From slavery abolitionists like Harriett Tubman to civil rights activists like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.--even students like the Little Rock Nine who showed unimaginable courage--we have much to learn from the lives of these past and present leaders. They leave quite a mark on the pages of our history books and in the fabric of our country. 

During this month, it is important that we seek to learn more about historical Black figures; it is important because it shows us what great contributions they made even during an era when many people thought Blacks had nothing to offer. Quite to the contrary--the African American community has given us some of our greatest writers, inventors, athletes, philosophers, musicians, and spiritual and community leaders during dark times in our history. 

It is during this month that Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglass, Toni Morrison, and baseball great Hank Aaron celebrated their birthdays. It was during this month in 1870 that the 15th Amendment was passed, granting Blacks the right to vote. And this year, during this month, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Anderson, who was lost on the Space Shuttle Columbia, died as a pioneer and a living symbol of the progress African Americans have made and the successes yet to come. 

Black History Month celebrates people and events that were disregarded for long periods of time. It's time we remember. It's time we make Black history our history.