Day 46: Black History Month

Black History Month celebrates contributions made by African Americans and people of African descent around the world. An African American man named Dr. Carter G. Woodson in 1926 started it.  Back then, it was called Negro History Week and was celebrated the second week of February.  Now it is celebrated for the whole month of February in the United States and Canada, and the month of October in the United Kingdom. Dr. Woodson studied African American culture and encouraged other people to study it, too. He felt it was important for people to recognize the great contributions black people have made. He devoted his life to educating people as a teacher, a writer, and a publisher. He was also a political activist who worked to make sure the government treated African Americans fairly.

Negro History Week was set for the second week in February to celebrate the birthdays of two people who worked hard for African Americans: Abraham Lincoln, the white president who freed the slaves, and Frederick Douglass, the first African American Vice Presidential nominee.  Negro History Week became Black History Month in 1976, in celebration of our nation's 200th birthday. Since its inception in 1926, Negro History Week and Black History Month have been given annual themes. The first annual theme was simply, "The Negro in History," but since then the themes have grown more specific. This year’s theme is “African Americans and the Civil War”.

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF or BDPA Foundation) is a 501(c)3 non-profit charity, founded in 1992 to support the education and technical programs of Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA). BETF recognizes that to close the gap of computer and technology literacy, minority youth must participate and compete in today’s digital economy.  They want students from historically disadvantaged communities to learn advanced computer science and community responsibility from any of the BDPA chapters located around the nation.

African Americans make up 24% of the working population in America, however only 13% of the IT industry employees are African Americans.  Further, African Americans in the IT Industry earned but 84% of the salaries paid to their counterparts.  There is still a need to ‘bridge the digital divide’.

In 1986, they began developing high school youth for future entrance into the IT industry through the Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) program.  Annually, they train up to 900 of these students in after-school computer camps on the latest computer and Internet website developing languages as well as the much-needed industry knowledge and presentation skills.  

Donation: $5

To support BDPA Education and Technology Foundation, please visit: http://www.betf.org/