CFA Celebrates and Honors Black History Month

Black history is American history.

CFA is proud to join with many educational and social justice organizations to honor Black Americans and their countless contributions to America – past, present, and future.

Throughout February, CFA will be sharing resources and articles in Headlines and on our social media accounts celebrating Black history, acknowledging the historical and present traumas, and pursuing a more just future. CFA members can use these Zoom backgrounds to help honor Black History Month.

First, we want to share this resource from the NAACP about Carter G. Woodson, who launched Negro History Week in 1926 which would later become Black History Month.

“After being barred from attending American Historical Association conferences despite being a dues-paying member, Woodson believed that the white-dominated historical profession had little interest in Black history. He saw African-American contributions ‘overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by the writers of history textbooks and the teachers who use them,’ ” the article explains.

From the expansion of slavery of Africans in America, to the historic forebearers of the Civil Rights movement, to the current attempts at voter suppression, we remember, and we take action. We remember as we strive for a more perfect union, a better democracy, and a more just America.

We honor Black History Month and also recognize that this shouldn’t just be a one-month celebration, but a 365-day remembrance, celebration, and advocacy of our history as we work for a better tomorrow.

Our path forward as a union – and as a society – is educating and learning through an anti-racism and social justice lens. It’s why we advocated for major systemic changes in our contract. It’s why CFA members advocate for Our Way Forward.

Over the coming Headlines issues, we will uplift the voices of our Black faculty and students as they work to enact our anti-Black racism demands for a better, bolder tomorrow for our CSU faculty, staff, and students.