Black History Month

What do you know about Black History Month? Do you know how it began and why it’s important? If you’re not sure, keep reading to find out!

Black History Month happens every February. It’s a time to focus on the importance of African Americans in U.S. history—from the time of slavery to the present day.

For hundreds of years, African Americans weren’t mentioned in history books. A historian named Carter G. Woodson wanted to change that. 

In 1915, a group was formed by Woodson to honor African American history and culture. In 1926, Woodson’s group created Negro History Week. This was celebrated yearly during the second week of February.

In 1970, Negro History Week was extended by an American university. Instead of only a week, they had a month-long celebration called Black History Month. Six years later, it was recognized by U.S. President Gerald Ford. With that, more Americans began to celebrate Black History Month. 

Black History Month is in February because two important people were born then: Frederick Douglass and U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Douglass was a former slave who fought for the freedom of slaves and for women’s rights. Lincoln also fought to end slavery.

Many important moments in U.S. history involve African Americans. Take a look at a few!

Harriet Tubman 

• In the 1800s, about 300 slaves were led to freedom by Tubman after she escaped slavery herself.

Martin Luther King Jr. 

• Martin Luther King Jr. fought for the rights of African Americans in the 1950s and 1960s.

Rosa Parks

• In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to move from the front seat of a bus to the back—even though the seats at the front were reserved for white people.

Mae Jemison 

• Mae Jemison was chosen as the first female African American astronaut to travel to space in 1992.

Barack Obama

• Barack Obama was elected by Americans in 2008 as their first African American president.

African Americans are an important part of U.S. history. You can celebrate Black History Month by doing some research to learn more!

Black History Month Comprehension

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See Grammar explanation  

Passive Voice

In general, when we talk or write we use the active voice, that follows the typical word order where we put the subject before the verb. We use the PASSIVE VOICE when we want to give importance to the object or the the action (verb), instead of the subject. For example: 

The news is given by the director every morning.

Subject+ To Be + participle + by + object

In this sentence, the person who performs the action is “the director”, but that is not relevant information. The important piece of information is the news, which becomes the subject of the passive sentence. In this case, the sentence is in the present simple affirmative, which is why we use the present simple form of the verb To Be, “are”. The verb To Be will determine the tense and form of the sentence. For example:

The Starry Night was painted by Van Gogh.

Subject + To Be (Past Simple Affirmative) + participle + by + object

The house hasn’t been cleaned by anyone.

Subject + To Be (Present Perfect Negative) + participle + by + object

The task must be finished by someone. 

Subject + (Modal verb) To Be + participle + object

To form questions, we simply move the verb To Be before the subject of the passive sentence

Were you invited by the host?

To Be (Past Simple) + subject + participle + subject?

We use “by” to say who performs the action. This becomes the object of the passive sentence. Sometimes this information is not important and we can simply omit it. For example:

The house was built by someone in 1908.

Subject + To Be (Past Simple Affirmative) + participle + object

The house was built in 1980.

Subject + To Be (Past Simple Affirmative) + participle

As you can see, who built the house is not important information and we can omit it.

 

Related Course Units  

Unit 132 – Passive Voice II

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