7 Celebrating Black History

For almost 100 years, Black History Month and its weeklong precursor have been a time to celebrate the contributions that African Americans have made to American society in the face of adversity, contributions that have often been ignored or misattributed to others. The celebration was founded by Carter G. Woodson, a man born to former slaves who became the second African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard.

This year's theme is African Americans and Labor. That labor, according to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) which Woodson founded, has been "free and unfree, skilled, and unskilled, vocational and voluntary." From agricultural labor to organizing, from building cities to earning wages in the service industry, African American contributions have been diverse and broadly impactful in building the country. And many of these contributions are captured in books for young children, such as those included here.