Editorial
Black History Month has its roots in Carter G. Woodson’s 1915 founding of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, and the first Negro History Week in 1926 — chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (12 February) and Frederick Douglass (20 February). Woodson argued that “the teaching of black history was essential to ensure the physical and intellectual survival of the race within broader society — if a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world.” This influence spread to the West Indies and directly to St. Kitts-Nevis, where Joseph Nathan and George Wilkes returned from the US with insights from the Black struggle and organised labour movement, ultimately leading to the formation of our Workers League (1932) and the St. Kitts-Nevis Trades and Labour Union. Let us all celebrate Black History Month, fully appreciating its significance and recommitting ourselves to carrying on the struggle.