What is Black History Month

Carter Woodson who would later be known as the father of black history was a historian and a well-published author who was concerned that the stories of black history were not being told. Carter Woodson announced the second week of February to be a week dedicated to celebrating black history. in the following decades celebrating black history in the second week of February grew in popularity more and more people were celebrating black history on the second week of February. Then in 1969 it was proposed that the entire month of February become black history month . Then just six years later in 1975 president Gerald ford recognized black history month and said it’s important to celebrate African Americans whom have been too long neglected.  We featured some of these incredible stories of men and women of African American descent who have made a huge impact on our world.

CJ Walker was the first African American millionaire businesswoman in the United States. Born Sarah Breedlove in Louisiana she was orphaned at age six and at age 20 she became a widow with a two-year-old daughter to support. She worked as a washer woman in St louis Missouri a job which required difficult manual labor with little pay. Still she attended night school and saved what money she could to invest in her experiments.  Sarah suffered from alopecia a condition which left her hair dry and brittle sometimes patches fell out. Dissatisfied with the hair treatments available at the time she mixed different combinations of oils in her bathtub until she discovered a satisfactory formula. The treatment worked for her and she then began testing her wonderful hair grower on other people. It was a hit and after moving to Denver Colorado she perfected her treatment and created other products including a straightening comb which she patented in1905. sarah sold products door to door and used her own before and after photos as proof of her product’s effectiveness. Sarah married Charles joseph walker in1906 and began calling herself madam walker. Walker method took off allowing her to establish an office and manufacturing headquarters after only one year. With the help of her daughter and nieces walker recruited more saleswomen to help sell her products. In 1908 walker opened second office in Philadelphia as well as a beauty parlor and school Pittsburg. Her hair cure eventually became available in new York, Indianapolis and at black colleges throughout the south. In 1917 walker built a 30-room mansion in new york and began to sponsor black artists and writers even establishing the madame walker theater center . By that time her manufacturing company took up an entire city block and employed over three thousand people.  madam CJ walker also donated generously to scholarship funds at Tuskegee and palmer memorial institutes and organizations such as the YMCA and the NAACP.

Garrett a morgan was an African American inventor born in 1875 in Kentucky. One night a Cleveland water works construction crew became trapped underground in a cloud of toxic fumes when their tunnel beneath lake Erie exploded. First responders made two unsuccessful attempts to rescue the workers. With time running out the authorities summoned Garrett and his brother frank. They arrived with the gas mask morgan had patented two years before. Earlier breathing devices were unreliable so Morgan invented something better. Firefighters, engineers, chemists and other workers who regularly encountered dangerous gases were already using his breathing device in other cities. He later upgraded his mask with its own air supply and it became of great importance during world war one and later wars. At the Cleveland disaster site the Morgan brothers and two volunteers strapped on the gas mask and made several brave trips through the darkness of the 200 foot long toxic tunnel. They rescued more than 20 people. Morgan was awarded a medal from the international association of fire engineers. The gas mask was not his first or last invention. Morgan worked as a handyman at a sewing machine shop in ohio and at age 26 sold his belt fastener for sewing machines. Eight years later he opened a tailoring shop which manufactured dresses and suits. After only one year morgan and his wife purchased a home where they eventually raised three sons. After accidentally discovering a hair straightening substance in 1913 Morgan established the GA morgan hair refining company.

Celebrate Black History Month with Flippysox!