2026 marks the 100th Anniversary of Dr. Carter G. Woodson establishing Negro History Week (later Black History Month) to recognize the contributions of African-Americans to the history of the United States. Just 100 years that we as a country have begun to celebrate the countless and continuous contributions of Black people to this American experiment. It comes at a time when the country itself celebrates 250 years of existence. It should come as no surprise to you as a reader that Black people have been here the entire time. Yet some are actively trying to question both the existence and contributions of Black people to the history of this country. In 2026 we find ourselves waged in a battle to stop the erasure of Black History. The Trump administration has been active in scrubbing the role that Black soldiers have played in fighting for freedom at home and abroad. They have scrapped plans to honor Ruby Bridges, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman with commemorative coins and bills. They have asked the Smithsonian to revise exhibitions that make slavery seem too harsh or vilify white slavers as violent. The truth of the matter is none of this is new.

When Dr. Woodson used his platform to establish Negro History Week, it came in the wake of extreme violence. Just seven years earlier Black communities around the country experienced attacks by white neighbors in what was referred to as the Red (or Bloody) Summer of 1919. Five years earlier Tulsa’s Black Wall Street was burned to the ground by white Tulsa residents. Just three years prior the community of Rosewood here in Florida would be destroyed by the surrounding white community. Throughout the 1920’s the country was experiencing the reemergence of the KKK in places like the Midwest and Southwest. Yet Dr. Woodson, resolute with fearlessness, knowledge and pride, established what would become Black History month as a reminder to both Black and white Americans that we have been here and were not going anywhere, despite the barrage of attacks.

So what does this mean for us in 2026? It means that not only should we take several pages from Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s playbook, but more importantly we have zero excuses in allowing those who mean us no good to erase what we’ve contributed to this country. For 100 years this country has begrudgingly had to accept that Black History is the American History this country has been afraid to talk about. So it is incumbent on each of us to stand ten toes down and continue Dr. Woodson’s legacy of being a credit to our race. As Dr. Woodson said “If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.” We cannot allow ourselves to fall victim to such negligence nor can we succumb to attempts to exterminate us. Stay woke!

Dwight M. Bullard is a former Florida state senator and the senior political advisor of Florida Rising.