Black History Month is celebrated throughout the United States in the month of February. Stony Brook's annual observance of Black History Month, coordinated by the Black History Month Planning Committee, includes panels, symposia, and lectures, as well as cultural and social events.

This year's theme, Human Rights and Social Justice...Lessons from the Past, Challenges for the Future, is represented by the West African word Sankofa, which marks a journey to "go back and take." The Asante of Ghana use this Adinkra symbol to represent one taking from the past what is good and bringing it into the present, to make positive progress through the benevolent–but powerful–use of knowledge.

Randall Pinkston, three-time Emmy Award winner and CBS Evening News correspondent, will be the keynote speaker for the Black History Month Opening Program, to be held on January 30, 2008, from 12:40–2:10 pm (Campus Life Time) in the SAC Auditorium. The Black History Month Committee, School of Journalism, and the Department of Africana Studies are coordinating this major campus program.

Black History Month 2008 also marks the inauguration of an ongoing project , an online archive aimed at documenting the history of African-Americans at Stony Brook University.

Why February?
In 1926, Harvard scholar-activist Carter G. Woodson proposed the second week of February for "Negro History Week," primarily because it marks the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, two men who had profoundly impacted the history of black people in America. The week was expanded into an entire month in 1976 as the nation reached its bicentennial year. At this time new light was thrown on the significance of February in African-American History:

• February 23, 1868: Birthday of W.E.B. DuBois, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, sociologist, educator, historian, writer, editor, poet, and co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
• February 3, 1870: The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting blacks the right to vote, became law.
• February 25, 1870: Hiram Rhodes Revels, the first black Senator, took his oath of office.
• February 12, 1909: The NAACP was founded in New York City.
• February 1, 1960: A group of black Greensboro, North Carolina, college students began a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter.
• February 21, 1965: Malcolm X, the militant leader who promoted Black Nationalism, was assassinated.

Carrying Forth the Mission
Stony Brook University's racial diversity and scholarly excellence puts us in an outstanding position to celebrate the achievements and acknowledge the struggles of African-Americans. This is, of course, a year-round responsibility. With the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, we believe that "Black history, like American history, should be studied 365 days a year.  Yet [we] continue to view February as the critical month for carrying forth the mission."

Click here for a schedule of 2008 Black History Month events.