By Shaia Culligan
Did you know that this February 2026 is the 100th anniversary of Black History Month? Black History Month was first created by a man named Carter G. Woodson. Carter Woodson came over a lot of obstacles in his life. He was the 4th out of nine children born in his family. His parents were enslaved and their parents had few education opportunities for him. In his life he worked as a coal miner and saved up enough money to get an education, at 20 years old.
Woodson got his high school diploma in just 2 years since he was already self taught. He then obtained other degrees like his collegiate degree in 1903, a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in 1908 and 1909, and then finally acquiring his PhD in history from Harvard. This also made Carter Woodson the second African American to graduate from Harvard University.
Woodson made significant changes in U.S history and so did many other people. History is still being made by many people, including political figures, scientists, musicians, authors, and artists.
One political figure who is still alive and has made history is Kamala Harris. Harris was born right here in the Bay Area. Harris went to college at Howard University after being introduced to politics. Harris was the first African American and woman elected as California’s Attorney General.
Harris also serves on many committees like; The Select Committee of Intelligence, which oversees laws about intelligence that go to the Senate, The Committee on the Judiciary which is responsible for overseeing the executive branch and nominations for the federal judiciary. Last but not least, Harris was the first African- American woman and first Asian-American to be vice president.
Kenrick Lamar has also made a big impact on the music industry. Lamar was also born in California and first released music in 2004. In 2005 he signed with “Top Dog Entertainment” which is a record label.
Lamar then formed a “Black Hippy Group” with multiple other people like Jay Rock, Herbet or “Ab-Soul” and Quincy also known as “Schoolboy Q”. Lamar is also the rapper with the most grammys, 27 to be exact.
Lamar also won a Pulitzer Prize which is extremely rare for an artist. Lamar won the Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for his album “DAMN” which explained, “Capturing the complexity of modern African-American life.” Mattthew Trammell from Pitchfork also said, “Storytelling has been Lamar’s greatest skill and most primary mission, to put into (lots of) words what it’s like to grow up as he did—to articulate, in human terms, the intimate specifics of daily self-defense from your surroundings. Somehow, he’s gotten better.”
Lastly is Fredrick Douglass. Douglass was born in February 1818. Doug;ass was enslaved for about 20 years. Douglass became a very important person in the African American civil rights movement. When Douglass escaped from slavery in Maryland he then became a leader of the abolitionist Movement.
The abolitionist movement was a movement to end transatlantic trade and chattel slavery. Douglass wrote about his experiences in multiple books but the most famous one being “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave”. Douglass also supported the women’s suffrage which fought to allow women to vote. Douglass was nominated to be the first African American to be Vice President of the United States, without his knowledge or approval.
Learning more about people who shaped the United States and made major differences is so important. Alive or dead, these people made great changes in history and changed the world. Many other people made changes to the world and should be remembered or recognized too.
Frederick Douglass overcame many obstacles in his life, Kamala Harris made history by being the first black woman as vice president of the United States, and Kendrick Lamar uses his voice to talk about growing up as an African American and the struggles he lived through, and Carter G. Woodson created Black History month to honor people who helped construct history that were of color and people of color in general.
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