“Celebrated annually in the month of February and in conjunction with Black History Month, Black Futures Month challenges us to envision and construct a world where Black people are liberated.”
Black History Month was created by Carter G. Woodson in the United States in 1926. Woodson chose February because both Frederick Douglass (a very cool guy) and Abraham Lincoln were born during February. Canada didn’t declare February Black History Month until 1995.
In 2015, Black Lives Matter co-founder, Opal Tometi, called for the celebration of Black Futures Month:
The past is a great teacher, but true students and beneficiaries should always ask, ‘where do we go from here?’ It’s our duty to live up to the legacy of those that came before us and not let the sacrifice of our foremothers and forefathers have been in vain. We must envision our future and actively bend the arc towards justice.
Watch the founders of Black Lives Matter, Alicia Garza, Patrissa Cullors, and Opal Tometi:
The Californians for Justice blog reminds us, “To celebrate Black Futures Month, we must continue to push back against the systems that seek to only celebrate footnotes of the past. We must require them to envision a bold, bright and Black future.”
