Happy Black History Month! Happy Valentine’s Day! And, what does this day have to do with this month? The answer is quite LOVE-ly.

Never one to be outdone by what others deemed impossible, Frederick Bailey wanted a birthday—and a birthday he was going to have. First, he’d have to find out when it was.

For Black people enslaved, a birthday was as hard to come by as justice. He presumed his father to be the slave owner from whom he’d escaped; so he couldn’t ask him. 

His mother, Harriet Bailey, had been sold away from him when he was five; so he couldn’t ask her. But, he could remember stories she’d told him before being sold away.

She’d said he was born on a Talbot County, MD plantation in the ‘teens. He chose the mid-teens, 1818, for his birth year. She’d always called him her “little valentine.” He chose February 14 for his birth date. 

 So it was: Frederick had his birthday.

 Then . . .

In 1926, author and scholar Dr. Carter G. Woodson had an idea. He would open the gates of history to Blacks and usher us proudly through. To promote his vision, he created Negro History Week (now, Black History Month).

For this tribute, he chose the second week of February in honor of two birthdays: Abraham Lincoln’s, as signer of the Emancipation Proclamation, born February 12, 1809; and Harriet Bailey’s “little Valentine,” born February 14, 1818. Underground Railroad conductor, abolitionist, publisher, diplomat and self-emancipated ex-slave, he’d renamed himself Frederick Douglass.

We never know how our children will remember what we tell them or what will come back to them when they need it most. Frederick’s mother―a woman with so little to give―swaddled her son in the gift of her enduring love.

For this LOVE-ly reason, February is Black History Month. 

To honor our history and culture is to send a thankful bouquet to the ancestors, to ourselves and to our future.

Janus Adams hosts “The Janus Adams Show” on Saturdays at 12 noon on Radio Catskill, 90.5 FM. Learn more at janusadams.com.