black history month/negro history week

Johnson secured a consulting contract with the NCTA and lack istory then used the contract to secure a loan from the National B H Bank of Washington. He also secured a $320,000 loan Month/Negro from John C. Malone, head of Tele-Communications Inc (TCI). After Malone and TCI also paid him $180,000 for istory eek ❚❚❚ H W a 20 percent share in the network, Johnson created BET. In 1984 Johnson also formed District Cablevision Inc. to The annual celebration of Negro History Week was one serve Washington, D.C., residents. TCI owned 75 percent of the historian Carter G. Woodson’s (1875–1950) most of the new company, and Johnson encountered several successful efforts to popularize the study of black history. lawsuits by competitors. Yet by 1989 Johnson was able to Omega Phi, one of the oldest African-American fraterni- repay his investors. On October 30, 1991, BET became the ties, first celebrated black achievements on Lincoln’s birth- first black-controlled company to be listed on the New day (February 12). Woodson, an honorary member of the York Stock Exchange. On the first day of its listing, the fraternity, convinced the Omegas to let the Association for stock value grew from $9 million to $475 million. In 1995 the Study of Negro Life and History, which he had the company relocated to a new $15 million facility. In founded in 1915, sponsor Negro History Week in an effort 1996, BET added a BET/Starz! Channel 3, a premium to reach a larger audience. Woodson began the annual cel- movie channel. In the same year Johnson pledged ebration in 1926 to increase awareness of and interest in $100,000 to ’s School of Communica- black history among both blacks and whites. Months be- fore the first celebration, he sent out promotional bro- tion and was awarded the university’s Messenger Award chures and pamphlets suggesting ways to celebrate to state for Excellence in Communication. boards of education, elementary and secondary schools, BET further diversified its holdings by publishing colleges, women’s clubs, black newspapers and periodi- magazines, marketing clothing and cosmetics, and form- cals, and white scholarly journals. Woodson chose the sec- ing a radio network to provide news to urban market radio ond week of February, to commemorate the birthdays of stations. In 1996 the company entered a partnership with Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Each year the Microsoft to form MSBET, an online service with enter- association produced bibliographies, photographs, books, tainment news and information. pamphlets, and other promotional literature to assist the black community in the celebration. Over 100 photo- With the sale of BET to Viacom, founder and present graphs of blacks were available for sale, and specialized chief executive officer Johnson became the first African pamphlets included bibliographies on various aspects of American billionaire. In 2002, he also became the first African-American history. In 1928 Woodson also pre- black principal owner of a major sports franchise, the pared a “Table of 152 Important Events and Dates in Charlotte Bobcats of the NBA. Negro History,” which he sold for fifty cents. Negro Histo- ry Week celebrations generally included parades of cos- tumed characters depicting the lives of famous blacks, as See also Television well as breakfasts, banquets, lectures, poetry readings, speeches, exhibits, and other special presentations. During the 1940s, Negro History Week celebrations became increasingly more sophisticated and attracted even ■■Bibliography larger audiences. Woodson compiled and sold Negro His- tory Week kits, posters, and large photographs that depict- Gay, Verne. “Selling Out of Selling Up?” Mediaweek 10, no. 46 (November 27, 2000): 39. ed periods of African-American history. Black women’s organizations and social-service groups sponsored lectures Lohr, Greg A. “The ‘BET’ That Paid Off.” Washington Business and rallies for their members. Libraries, museums, and ed- Journal 20, no. 8 (June 29, 2001): 24. ucational institutions held special exhibits. School systems Meeks, Kenneth. “Back Talk: With Billionaire & BET CEO throughout the country sponsored institutes to help Robert L. Johnson.” Black Enterprise 35, no. 6 (January teachers prepare. Teachers assigned students essays on 2005): 112. topics in black history, helped them write and produce plays, and sponsored oratorical and essay contests. Wood- rachel zellars (1996) son credited schoolteachers with ensuring the success of Updated by publisher 2005 the annual celebrations, and he regularly reported on their

