PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (Feb. 1, 2023) – According to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, when Carter G. Woodson established Negro History week in 1926, he realized the importance of providing a theme to focus the attention of the public. “The intention has never been to dictate or limit the exploration of the Black experience, but to bring to the public’s attention important developments that merit emphasis.”
Fast forward to now, where Negro History Week has become African American History Month across the nation to honor the contributions that African Americans have made over the years and to recognize their sacrifices.
Prairie View A&M University’s theme for this year is “Claiming Our Freedom.” It’s inspired by the national theme, “Black Resistance,” which explores how “African Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression, in all forms,” since the nation’s earliest days.
“The renowned, celebrated African American woman writer and eternal griot, Toni Morrison, once wrote to her fellow African Americans, ‘Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of the freed self was another.’ In simple terminology, a claim is an act of asserting or demanding something believed to rightfully belong to one or, as one might put it in the vernacular, to be one’s ‘just due’ and should not remain with or become the possession of any other,” said Emma Joahanne Thomas-Smith, Ed.D., provost emerita and professor.
PVAMU has an entire month of events planned for African American History Month 2023, honoring the theme “Claiming Our Freedom.” Visit www.pvamu.edu/afam to learn more. Click here to view this year’s recommended reading list put together by librarians at PVAMU.
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