Observed nationwide since 1976, Black History Month is an annual observance across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It descended from “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans.
Black History Month is being celebrated at the New York state Capitol with an exhibit honoring African-American leaders.
The exhibit in the second-floor War Room of the Capitol honors the life and legacy of ten people, including Constance Baker Motley, the first African-American woman to serve in the state Senate and the first to serve as a federal judge.
Another honoree is James Weldon Johnson, a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance and the first African-American professor at New York University.
The free exhibit, which runs through the end of the month, also depicts the history of the civil rights movement.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press
