Black History Month: Celebrating 100 Years of Recognition

Dear PFLAG LA Community,

As we celebrate Black History Month, we do so during a truly historic moment: A Century of Black History Commemorations.

In 2026, the United States marks a powerful milestone — 100 years of federally recognized Black history and cultural remembrance. What began in 1926 as Negro History Week has grown into today’s Black History Month, a nationwide celebration of Black excellence, resilience, culture, and contributions that continue to shape this country.

The visionary behind this movement was Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a pioneering historian, educator, and the second African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University, following W.E.B. Du Bois. Born to parents who were formerly enslaved, Dr. Woodson understood a profound truth: to erase a people’s history is to deny their humanity. He believed history wasn't just about the past. It was a tool for empowerment, pride, and possibility.

Guided by that belief, Dr. Woodson established Negro History Week to coincide with the February birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, figures he viewed as symbolically linked to Black freedom and liberation. One week became a movement. A movement became a month. And a century later, the legacy continues.

As we honor this 100-year journey, we're also reminded that Black history isn't singular. It's beautifully expansive and deeply intersectional. It lives at the crossroads of race, gender, sexuality, faith, art, resistance, joy, and survival. It includes organizers and elders, artists and activists, dreamers and disruptors, many of whom have also shaped LGBTQ+ liberation, civil rights, and popular culture.

Throughout this month, I will be highlighting prominent figures in Black history as part of our recognition of this centennial year. These spotlights will uplift individuals whose lives and work reflect the breadth of Black experience, across civil rights, the LGBTQ+ community, education, politics, and entertainment. Some names may be familiar; others may not be but each story matters, and each legacy deserves to be remembered and celebrated.

At PFLAG LA, our commitment to advocacy, equity, and inclusion calls us to honor the full truth of our histories and the people who carried us forward, often without recognition, and often at great personal cost. This Black History Month, may we not only remember, but also recommit: to learning, to listening, and to standing in solidarity with Black lives in all their brilliance and diversity.

Thank you for being part of a community that believes visibility saves lives, history empowers futures, and love is strongest when it's rooted in justice.

— Corey Allen Berry (He/Him), Advocacy Co-Chair and DEI Officer