As we near the end of Black History Month, I would like to highlight yet a few more of the many powerful black contributors of the past. In ancient Rome, there were three black African popes: St. Victor I, St. Miltiades, and St. Gelasius. These popes are said to have come from the North African area that is present-day Algeria, Mauretania, Numidia, and Tunisia.
Much later, Eugene Jacques Bullard was one of the first two black Americans to be decorated by France in World War I. He was also one of the first two African-American military pilots whose life was surrounded by many legends. He received 15 decorations from the government of France and was made a knight of the Legion of Honour, which is France’s most coveted award. He was portrayed in the 2006 movie Flyboys and is also the subject of the nonfiction young adult memoir Eugene Bullard: World’s First Black Fighter Pilot, by Larry Greenly.
Ahmet Ali Celikten was the second black pilot to be decorated by France in World War I. Also known as Arap Ahmet Ali, he was of Arab-African descent. Born in 1883, he served from 1908-1949 in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey. Captain Ahmet was featured in David Nicolle’s book, The Ottoman Army 1914-1918. Though Mr. Bullard is often cited as history’s first black aviator, Mr. Ahmet received his “wings” in 1914-15, while Bullard earned his brevet on July 1917.
Observation
Black History Month began in Chicago during the summer of 1915.Thousands of African-Americans travelled from across the country to see exhibits highlighting the progress their people had made since the abolition of slavery. Carter Woodson, an African-American historian and author, formed an organisation to promote the scientific study of black life and history. In 1924, Negro History and Literature Week was created, which was later renamed Negro Achievement Week. In February 1925, Negro History Week was created.
Mr. Woodson chose February for reasons of tradition and reform. It is commonly said that February was chosen to encompass the birthdays of two great Americans who played a prominent role in shaping black history: Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, whose birthdays are the 12th and the 14th, respectively.
Mr. Woodson felt that rather than focusing on two black leaders, the focus should be on the countless black men and women who had contributed to the advance of human civilisation. In response to his call, Negro History Week celebrations appeared across the country in schools and in public. Black history clubs sprang up, teachers demanded materials to instruct their pupils, and progressive whites stepped up and endorsed the efforts.
Race relations
In the 1940s, efforts redoubled in the black community to expand the study of black history. The Negro History movement was an intellectual insurgency that was part of a larger effort to transform race relations.
As early as 1940s, blacks in West Virginia, a state where Mr. Woodson often spoke, began to celebrate February as Negro History Month. By the late 1960s, as young blacks on college campuses became increasingly conscious of links with Africa, Black History Month replaced Negro History Week at a quickening pace.
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