Black History Month is celebrated each February. Since 1928, Black History Month has had a specific theme, and the theme this year is “Black Resistance”. This theme was chosen to explore how African Americans have continued to resist the systems created to reinforce the oppression and systemic wrong-doings toward Black people in America.

Schools often demonstrate that resistance started with run-away slaves or enslaved people rebelling against the enslaver, but truly, they started resisting on their way to America. There were many Africans who jumped off ships, overthrew their captors on the ships, and more. Black people have been exhibiting resistance from the beginning and continue to do so each and every day.

Education systems, police institutions, government systems, and more are all institutions and “resources” that are supposed to help everyone, but that is not always the case for Black people in America. Through this resistance have come great achievements, success, and progress. Though there is still a lot of work to do, we can appreciate the work of those then and now and continue to do the work they started.