15 Black Holidays, Celebrations and Festivals They Don't Teach You About in School – The Root

If it’s one thing about Black folks, we know how to party! Another thing: While African American history and culture is rarely honored, Black folks have taken it upon themselves to not only honor the legacy of slavery but also Black contributions to the arts and more. From Black Love Day all the way to Jerry Rescue Day, Black celebrations outside of Black History Month and Frederick Douglass Day should be marked on your calendar for this year and beyond.
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They say Valentine’s Day is for lovers, but February 13 is for Black love! Founded in 1993 by Washington, D.C. native Ayo Handy-Kendi, Black Love Day is a holiday meant to celebrate all types of love in the Black community, according to the New York Times. The holiday focuses on pride in being Black while also celebrating self-love and cultural preservation within the Black community.
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The legacy of civil rights leader Rosa Parks is one of the most celebrated and widely recognized across the world. Because of this, several states have different days in which they celebrate Parks. In Missouri and Massachusetts, Parks is celebrated on February 4, her birthday. But in Michigan and California, the first Monday after her birthday is when Rosa Parks day is honored. For many cities as well as in Ohio, Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, and Oregon Rosa Parks Day is celebrated on December 1, the day she was arrested while riding a segregated bus in Alabama, according to America’s Black Holocaust Museum.
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In 1862, Congress passed the Compensated Emancipation Act ending all chattel slavery in the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. Then-President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill into law on April 16 of that same year. With that, more than 3,000 enslaved people were granted permanent freedom, marking the first Emancipation Day. Every year since then, Black Americans remember the legacy of slavery and honor all of the lives affected by it.
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If you need another reason to pull out your best dashiki, use Oct. 30 to do so! On that day, many celebrate the rich history of the African garment and how Black Americans adapted it to our history. According to Africa Imports, in order to participate, all you have to do is wear your favorite dashiki.
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On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson debuted in the MLB, breaking the long-held color barrier in professional baseball. In 1997, after Robinson’s death in 1972, the MLB retired his number 42 across all major league teams. In 2004, the organization formally recognized April 15 as Jackie Robinson day. During the holiday, all players on MLB teams wear 42 on their jersey to honor the late, great baseball player and civil rights leader.
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While the rest of the world celebrates Christmas with ornate trees and family dinner, in the Bahamas, Junkanoo is celebrated on Boxing Day— the day after Christmas— with a huge festival filled with parades, great food, and community. The celebration has deep ties to chattel slavery, although Junkanoo has evolved other the years, according to the website. If you’re not a fan of the cold weather we experience on this side of the equator, this year could give you the perfect opportunity to spend Christmas a little more south in the Bahamas!
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What better way to welcome the summer weather than with African-American Music Appreciation Month? For the entire month of June, Black Americans’ contributions to music, including that of jazz, hip-hop, r&b, and country, are all celebrated in various ways. The holiday was initiated by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, but it wasn’t until 2000 that it was recognized with House Resolution 509.
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Aug. 17 marks the day Jamaican activist Marcus Garvey was born. Often regarded as a controversial figure in history, Garvey was key in making the “back to Africa” movement mainstream. He also created the Black Star Line which was a Black owned passenger line meant to carry Black people to and from the African continent, according to BBC. Today, people in Jamaica remember his birthday to celebrate the life and legacy of the activist.
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On May 19, 1925, American civil rights leader and activist Malcom X was born in Nebraska. In 2024, the Nebraska Legislature passed a bill recognized his birthday as a day of remembrance, according to KETV. Although they failed to make it a state holiday, Malcom X day is celebrated in X’s home state as well as in Berkeley, California, which first recognized the holiday in 1979.
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Oct. 17 is largely recognized as Black Poetry Day, honoring the contributions of Black poets and writers throughout American history. The holiday celebrates the likes of James Baldwin, Nikki Giovanni, Amanda Gorman and Paul Laurence Dunbar.
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According to the Daily Orange, William “Jerry” Henry was an enslaved Black man who fled to Syracuse, N.Y. after his escape from slavery. In 1851, Henry was captured in Syracuse, but when local residents got news of his arrest, they banded together to break Henry out of jail. “It was not only an act of resistance but also an act of hope, of the world they were hoping to come,” Rev. Dr. Eric Jackson, acting NAACP Syracuse branch president and a local pastor, told the news outlet. Almost 174 years later, we celebrate Oct. 1 as Jerry Rescue Day.
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As a consequence of chattel slavery, Tubman’s birthday is unknown, but the abolitionist and American hero died on March 10, 1913— which we now know as Harriet Tubman Day. Although there have been many calls to make the holiday federally observed, as of now, only the U.S. states of Maryland and New York recognize the day.
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This May, the Black Cowboy Festival will make its return for the 28th year. The festival, founded by S.C. natives Mark And Sandra Myers, was created to pay tribute to an integral part of American history that often gets overshadowed: the history of the Black cowboy. According to the website, the festival aims “to create a community- based flow of resources that will meet the needs of youth and adults through agriculture, arts, music, diversity, and education.”
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March 5 marks “Crispus Attucks Day,” a holiday to remember Crispus Attucks, a Black man killed in the Boston Massacre of 1770. He’s widely regarded as the first person killed by British soldiers in the massacre and consequently, the first hero of the American Revolution, according to the City of Boston.
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Known for her 1969 memoir “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” Maya Angelou was also a civil rights activist and a winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Angelou was a close friend to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and his wife, Coretta Scott King, and after his assassination in 1968, Angelou stopped celebrating her birthday, April 4, in remembrance of King. According to Wake Forest University, she and Coretta Scott would sent one another flowers on April 4. In Winston-Salem, N.C., Mayor Allen Joines declared Angelou’s birthday “The Dr. Maya Angelou Day of Reading.”
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Gilliam Nii Lighter

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