro, a name given to the Post-War I generation because of its rising racial pride and consciousness.  Urbanization and industrialization had brought over a million African Americans from the rural South into big cities of the nation.  The expanding black middle class became participants in and consumers of black literature and culture. Black history clubs sprang up, teachers demanded materials to instruct their pupils, and progressive whites stepped and endorsed the efforts.

Woodson and the Association scrambled to meet the demand.  They set a theme for the annual celebration, and provided study materials—pictures, lessons for teachers, plays for historical performances, and posters of important dates and people.  Provisioned with a steady flow of knowledge, high schools in progressive communities formed Negro History Clubs.  To serve the desire of history buffs to participate in the re-education of black folks and the nation, ASNLH formed branches that stretched from coast to coast.  In 1937, at the urging of Mary McLeod Bethune, Woodson established the Negro History Bulletin, which focused on the annual theme. As black populations grew, mayors issued Negro History Week proclamations, and in cities like Syracuse progressive whites joined Negro History Week with National Brotherhood Week.

Like most ideas that resonate with the spirit of the times, Negro History Week proved to be more dynamic than Woodson or the Association could control.  By the 1930s, Woodson complained about the intellectual charlatans, black and white, popping up everywhere seeking to take advantage of the public interest in black history.  He warned teachers not to invite speakers who had less knowledge than the students themselves.  Increasingly publishing houses that had previously ignored black topics and authors rushed to put books on the market and in the schools.  Instant experts appeared everywhere, and non-scholarly works appeared from “mushroom presses.” In America, nothing popular escapes either commercialization or eventual trivialization, and so Woodson, the constant reformer, had his hands full in promoting celebrations worthy of the people who had made the history.

Well before his death in 1950, Woodson believed that the weekly celebrations—not the study or celebration of black history–would eventually come to an end.  In fact, Woodson never viewed black history as a one-week affair.  He pressed for schools to use Negro History Week to demonstrate what students learned all year.  In the same vein, he established a black studies extension program to reach adults throughout the year.  It was in this sense that blacks would learn of their past on a daily basis that he looked forward to the time when an annual celebration would no longer be necessary. Generations before Morgan Freeman and other advocates of all-year commemorations, Woodson believed that black history was too important to America and the world to be crammed into a limited time frame.  He spoke of a shift from Negro History Week to Negro History Year.

In the 1940s, efforts began slowly within the black community to expand the study of black history in the schools and black history celebrations before the public.  In the South, black teachers often taught Negro History as a supplement to United States history.  One early beneficiary of the movement reported that his teacher would hide Woodson’s textbook beneath his desk to avoid drawing the wrath of the principal.  During the Civil Rights Movement in the South, the Freedom Schools incorporated black history into the curriculum to advance social change.  The Negro History movement was an intellectual insurgency that was part of every larger effort to transform race relations.

The 1960s had a dramatic effect on the study and celebration of black history.  Before the decade was over, Negro History Week would be well on its way to becoming Black History Month.  The shift to a month-long celebration began even before Dr. Woodson death.  As early as 1940s, blacks in West Virginia, a state where Woodson often spoke, began to celebrate February as Negro History Month.  In Chicago, a now forgotten cultural activist, Fredrick H. Hammaurabi, started celebrating Negro History Month in the mid-1960s.  Having taken an African name in the 1930s, Hammaurabi used his cultural center, the House of Knowledge, to fuse African consciousness with the study of the black past.  By the late 1960s, as young blacks on college campuses became increasingly conscious of links with Africa, Black History Month replaced Negro History Week at a quickening pace. Within the Association, younger intellectuals, part of the awakening, prodded Woodson’s organization to change with the times. They succeeded.  In 1976, fifty years after the first celebration, the Association used its influence to institutionalize the shifts from a week to a month and from Negro history to black history. Since the mid-1970s, every American president, Democrat and Republican, has issued proclamations endorsing the Association’s annual theme.

What Carter G. Woodson would say about the continued celebrations is unknown, but he would smile on all honest efforts to make black history a field of serious study and provide the public with thoughtful celebrations.

Reprinted with permission from Daryl Michael Scott for ASALH at www.asalh.org