Black History Month is a big part of many American lives today. February is Black History Month, which means all throughout the month people will be celebrating and learning more about the culture. Many of the world’s most famous and influential people have been of color, from sports to music, politics to entertainment, and so much more. 

Since 1976, every United States president has designated the whole month of February to Black history and African Americans. 

Sports

Jackie Robinson was the first ever African American MLB player. He started on Apr. 15, 1947 as a Brooklyn Dodger (biography.com). Robinson once said, “I never cared about the acceptance as much as I cared about the respect” (inc.com). Another influential athletes, Althea Gibson, was the first African American to play in a pro-world tennis tour and win a Grand Slam title at the French Championships (Biography.com). Gibson had many firsts in the Tennis world; she was also the first African American to rank No.1 in the world (NYTimes.com). These two incredible athletes were massive figures in the sports community and civil rights movement. 

Music 

There are many Black figures in the music industry who together helped change the course of history. Aretha Franklin, who is also known as the Queen of Soul, not only used her voice to give the people music, she used her voice to stand up for racial equality (Time). Franklin’s most popular song was Respect. Franklin was the first female of any color to be recognized in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Biography.com). Franklin won 18 Grammy awards, meaning she is one of the most honored people for Grammy’s in the music industry (Biography.com). Jazz artists from the Harlem Renaissance period of the 1920s and 1930s helped to integrate Blacks into the culture in the north and into the ballrooms of white Americans. Louis Armstrong was a  horn player and vocalist with a distinct gravely voice. He also had a big voice when it came to civil rights, showing the emotion and human spirit of the Black community. Ten of Armstrong’s recorded singles are in the Grammy Hall of Fame (Satchmo.com). 

Politics

Barack Obama was the first African-American U.S. President. Elected in 2008, he served an eight year term to 2016 (biography.com). Obama was born and raised in Hawaii, mostly with his sister, mother, and grandparents (biography.com). During Obama’s first term,  the unemployment rate for African Americans was at a high with 16.8 percent and the poverty rate for African Americans fell 2.1 percentage points in 2015 (ObamaWhiteHouse.archives.gov). 

Newly elected Vice President Kamala Harris is the first woman vice president and vice president of color. She is in office with the 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden. 

Vice president Harris once said, “My mother would say, Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last” (rd.co). 

Many Black Americans paved the way and are still paving the way for future Black Americans. The Black Lives Matter movement that took the nation by storm last summer shows that the journey is not over, but as brave Black men and women continue to tackle more firsts, America and the world get one step closer to equality.