The origin of Black History Month goes back to 1915, when Dr. Carter Woodson founded the Study for African American Life and History (previously known as the Study of Negro Life and History). He introduced “Negro History Week” in 1926 to honor the history and recognize the accomplishments of the Black community in the United States.

Nearly 100 years later, we now celebrate Black History Month with the same intent to honor the history and legacy, and celebrate the victories and triumphs of the Black community. We celebrate how Black culture continues to enrich our lives through vibrant cultural experiences. We celebrate how the societal contributions of the Black community uplift our lives in a variety of settings including civic leadership, scientific ingenuity, arts and literature, entertainment, business, sports, and more. We celebrate how the Black community has survived and thrived in the face of adversity, injustice, prejudice, and systemic oppression. And throughout all of our celebrations, we must recognize and honor the sacrifices that the Black community has and continues to face in pursuit of equity and justice. 

We must recognize and honor that the Black community still continues to grapple with the insidious and pervasive nature of White supremacy, systemic racism, and prejudice. We must reckon with the fact that we cannot honor the legacies of those who suffered and sacrificed without addressing and disrupting the very factors that contributed to their suffering. We must recognize and honor that to celebrate Black History Month is to celebrate, honor, and support the Black community every day and not solely during the weeks of February. 

With that said, CAP is committed to making a difference. We are committed to living up to our values of equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice. In the past year, we have been engaging in conversations that explore deep unlearning and learning for what equity truly means within our organization. We welcomed honest and authentic feedback from our colleagues and the communities that we serve. We heard loud and clear that we need to be doing more, and so we are. This year, we look forward to rolling out our new equity plan that will better train each and every member of the CAP community to better support and advocate for the BIPOC community. We will develop and implement formalized mechanisms to address bias-related incidents through a restorative justice lens so that the acute challenges are not only addressed, but so are the challenges within our organizational culture. We will revisit our policies and practices throughout the organization, and we will interrogate our work to ensure that we are embedding equity through all that we do. 

And as we celebrate Black History Month this February, we invite you to join us on our equity journey. Whether it is in your workplaces, your home, your communities; we invite you to reflect on how you plan on honoring the history and legacies of the Black community by honoring the Black community present right now. We invite you to consider how you can amplify and advance equity for all in your everyday lives. 

Happy Black History Month

CAP