Resources List - COMING SOON
#BlackHistoryMonth
February 1-28, 2025 About Black History Month
The story of Black History Month begins in 1915, half a century after the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. That September, the Harvard-trained historian Carter G. Woodson and the prominent minister Jesse E. Moorland founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), an organization dedicated to researching and promoting achievements by Black Americans and other peoples of African descent.
Known today as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the group sponsored a national Negro History week in 1926, choosing the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The event inspired schools and communities nationwide to organize local celebrations, establish history clubs and host performances and lectures. In the decades that followed, mayors of cities across the country began issuing yearly proclamations recognizing "Negro History Week." By the late 1960s, thanks in part to the civil rights movement and a growing awareness of Black identity, "Negro History Week" had evolved into Black History Month on many college campuses. President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month in 1976, calling upon the public to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” Today, Black History Month is a time to honor the contributions and legacy of African Americans across U.S. history and society—from activists and civil rights pioneers...to leaders in industry, politics, science, culture and more. (courtesy of: www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-history-month) For more information, visit: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-history-month |
The theme for Black History Month 2024 is:
African Americans and Labor 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.
Considering Black people’s work through the widest perspectives provides versatile and insightful platforms for examining Black life and culture through time and space. In this instance, the notion of work constitutes compensated labor in factories, the military, government agencies, office buildings, public service, and private homes. But it also includes the community building of social justice activists, voluntary workers serving others, and institution building in churches, community groups, and social clubs and organizations. In each of these instances, the work Black people do and have done have been instrumental in shaping the lives, cultures, and histories of Black people and the societies in which they live. Understanding Black labor and its impact in all these multivariate settings is integral to understanding Black people and their histories, lives, and cultures. Africans were brought to the Americas to be enslaved for their knowledge and serve as a workforce, which was superexploited by several European countries and then by the United States government. During enslavement, Black people labored for others, although some Black people were quasi-free and labored for themselves, but operated within a country that did not value Black life. After fighting for their freedom in the Civil War and in the country’s transition from an agricultural based economy to an industrial one, African Americans became sharecroppers, farm laborers, landowners, and then wage earners. Additionally, African Americans’ contributions to the built landscape can be found in every part of the nation as they constructed and designed some of the most iconic examples of architectural heritage in the country, specifically in the South. Over the years to combat the superexploitation of Black labor, wage discrepancies, and employment discrimination based on race, sex, and gender, Black professionals (teachers, nurses, musicians, and lawyers, etc.) occupations (steel workers, washerwomen, dock workers, sex workers, sports, arts and sciences, etc.) organized for better working conditions and compensation. Black women such as Addie Wyatt also joined ranks of union work and leadership to advocate for job security, reproductive rights, and wage increases. 2025 marks the 100-year anniversary of the creation of Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids by labor organizer and civil rights activist A. Philip Randolph, which was the first Black union to receive a charter in the American Federation of Labor. Martin Luther King, Jr incorporated issues outlined by Randolph’s March on Washington Movement such as economic justice into the Poor People’s Campaign, which he established in 1967. For King, it was a priority for Black people to be considered full citizens. The theme, “African Americans and Labor,” intends to encourage broad reflections on intersections between Black people’s work and their workplaces in all their iterations and key moments, themes, and events in Black history and culture across time and space and throughout the U.S., Africa, and the Diaspora. Like religion, social justice movements, and education, studying African Americans’ labor and labor struggles are important organizing foci for newinterpretations and reinterpretations of the Black past, present, and future. Such new considerations and reconsiderations are even more significant as the historical forces of racial oppression gather new and renewed strength in the 21st century.(courtesy of: https://asalh.org/black-history-themes/) For more information, check out the great resources of ASALH: asalh.org/black-history-themes/ |
Happy Black History Month!
#BHM2025 #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackHistoryMonthAfricanAmericansAndLabor #BHMAfricanAmericansAndLabor2025
#BHM2025 #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackHistoryMonthAfricanAmericansAndLabor #BHMAfricanAmericansAndLabor2025
If you feel called to donate any amount to ya girl so I can continue to provide and plan for you, please feel empowered do so. (TYSM!):
Education, knowledge, self care and rest are radical acts of resistance in a society that conditions us to be on the go and moving 24/7/365. Hustle culture isn't healthy - for anyone - and it isn't for everyone. Periodt. Taking our time with tasks and things that are important to us should be normalized, encouraged and celebrated more, rather than be scrutinized, criticized, or looked down upon.
Slow down with me this month, with intentional mindfulness, as we practice resisting the urge to rush, to please everyone, to force things that just don't work for us, to make sense of things that may not be ours to understand. |
Let's practice:
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There is a lot going on - personally, professionally, globally.
May this month, Black History Month, be one of renewal for us as we tap into the beautifully unique ways we are living acts of resistance - simply because we choose to shine our shine, stand in our power, and take consistent steps towards living our dreams. |
May we all learn, love, grieve, grow, play, slay, forgive, release, speak up, speak out, and shine bright this month.
May we call-in change, sit in our discomfort with curiosity rather than judgment, allow the experiences we collect this month to transform us by opening our eyes, expanding the width and depth of our hearts, blow our minds, and reverberate in our ears, while inspiring us to do and be better. |
#BlackHistoryMonthBingo
February 1-28, 2025
February 1-28, 2025
Everything is a Bingo Card. So is Black History Month. Let's go.
#BlackHistoryMonthBingo #BHMBingo
#BlackHistoryMonthBingo #BHMBingo
TO JOIN IN:
1. Screenshot, or copy/paste/save, or download the 2025 Black History Month Labor Bingo cards. (below)
2. Bookmark this site: AlexeyevaSmith.com/BHM and share it with a friend or two or more than a few! Invite them to join you in this epic quest to complete the #BHMBingo Card.
3. Go outside and be all about taking an active part in supporting the Black people and Black Labor organizations in your community. Actively acknowledging the legacy of Black excellence because of Black Labor in your area, abroad, and abound is such a great look on you. 4. Stay in and be cozy watching some shows, go for a walk while listening to some podcasts, and maybe (over)think just a lil bit about your role in present-day Black History. It might get get a lil uncomfy for some of y'all, yet guess what? You'll be alright. You will. I promise. (Pinky swear!)
5. Post pics of your adventures and the ways you choose to celebrate and acknowledge Black Labor through action, education, knowledge sharing, self-care, and rest throughout Black History Month.
#BlackHistoryMonth #BHM2025 #BHMBingo #BlackHistoryMonthBingo #BlackHistoryMonthLabor #BHMLabor2025
Any questions? Please feel empowered to reach out so we can chat about it and talk it out. I'd love to connect with you.
Happy Black History Month!
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Everything is a Bingo Card. So is Black History Month. Let's go.
#BlackHistoryMonthBingo #BHMBingo
#BlackHistoryMonthBingo #BHMBingo
BHM BINGO
Minimalist, #BHMBingo Card
And for my people who prefer lists, here are a few options for ya:
And if you prefer a PDF, I got you. Go wild, babes:
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All the Swag, #BHMBingo Card
And for my people who prefer lists, here are a few options for ya:
And if you prefer a PDF, I got you. Go wild, babes:
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If you feel called to donate any amount to ya girl so I can continue to provide and plan for you, please feel empowered do so. (TYSM!):