Black History Month began as Negro History Week back in 1926. It was held the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglass. It was officially recognized as Black History Month in 1976 as part of the United States Bicentennial Celebration. Today on the Best Of Our Knowledge, we’ll celebrate first with a conversation about historically black colleges and universities in the US with Dr. Matthew Lynch from Virginia Union University.
Then we’ll hear about the beginnings of the black power salute, made famous in the 1968 Olympics games by two African American medal-winning sprinters.
And we'll spend an academic minute looking for talk about race in the media.