Black History Month is an important educational tradition that the United States celebrates annually, designating the month of February as a time for learning about and honoring the achievements of African Americans throughout history.

While the meaning behind the holiday is recognized nationwide, the significance of the month of February may be surprising to some. Black History Month began as Negro History Week, created in 1926 by the historian Carter G. Woodson. Woodson chose the second week of February for this celebration so that it would coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, two key figures in the abolition of slavery in America. The nationwide support for this educational week prompted many to expand the holiday to an entire month, and in 1976, President Gerald Ford officially declared February as Black History Month.

Every February, the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History, a group co-founded by Woodson in 1915, designates a theme for the year’s Black History Month. In 2018, the theme is “African Americans in Times of War,” in honor of the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. This theme is meant to honor the roles that African Americans have played in every American war, from the American Revolution to the present.

Past themes have included “The History of Black Economic Empowerment” and “Black Women in American Culture and History.”

The idea of a central theme for each year was developed by Woodson himself, to focus the public’s attention on important developments or stories. However, the theme does not limit the conversations that should develop during Black History Month. It is a time for listening, learning, and understanding fellow Americans and all they have contributed to history and society today.