100 Years of Resilience: What Black History Keeps Teaching Us

By: Demorrious D. Robinson
Co-Chair of the Insource BIPOC Affinity Group

In February 1926, Carter G. Woodson, a Harvard-educated historian and son of formerly enslaved parents, launched what he called “Negro History Week,” choosing the second week of February to honor the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Woodson believed deeply that a people without knowledge of their history is like a tree without roots. For fifty years, that week served as an annual touchstone of reflection and pride. Then in 1976, President Gerald Ford officially expanded the observance to the full month, recognizing February as Black History Month on the national stage. This year, 2026, the nation celebrates 100 years of exalting Black history at a national level.

The greatest predictor of future behavior is past behavior. That truth matters more now than ever.

This blog is written several days into Black History Month, not because there wasn’t excitement to publish it, but quite the contrary. My grandmother told me on many occasions that cooler heads prevail. Looking at what is going on in today’s society can evoke a barrage of emotions, from excitement, joy, and hope on one end to hopelessness, anger, and despair on the other.

A quick glance at the media is enough to engulf anyone in those emotions. As the Co-Chair of the BIPOC Committee, the banner we represent compels you to see what so many people of different nationalities are forced to endure. It is easy to get caught up in the negative emotions that sprout up, especially when seeing everything from families being ripped apart to racist propaganda being shared like a favorite snack passed around a room.

These realities can make you angry, distant, withdrawn, and even isolated. But today, I am grateful for the quote: “If you want to predict future behavior, examine past behavior.” I am grateful because while many atrocities are happening around us, a look back across 100 years of celebrated Black history reveals an undeniable truth: when times are tough, tougher people emerge.

Consider what history has already shown us. In the era of slavery, there arose the Abolitionists and the Underground Railroad. When Jim Crow Laws sought to legislate inferiority and crush dignity, the NAACP was born to fight back. When segregation sought to separate and diminish, the Civil Rights Movement rose up with giants like Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. leading the charge. When redlining sought to lock Black families out of generational wealth, Black Wall Street emerged, and the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma stood as a living testament to Black self-sufficiency and economic power.

When Black Americans were taxed without political voice, the Voting Rights Act prevailed. When buses became battlegrounds for dignity, the Montgomery Bus Boycott succeeded. When Edmund Pettus Bridge became a test of will, marchers crossed it and showed the world its power. When school doors were barricaded by hate, Ruby Bridges walked through them with her head held high. When they ridiculed the dream, Dr. King was properly and federally recognized. When the highest office in the land had never known a Black man, Barack Obama walked through those doors and broke into the nation’s longest-running segregated fraternity. And when George Floyd died, he died loud, carried by the voices of people around the world who refused to let the moment be silent.

So yes, the past is the greatest predictor of future behavior. And if those were the proud actions of those who rose in their darkest hours, I can’t wait to see what the next 100 years will hold.

If you would like to see more about these moments and continue exploring the milestones that shaped our present, please visit: https://www.history.com/articles/black-history-milestones