President Donald Trump's administration issued a proclamation on Friday, Jan. 31, recognizing Black History Month and simultaneously announced the end of cultural observances at the Defense ...

In his proclamation, Trump mentions abolitionist ... Negro History Week evolved into Black History Month. President Gerald Ford was the first president to recognize Black History Month in 1976.

Black History Month wasn’t always a monthlong celebration. In February 1926, historian and author Carter G. Woodson created Negro History Week. It was a weeklong celebration in an effort to teach ...