260 Encyclopedia of AfricanAmerican Culture and History second edition black-indian relations efforts in the Journal of Negro History (now the Journal of lack dentity African American History) and in the black press, high- B I lighting the most creative and innovative activities. In See Identity and Race in the ; Media and some school systems the celebration was so successful that Identity in the Caribbean teachers established Negro History Study Clubs, which gave attention to the subject throughout the school year. White politicians made annual proclamations in honor of Negro History Week, and whites began to participate in lack ndian special activities. During Woodson’s lifetime the celebra- B -I tion became so far-reaching in its popularity that whites Relations and blacks in Latin America, the West Indies, Africa, and ❚❚❚ the Philippines participated. People of African descent have a long history of relations Many of Woodson’s contemporaries contended that with the indigenous peoples (Indians or Native Ameri- the annual celebration was his most impressive achieve- cans) of the Americas. Initial contact between Africans ment. Writing in Dusk of Dawn in 1940, the sociologist W. and Indians occurred during the sixteenth century, when E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) claimed that it was the greatest free and enslaved African men traveled to the Americas with European explorers and conquerors. After European single accomplishment to arise from the Harlem Renais- countries such as England, Spain, Portugal, and es- sance. Similarly, the historian Rayford Logan (1897–1982) tablished their overseas empires, settlers in the Americas maintained that Negro History Week helped blacks over- quickly came to rely on the labor of enslaved Indians and come their inferiority complex and instilled racial pride Africans to cultivate food crops and commodities for ex- and optimism. After Woodson’s death in 1950, the Associ- port. In North and South America, Africans and their ation for the Study of Negro Life and History (now the As- American-born descendants lived and labored alongside sociation for the Study of African-American Life and His- Native Americans during much of the eighteenth century. tory) continued to sponsor the annual event, selling Negro Even after Europeans ceased enslaving Indians and History Week kits and assisting teachers, women’s clubs, only owned Africans and African Americans as chattel, and civic associations with their celebrations. By the early black people and Native Americans continued to come 1970s the organization decided to extend the celebration into contact with each other and establish various kinds to the entire month of February and use the term black. of ongoing relations. In some instances, Indians assisted Politicians, the media, and the organization that previous- runaway slaves, while in others, Indians served as slave ly had supported the effort to promote black history dur- catchers, returning fugitives to their masters. In other ing the second week of February began celebrating cases, African Americans and Native Americans formed throughout the month, while also continuing to press for intricate ties of cultural exchange and intimate relations greater recognition of black history throughout the year. of kinship and family bonds. Early contact between Afri- cans and Native Americans was initiated by factors beyond their control—European colonialism and slavery—but the See also Association for the Study of African American ongoing relations between blacks and Indians developed Life and History; Journal of African American History, as the result of each party’s careful and deliberate decision The; Woodson, Carter Godwin making. In the sixteenth century, African men worked as sail- ors, soldiers, and servants in Spanish expeditions, accom- ■■Bibliography panying the conquistadores who claimed land and riches Goggin, Jacqueline. Carter G. Woodson, a Life in Black History. in North and South America for the Spanish Empire. In Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1993. 1527, for example, the Spanish king authorized Pánfilo de Narváez to lead a voyage of five ships to the Florida region; Meier, August, and Elliott Rudwick. Black History and the His- torical Profession. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986. among the men under his control was a Spanish-speaking African slave named Esteban. Most of the men in this ex- Meier, August, and Elliott Rudwick. Explorations in the Black pedition perished shortly after reaching the Gulf Coast, Experience. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002. but Esteban survived, as did Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, jacqueline goggin (1996) the Spaniard who recorded their encounters with Indians Updated bibliography and their journey across the lands of the Zuni people

Encyclopedia of AfricanAmerican Culture and History 261 second edition