As some of you may know, I love Black History Month, and I’ve been putting together a Black History Month social media series for the last few years. Each year, I’ve had a new intention. In the beginning, I highlighted Black history facts about individuals — in any field — that we don’t hear about often. In 2017, I began to focus on sharing tidbits related specifically to education. Toward the end of February 2017, I saw a note on someone else’s page imporing us to not let Black History Month be only a celebration of Black acceptance into White spaces. That stuck with me, so in 2018, I was intentional about highlighting Black folks who had made or are making significant contributions to Black education.
This year, I’ve challenged myself to find 28 little known facts about HBCUs and their alumni. Just like every year, I’ve had a great time putting these together, and I’ve learned a lot along the way. (In February 2017, for instance, one of the things I learned sparked what would become my first book investigation!)
The series has evolved from just a series of social media posts to full-on blog entries. Each image below shows quick facts about the institutions and individuals I chose to highlight, but if you click the individual images, they'll take you to the full blog posts on the subjects pictured. Enjoy!

I have a tradition of posting daily Black History Month facts, and I have traditionally centered them around education, because it overlaps with my professional area of expertise. Last year toward the end of the month, I was really inspired by a quote that implored us not to allow Black history to be limited to the celebration of Black entry into White spaces. So this year, I made an intentional effort to do two things: Highlight black excellence for black excellence's sake, rather than cloaking white acceptance as the only way for blacks to be excellent, and trying to highlight as many people who are still alive making current history as possible. 

The result was a beautiful, collaborative project that saw many I know and respect in the field of education lending their talents to help me tell a story. At the end of the month, I thought it would be a shame for all of that effort get buried under new tweets, so I've gathered them all here to share. 

February 1
On this day in 1960, four North Carolina State A&T University students sat at a Woolworth's lunch counter. Most of them would be unwelcome in Greensboro after graduation, but they'd go on to live very successful lives thereafter. Here's a quick slideshow I put together updating you on the lives of the Four: http://slide.ly/view/274de01828809ccdbb3216add72f4e72?utm_source=Fb_ORG_Share

February 2
Today's #BlackHistoryMonth"fact" is actually an analysis of #highered flagships' exclusion of black students, and a reminder that these institutions were not created for these students. No matter what the @AJC says, we still need HBCUs:
https://www.educationdive.com/news/who-is-the-flagship-intended-to-serve/516175/

February 3
Only 2% of educators across the country are black men. @TuskegeeU, @AlcornStateU, @SouthernU_BR, @ClaflinUniv1869 and @UAPBinfo are working to change that through a $1.5M project funded by the William Kellogg Foundation. More here:
https://www.educationdive.com/news/hbcus-form-15m-national-black-male-teacher-training-initiative/437943/

February 4
In honor of my Philadelphia Eagles playing in #SBLII tonight, some #Philly-flavored #BlackHistoryMonth fact for you: Sharif El-Mekki founded the Black Male Educators for Social Justice Fellowship to double the number of black male teachers in Philadelphia, grow the pipeline & reduce attrition. Learn more: 
https://1000x2025.org/

February 5
Today marks the beginning of #BlackLivesMatterAtSchool, a #BlackLivesMatter Week of Action. It was launched last year by educators in Philly and Seattle & is slowly spreading across the country. 
https://www.facebook.com/The-National-Black-Lives-Matter-Week-of-Action-in-Our-Schools-192373061312325/

February 6
The minis and I visited College Park Aviation Museum and the Field of Firsts Foundation Saturday & learned about John W. Greene, aviation pioneer & Hampton University- Official grad who founded the aviation mechanics program @GoDCPhelpsHS & oversaw @HowardU's Civil Pilot Training Program. #BlackHistoryMonth Read More: 
http://history.pgparks.com/…/Columbia_Air_Center/History.htm
In addition to Howard University, Hampton University- Official, TUSKEGEE UNIVERSITY, West Virginia State University, North Carolina A&T State University, and Delaware State University were chosen to train Black pilots following the 1939 Civilian Pilot Training Act after Hampton, TU & Wilberforce University presidents lobbied for black inclusion in Army Air Corps #BlackHistoryMonth

February 7
#otd in 1887 in Baltimore, jazz great Eubie Blake was born! Hear #HipHopEd founder and Teachers College, Columbia University Associate Professor Chris Emdin talk about the evolution of black music and how music connects to teaching and learning. 
#BlackHistoryMonth #edchat
https://vimeo.com/254516771

February 8
The Trump administration is pushing vocational ed as the way ahead for the country. Here’s what Booker T. Washington, TUSKEGEE UNIVERSITYfounder -- the godfather of Black vocational ed, had to say about its potential in 1896: 
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1896/09/the-awakening-of-the-negro/305449/?utm_source=atltw

February 9
Ronald Preston Clark started Young Brother Book Club in 2015 w/ his 8th grade science students as a space to discuss issues impacting black men in US. He’s now working to expand it county-wide to buck trend of only 30% of black HSers in Cali reading on-grade level. He solicited donations to buy hand-chosen books to put into the hands of 100 students in the San Diego area that reaffirm their idenities as young black men. #BlackHistoryMonth

February 10
The “miserableness” of the educational experience for Black students, from K-12 through #highered, often dissuades them from returning to the classroom. @nate_bowling and other Black educators shed some light on this in a recent @NNSTOY blog: 
https://youtu.be/LNFCxlLmi5U #BlackHistoryMonth

