{Black History Month: Phillis Wheatley}
The History of Black History Month
Americans have recognized Black History annually since 1926, first as “Negro History Week” and now as “Black History Month.” Carter Godwin Woodson initiated Negro History Week on February 12, 1926. Dr. Woodson was concerned that the contributions of Black Americans were being overlooked or misrepresented and he began lobbying for Negro History Week. He selected the month of February because it included the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (February 12) and Frederick Douglas (February 14), whom he believed had dramatically influenced the lives of Black Americans In 1976, Woodson’s legacy, now renamed the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, successfully lobbied to extend Black History Week into a month-long observance
Since there are so many categories that African Americans have contributed to – Arts, Literature, Sciences, Sports, Politics, Religion, etc.; this week’s focus is on Poets Phillis Wheatley & Maya Angelou
An Hymn To The Evening by Phillis Wheatley
Soon as the sun forsook the eastern main
The pealing thunder shook the heav'nly plain Majestic grandeur!
From the zephyr's wing Exhales the incense of the blooming spring
Soft purl the streams, the birds renew their notes,
And through the air their mingled music floats.
Through all the heav'ns what beauteous dies are spread!
But the west glories in the deepest red:
So may our breasts with ev'ry virtue glow,
The living temples of our God below!
Fill'd with the praise of him who gives the light,
And draws the sable curtains of the night,
Let placid slumbers sooth each weary mind,
At morn to wake more heav'nly, more refin'd;
So shall the labours of the day begin
More pure, more guarded from the snares of sin.
Night's leaden sceptre seals my drowsy eyes,
Then cease, my song, till fair Aurora rise.
