why is black history month in febuary and not in january?
110226
the reason is that Abraham Lincoln the man who freed the blacks from slavery has his birthday in February
474816
It's pretentious, I agree. But they do have a point. The idea of a white history month, use of the N word by white people, WET...all would probably be met with a lot of opposition and decried as racist. And there are probably quite a few places where a white person would be severely harmed or killed for using the N word. Granting special privileges to any given group is counterprodutive, in terms of equality. Not that I have anything against black history month or BET.
84324
A widely believed--but possibly erroneous--story has it that February is so short because the Romans borrowed a day from it to add to August. August was originally a 30-day month called Sextilis, but it was renamed to honor the emperor Augustus Caesar, just as July had earlier been renamed to honor Julius Caesar. Naturally, it wouldn't do to have Gus's month be shorter than Julius's, hence the switch.\n\nBut some historians say this is bunk. They say February has always had 28 days, going back to the 8th century BC, when a Roman king by the name of Numa Pompilius established the basic Roman calendar. Before Numa was on the job the calendar covered only ten months, March through December. December, as you may know, roughly translates from Latin as "tenth." July was originally called Quintilis, "fifth," Sextilis was sixth, September was seventh, and so on.\n\nTo meticulous persons such as ourselves, Randy, having the calendar run out in December and not pick up again until March probably seems like a pretty casual approach to timekeeping. However, we must realize that 3,000 years ago, not a helluva lot happened between December and March. The Romans at the time were an agricultural people, and the main purpose of the calendar was to govern the cycle of planting and harvesting.\n\nNuma, however, was a real go-getter-type guy, and when he got to be in charge of things, he decided it was going to look pretty stupid if the Romans gave the world a calendar that somehow overlooked one-sixth of the year. So he decided that a year would have 355 days--still a bit off the mark, admittedly, but definitely a step in the right direction. Three hundred fifty five days was the approximate length of 12 lunar cycles, with lots of leap days thrown in to keep the calendar lined up with the seasons. Numa also added two new months, January and February, to the end of the year. Since the Romans thought even numbers were unlucky, he made seven of the months 29 days long, and four months 31 days long.\n\nBut Numa needed one short, even-numbered month to make the number of days work out to 355. February got elected. It was the last month of the year (January didn't become the first month until centuries later), it was in the middle of winter, and presumably, if there had to be an unlucky month, better to make it a short one.\n\nMany years later, Julius Caesar reorganized the calendar yet again, giving it 365 days. Some say he made February 29 days long, 30 in leap year, and that Augustus Caesar later pilfered a day; others say Julius just kept it at 28. None of this changes the underlying truth: February is so short mainly because it was the month nobody liked much--a judgment with which I heartily concur. Frankly, if the Romans had cut it down to 15 minutes, it wouldn't have bothered me a bit.
294446
im not racist either - im white with 2 kids and their dad is black but i dont like white people music. and i love black men! so im sure there are black people that dont like rap music. but how come blacks have a black history month, the negro college fund, and black entertainment tv (bet) the white people dont have a white history month, a whity college fund, and no white entertainment tv. hmmm
812452
depends on which state...\n\nWA  - 31 Jan\nQLD - 29 Jan\nNT - 29 Jan\nSA - 29 Jan\nNSW - 29 Jan  \nTAS - 14 Feb\nACT - 2 Feb \nVIC - 30 Jan
1148021
Because blacks requested it at one time .. that was after they requested that they be called black, people of color, negroes, colored people etc ... at 43 I have seen the "politically correct" requested term change many times .. it is all VERY silly.
953616
Hey,\nit will be issued generally in month of Jan/Feb of every year.
461280
Here's a better question? Why is there a black histoy month?  Why not just study it with the rest of history for the whole year? Or let's give everyone else a history month too and not discuss history outside of those monthes.\n\nAlso, no one mentionedthis but it's a well known fact that Lincoln did freed slaves as a last resort.  It's like like the guy did it willingly, he did it beacuse he needed more men in the army and slaves are either going to desert, attack owners, or just have no morale otherwise, so he freed them.  Done deal.
848751
Boy...MANY people missed the point of the question. The calendars were different because the black children had to miss more school to help their parents in the field during harvesting season....Sheesh...read, people!
566080
This is probably just a quirk of that calendar company.  It is not an "official" rule, but may apply to the people who had the calendar printed, or the company that printed it.
54310
It is most likely because that was the date the consulship of Rome changed hands during the Roman Republic, and it was also when interest was compounded for loans. Western European countries displayed their calendars from January to December after the Roman tradition, and thus January 1st became New Years Day.
234069
The history that is taught in public schools is history that outlines the contributions and accomplishments of White persons. Black history month highlights the contributions and accomplishments of Black persons in the World; not limited to the U.S. Our children need to know their heritage, not just the heritage and history of others. The public schools won't include the contributions of Black people throughout history, so we must educate ourselves and others.
362392
As a man of mixed race, I feel that the existence of black history month takes away from the achievments of the african american race.  It's almost like saying: "Since you guys did'nt do too much we will celebrate all your acheivements in one month and get it over with."  I think the acheivments of black people should be taught in context with the rest of America's achievments, why treat us special, are we no different than you?  As a native Bahamian, I think racial issues in the US are embarassing, and black folk hold equal share of the blame, I'll catch hell from it, but thats ok.  Back home we are all just people, granted most of us are black, a black man that calls another black man a "nig ga" is bound to get slapped, it is never acceptable, and I never got flack for having a white mother like I do in the U.S.  Its time for us to stop relishing in race, and be part of the human race.
45742
Being born on February 29 is the same thing as being born on the day after February 28, which is usually March 1. But some people prefer to celebrate on Feb. 28; it's just a matter of personal preference.
705890
Hey dude calm down this is 2006. All the slaves are dead. And who the hell are you to throw off your beliefs on someone else? Get a life.  I am black as hell and I don't ever think about what they did 100 years ago. Not even during Black History month.
479086
I Think you have the date wrong sorry hun but on 6-6-06 We are not because thats not the same as 666 dont feel bad because you put january everyone makes mistakes its ok but I heard the world mite end in like 2020 but mostly thats problary just made up or a lie good luck
92160
Because they had to balance a year in a year. If February would have more days, then there'd be more days than a year can hold! I mean, yeah, they could take days out of other months for February, but what would that solve? Nothing. Months are grouped occurding to their season.