February 11
Most people I've seen discussing the Super Bowl ads are particularly displeased with @Dodge's use of an anti-capitalism speech from Dr. King to sell trucks. Here, I break apart one of his earliest writings, on equity in education.
https://medium.com/@a2arnett/as-we-honor-the-legacy-of-dr-king-lets-focus-on-equity-and-character-in-education-db628ffe5a8b

February 12
Today marks the 109th anniversary of the @NAACP. Many of you know the organization has been vocal in its stance against charter schools, particularly for-profits. Here, @DrChanceWLewis discusses benefits & drawbacks of charters for black families.
https://twitter.com/A2Arnett/status/963050525557174272
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February 13
Last year, the story of the Boston Latin School (founded #otd in 1635) led to this: 
https://medium.com/identity-education-and-power/lets-stop-using-the-term-achievement-gap-8379ef8dd9e2
When we talk about equitable outcomes for black students, important to remember the system was never set up for them--and in many ways, hasn’t caught up. #BlackHistoryMonth

February 14
#otd in 1867, Morehouse College was founded as a Augusta Theological Institute in the basement of Springfield Baptist Church, which is the oldest independent Black church in the U.S. Happy Founders Day to all of the Morehouse Men!

February 15 
In the spirit of #BlackPantherWeekend, today for #BlackHistoryMonth, I’m highlighting the Oakland Community School, the Black Panther liberation school founded in 1973 -- 15 years before what the edu community recognizes as 1st charter school. Read more: 
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/10/06/black-panther-school-ahead-of-its-time/

February 16
Wilberforce University is the first black owned and operated institution of higher education in the United States, and was founded #otd in 1856. #BlackHistoryMonth #HBCU

February 17
Several Nobel Prize winners were born in February. At the suggestion of @STEMhasSoul, here’s a list of black researchers and inventors whose work went unrecognized because of discriminatory patent approval processes http://theconversation.com/americas-always-had-black-inventors-even-when-the-patent-system-explicitly-excluded-them-72619 #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackandSTEM

February 18
James Jay Bailey and Phoenix Leadership Foundation are sponsoring 700 Atlanta-area students to see Black Panther Tuesday as an educational experience reinforcing positive imagery of blacks on screen. #BlackHistoryMonth#ATL #RepresentationMatters

February 19
Stanley Nelson's "Tell Them We Are Rising" documentary premiered today, offering a very problematic characterization of Booker T. Washington as an Uncle Tom who sold his people out to those who sought to relegate black people in this country to permanent worker status. In reality, as @birds_world so eloquently pointed out, Booker T, who was born a slave, "understood that a generation removed from slavery we couldn’t build families and advance as a people group without tangible, profitable skills." You can't have the success of a W.E.B. du Bois without the balance from Booker T. Washington and the Tuskegee Institute. #HBCU #BlackHistoryMonth

February 20
Piggybacking on the success of #BlackPanther and the excitement over #HBCURising this weekend, some groups are making a renewed push to donate to HBCUS. #BlackHistoryMonth
https://twitter.com/IAmACreatorCltv/status/965648878434508802

February 21
Howard University Africana Studies Department Chair Greg Carr says "one of the unexplored voices on #HBCUs are the thousands of faculty who can and should tell the stories of these institutions. They are the institutional memory and the heart of the institutions." And it's often their voices and stories that are pushed out in favor of other experts when the stories are being told.  #HBCURising #HBCUFacultyRising

February 22
Clark Atlanta University was formed in 1988 by the merger of two esteemed institutions of Black education: Clark College, established as the nation's first liberal arts institution for Black students in 1869, and Atlanta University, the nation's first black graduate institution, originally formed in 1865.

February 23
Erica Buddington, a 6th grade teacher in Brooklyn, founded Langston League to provide culturally relevant and equitable curricula for students of color. She hopes to one day open a school designed to do the same. See thread below: 
https://twitter.com/ericabuddington/status/959962239032856579

February 24
#Otd in 1999, Lauryn Hill won 5 grammies for “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” the title of which was taken from #BlackHistoryMonth founder Carter G. Woodson’s “Mis-education of the Negro” -- main idea: Black students were being culturally indoctrinated, not taught, in schools.  Recent studies about the persistent failure of US schools to teach slavery and the whitewashing of history texts across the country in general stand as a current example of how, 85 years later, the mis-education of the Negro persists.

​February 25
7 "regular kids at an HBCU" met as freshman on the campus of @HowardU in 1986. Now, they're taking over the #STEM world and reshaping education for the better. #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackandSTEM https://renettatull.wordpress.com/2018/02/06/the-hu7-7-engineering-students-7-phds-heres-where-we-are-now-thinkbigdiversity-blackandstem/

February 26
.@KyStateU’s chairwoman is also Kentucky’s first black superintendent. I recently talked to her about her path to the superintendent’s office and commitment to raising outcomes for all students. https://www.educationdive.com/news/kentuckys-first-black-superintendent-reflects-on-her-journey-and-mastery/517791/

February 27
Brittany Mosby, @TNHigherEd's new director of HBCU success and a @SpelmanCollege alumna, talks about what the position means for her, personally and professionally in the latest video in my #BlackHistoryMonth series. Check it out: https://youtu.be/rWCBiROs0E4
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February 28
@dajaemwilliams gave up a basketball scholarship to pursue her dream of becoming an engineer at @missouriSandT. She’s headed for a gig at @NASA and is using her passion for hip-hop to inspire other young folks to build a love of #STEM: https://youtu.be/zU_Au5Spx_Q. And I’m recruiting her as a mentor for my daughter, Jordyn, another aspiring black engineer who turns 10 day!