| By Elizabeth Mohn | Americans celebrate Black History Month each February. Every year, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) selects a theme on which Americans can focus their research and attention during the monthlong celebration. (Find out more about annual themes at the ASALH website.) In 2024, the theme … Read more
| By Carol Brennan | Gale In Context: Biography is one of Gale’s premium online databases, and for Black History Month 2022, we’d like to highlight a few remarkable but lesser-known moments in entertainment history. Our titles feature thousands of biographical entries on Black Americans, including those of bygone performers and creative professionals who helped … Read more
| By Carol Brennan | Alex Haley and Zora Neale Hurston. Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison. James Baldwin and James Weldon Johnson. The literature of Black Americans reveals a rich tapestry of lives and experiences, one that is celebrated around the globe all the way back to 1773, when British allies published a book of … Read more
| By Shirelle Phelps | Every day we look at the coins in our purses, pockets, and wallets and never really think much about the artists who created the images on them. The dime is no different—or is it? The dime is the smallest coin in U.S. circulation, but if you look closely, you’ll see … Read more
| By Sarah Robertson | Black History Month, observed every February, is an opportunity to celebrate African American literature. Through literature, African Americans have advanced a powerful message of agency and countered a dominant cultural discourse of oppression, coercion, and racism. For African American authors, literature has served as a means of validating and valorizing … Read more
| By Gale Staff |
Documents in U.S. Declassified Documents Online cover a broad range of topics from Presidential memoranda to confidential National Security Council documents. These nine documents reveal government intelligence related to Martin Luther King Jr’s activity during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.
Read moreMartin Luther King Jr. Declassified: 9 Primary Source Documents
In February, educators across the United States honor the central role African Americans have played in history. It is a time for reflection, humility, and honor. Many teachers use this time to educate and inspire students about the impact African Americans have made by showing famous films or documentaries, reading historical and inspiring pieces of … Read more
During Black History Month, we celebrate African Americans who made impactful contributions to American history. One of the most important developments of the twentieth century was the civil rights movement. Many Americans, both black and white, fought for equality in access to voting, education, housing, and public spaces for African Americans. Most of the best-known civil rights leaders of this period were male, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and John Lewis. However, many women also made significant contributions, including Fannie Lou Hamer, Pauli Murray, and Dorothy Height. Because of their efforts, black Americans, especially in the South, gained new legal rights and freedoms.
The past few years have seen many anniversaries related to African American history and the Civil Rights Movement – 2013, the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech,” stamped the Civil Rights Movement firmly in the minds of Americans and the worldwide community; 2014, the anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction; and, this year is the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which provided additional safeguards for African Americans to exercise their right to the ballot box.
Read moreArchives Unbound and African-American History and Life