Black History Month 2025 has come to an end but it feels like we’ve been locked in the twilight zone, re-looping high—and some of the lowest—moments this country has seen since the civil rights movement. The celebration of this month was an educational and special journey for me as a West Indian. Unfortunately per usual, minorities have had to produce much from little. And 28 days is never enough time to encapsulate the rich history and depth of information which must be taught. Nevertheless, one of the lessons I’m mindful of is that there’s a special honor and respect which must be given to the history of the enslaved Africans and their ancestors, African Americans.
The 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in the United States was ratified on Dec. 6, 1865. As our stories are still forced to evolve on slow timelines, 50 years needed to pass before the Study of Negro Life and History was organized in 1915 by historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson and minister Jesse E. Moorland. The organization’s mission was to dedicate time to research, highlighting the achievements by Africans and Black Americans to ensure that the history of Blacks in America is remembered.
One week wasn’t enough
In 1926, Woodson accomplished one of his goals of sponsoring the Negro History Week, so that the nation could recognize the history of the “Negro.” The second week of February was chosen intentionally to honor the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Thanks to the always forward thinking minds of young adults on college campuses, in the 1960s Black History Month (also known as African-American Month) was birthed out Negro History Week. Continuing the legacy of pioneers like Woodson, Moorland, and W.E.B. Du Bois, the organization is now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
Celebrating Negro History Week and Black History Month included yearly themes. The first theme recorded was in 1928, Civilization: A World Achievement. Some, eerily corresponding with current events, are worth mentioning.
- 1955 – The year of the Montgomery boycott. Theme: Negro History: A Contribution to America’s Intercultural Life
- 1968 – The year Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Theme: The Centennial of the 14th Amendment Afro American History Week
- 2009 – The year Senator Barack H. Obama was sworn in as the first Black and 44th President of the United States (POTUS). Theme: The Quest for Black Citizenship in America
- 2017 – The commencement of President Obama’s second term as the 45th POTUS. Theme: The Crisis in Black Education
- 2021 – The year Senator Kamala Harris became the 49th Vice POTUS. Theme: The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity
Presidential proclamations
In a tradition which is still observed today by presidents, President Gerald Ford is credited for the official recognition of BHM and its theme in 1976. But, notwithstanding both the bitter and sweet experiences which accompany BHM every year, this year seems to have lost its presidential honor. On January 20, post his inaugural ceremony, President Donald J. Trump signed more than 20 executive orders including “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government Dei Programs and Preferencing.” Section 2 reads:
Sec. 2. Implementation. (a) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), assisted by the Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), shall coordinate the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.
With a pen’s stroke, 58 years of Affirmative Action was gone. This order reversed President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Executive Order 11246 issued on Sept. 24, 1965 and its amendment in 1967 which replaced his 1961 Executive Order 10925. Executive Order 11246 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 opened the door for Affirmative Action policies and programs geared to dismantle discrimination against minority groups, women, or on the basis of sex in work and educational spaces.
On Jan. 22, only nine days before BHM, DEI went under siege when President Donald Trump ordered administrative leave and the laying off of all federal diversity, equity and inclusion staff. Chaos, uncertainty, stress and financial woes ensued and its ripple effect was felt around the world. With our hearts in our hands even now, we feel the range of emotions: shock, anger, betrayal, fear and deep offense that keeps circulating through our bodies looking for justice.
BHM 2025: POTUS celebrates African-Americans and labor
Ironically, BHM’s 2025 theme was African-Americans and Labor and exactly one month after abolishing the policies which helped African Americans access better jobs, in keeping with tradition, the White House celebrated the accomplishments and hard work of the Black community. One moment in this celebration has taken the news media, and religious community, by surprise. During the White House BHM celebration a group of people, some with cut out pictures of Dr. Jamal Bryant, pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist church in Stonecrest, Georgia, were recorded mocking him. April Ryan, the senior White House correspondent, posted it on her social media.
The endangered firewall
On Feb. 23, in a live interview on Youtube with journalist Don Lemon, Bryant spoke about the incident. The interview and Luke 4:18 inspired this reflection on BHM, the empowerment of education, but also the compromised, weakened and endangered firewall of the advocacy and prophetic voice of the Black church. Scarce has become the voice of some spiritual leaders against these systems erected to eradicate the sanctity and value of all people as image bearers of God. And maybe, just maybe, God is allowing the exposure of all this blatant disregard for His Kingdom DEI principles so that the world can see that Christian nationalism, racism, fascism and all the other “isms” does not represent God…they do not act like Him, not think of Him…they do not have the mind of Christ. This I know for sure: God is looking for modern day Nehemiahs to assess the broken down Kingdom firewall and rebuild it.
“17 Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. “ Nehemiah 2:17
Luke 4:18: God’s executive order
Our outcry, statements, sermons, speeches, marches, votes, boycotts and conversations must be done with intentionality to speak truth to power, keeping before the world God’s disapproval of His children wielding the demonic weapons of injustice, racism and oppression. We must not work against the power of our anointing to fulfill Luke 4:18 and turn a blind eye when others are persecuted. We must be like Jesus, allowing the Holy Spirit to transform our words and deeds of advocacy into protective “firewalls” keeping danger out of their way. Woodson’s life, promoting the power of knowing Black history, can transcend into the call from God to know our identity in Him and protect the image of God in each other.
Latoya Hazell-Alcide is a Christian author, speaker, pastor, mom, social justice, mental health, abuse prevention advocate, and humanitarian.
More Reading
Black History Month 2025: Facts, Theme & Origins
Carter G. Woodson: The Man Behind Black History Month
ASALH – The Founders of Black History Month | BLACK HISTORY THEMES
Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing – The White House
A Brief History of Affirmative Action // Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity // UCI
Civil Rights Act | Summary, Facts, President, & History | Britannica
