Americans have recognized black history annually since 1926, first as "Negro History Week" and later as "Black History Month."

What you might not know is that black history had barely begun to be studied—or even documented—when the tradition originated.

Although blacks have been in America at least as far back as colonial times, it was not until the 20th century that they gained a respectable presence in the history books.

We owe the celebration of Black History Month, and more importantly, the study of black history, to Dr. Carter G. Woodson.

Born to parents who were former slaves, he spent his childhood working in the Kentucky coal mines and enrolled in high school at age twenty.

He graduated within two years and later went on to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard.

The scholar was disturbed to find in his studies that history books largely ignored the black American population—and when blacks did figure into the picture,

it was generally in ways that reflected the inferior social position they were assigned at the time.

Woodson, always one to act on his ambitions, decided to take on the challenge of writing black Americans into the nation's history.

He established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now called the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History) in 1915,

and a year later founded the widely respected Journal of Negro History.

In 1926, he launched Negro History Week as an initiative to bring national attention to the contributions of black people throughout American history.

Woodson chose the second week of February for Negro History Week because it marks the birthdays of two men who greatly impacted the American black population, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

However, February has much more than Douglass and Lincoln to show for its significance in black American history. For example:

February 23, 1868: W. E. B. DuBois, important civil rights leader and co-founder of the NAACP, was born.

February 3, 1870: The 15th Amendment was passed, granting blacks the right to vote.

February 25, 1870: The first black U.S. senator, Hiram R. Revels (1822-1901), took his oath of office.

February 12, 1909: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded by a group of concerned black and white citizens in New York City.

February 1, 1960: In what would become a civil-rights movement milestone, a group of black Greensboro, N.C., college students began a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter.

February 21, 1965: Malcolm X, the militant leader who promoted Black Nationalism, was shot to death by three Black Muslims.

The lopping off of the African-American experience from the rest of American history is a big reason why most Whites and Americans of all races are woefully ignorant and indifferent to their own past. For many Americans, and that includes many Blacks, their knowledge of the historical contributions of Blacks begins and ends with Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. They still don't know that African Americans played a major part in shaping America's institutions.

Black inventors, explorers, scientists, architects and trade unionists helped construct the foundation of American industry. Black abolitionists, religious and civil rights leaders helped shape law, politics and religion in America. Black artists, writers and musicians gave America some of its most distinctive cultural art forms. The modern day civil rights movement not only broke down the legal barriers of segregation, it also opened the door of opportunity in government, business and at academic institutions for women, minorities.