Black History Month, celebrated during the month of February, originated in 1926 when Dr. Carter G. Woodson set aside a special period in February to recognize the heritage and achievements of black people in the United States. Every year, the Association for the Study of African Life and History (ASALH), the organization founded by Dr. Woodson, sets the theme for Black History Month. The theme for 2025, “African Americans and Labor,” focuses on the various and profound ways that work and working of all kinds—free and unfree, skilled and unskilled, vocational and voluntary—intersect with the collective experiences of black people. Black people’s work has been transformational throughout the United States, Africa, and the Diaspora. The 2025 theme sets out to highlight and celebrate the potent impact of this work. In this instance, the notion of work constitutes compensated labor in factories, the military, government agencies, office buildings, public service, and private homes. But it also includes the community building of social justice activists, voluntary workers serving others, and institution-building in churches, community groups, and social clubs and organizations. In each of these instances, the work black people do and have done have been instrumental in shaping the lives, cultures, and histories of Black people and the societies in which they live.
