Black History Month

Appreciating Our Heritage

Black History Month is an annual observance in the United States and Canada, celebrated in February to recognize and honor the contributions and achievements of African Americans throughout history. It was first celebrated as "Negro History Week" in 1926 and expanded to a month-long event in 1976. The event has since spread to other countries and is a time to reflect on the rich cultural heritage and legacy of African Americans.

Celebrating Barak Obama

Barack Obama was the 44th President of the United States, serving two terms from 2009 to 2017. He was the first African American to hold the office of the President. Prior to his presidency, he served as a U.S. Senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008.

When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, he became the first African American to hold the office. Obama faced major challenges during his two-term tenure in office. His primary policy achievements included health care reform, economic stimulus, banking reform and consumer protections, and a repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy preventing lesbian and gay Americans from serving openly in the military.

Obama’s father, Barack Sr., a Kenyan economist, met his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, when both were students in Hawaii, where Barack was born on August 4, 1961. They later divorced, and Barack’s mother married a man from Indonesia, where he spent his early childhood. Before fifth grade, he returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents and attend a private prep school on scholarship. In his memoir Dreams from My Father (1995), Obama describes the complexities of discovering his identity in adolescence.