The Institutions, People, and Places that Shaped Us

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Black History Month. Founded in February 1926 by Carter G. Woodson as Negro History Week, it was intentionally timed to coincide with the birthdays of abolitionist Frederick Douglass (February 14) and former President Abraham Lincoln (February 12), who ended legal slavery in the United States. The observance was created to shine a light on the contributions of African Americans that were too often excluded from the nation’s historical record.

This month, Our Times Newspaper honors where we have come from in our special Black History edition: “Then & Now: The Institutions, People, and Places That Shaped Us.”

As we stand today, we do so on a road paved by hardship, hope, vision, and the labor of pioneers. Figures like Rev. Peter Williams Jr., who, alongside other unnamed Black men, helped establish Freedom’s Journal in 1827, the nation’s first Black-owned newspaper. Or the organizers of Our Age, published in Evansville around 1878 and recognized as the first known African American newspaper in the state. Though Our Age is not widely remembered today, it laid a foundation that would later support The Evansville Argus, founded by J. Wendell Holder in 1938, and eventually, in 1983, the establishment of Our Times Newspaper by Sondra Matthews.

I stand in this role with gratitude and humility because of them. But gratitude alone is not enough. It is my responsibility — and my duty — to ensure that Black voices are represented, protected, and preserved in the public record. To carry their stories forward.

Woodson once said, “We should not emphasize Negro History Week, but the Negro in history. The case of the Negro is well taken care of when it is shown how he has influenced the development of civilization.”

This month, through the voices of young people, we step into the stories of influence Woodson spoke of — stories we hope become so deeply woven into the American narrative that a designated month is no longer required. In these pages, readers will encounter reflections on the Black church and other institutions that empowered our communities; the timeless spiritual connection of Negro spirituals rooted in our music; the creative expression of fashion paired with business ingenuity; the brilliance of physicians and scientists; and the work of advocates who advanced policy and challenged the institutional inequities of racism.

This is Part One of Then & Now: The Institutions, People, and Places That Shaped Us — a reminder that history is not behind us; it is within us. In the sayings of our grandparents, the traditions of family gatherings, the rhythm of our music, and our resilience tempered through pain. Our history is the blueprint for the places we are still called to go.