Wayne County celebrates Black History Month

February is Black History Month in the United States. The Association for the Study of African American Life and History says on its website (asalh.org) that Black History Month was founded 100 years ago by Dr. Carter G. Woodson. At that time the celebration, formerly known as Negro History Week, became a month-long celebration as a way to promote, research, preserve, interpret and disseminate information about Black life, history and culture to the global community.

February was chosen to honor the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas, both of whom were involved in the shaping of Black history. In Ohio, Feb. 3 was designated as Charles Follis Day in 2018. A graduate of Wooster High School, Follis was the first Black professional American football player. He played for the Shelby Blues. Wooster High School’s Follis Field is named in his honor.

Numerous events in the area to celebrate the month have already included a step show with food vendors and children’s educational activities, held at the Lyric Theater in Wooster.

The College of Wooster’s Black History Month guest speaker, Dr. Lee A. McBride III, the Frank Halliday Ferris chair of philosophy, spoke recently on the campus on Insurrectionist Ethics and Angela Davis.

COW will host a Black History Month Celebration and Art Showcase for students, faculty and staff at the end of the month.

Wayne County Public Library’s children’s department held a Bibliobop dance party to celebrate the month. Retired Wooster High School teacher and alumna Mady Noble suggests taking children to the library this month to explore the Black History Month books, videos and activities available.

“Black History Month has always played a big role in my teaching career,” Noble said. “It is a reminder of our country’s upward path toward freedom and justice for all and also of the cruelty and violence of the slavery and segregation eras.”

She contrasted that with a different meaning today.

“Black History Month 2026 will be remembered in the future as a time when Black and White Americans could feel their country slipping back to times when equal treatment was not guaranteed," she said. "The landmark Civil Rights laws of 1964-65, intended to protect Black rights, have in the present been used to deny them.

“Celebrating Black history is more important than ever to bring Black people’s stories of both triumph and struggle into our public schools and to resist the erasure of them, happening every day in our national parks and elsewhere. Americans today stand at a threshold. Are we staying true to the premise that ‘all men are created equal?’ The recognition of Black History Month has the potential to bring us together in reaffirming those core roots and values. I believe that the documented truth of our American past lights each generation’s path forward and makes us stronger together.”

The following poem was written for Wooster Weekly News by a local community member — a mother, grandmother and artist. The poem, dedicated to her grandchild, is a reflection on Black history as it affects the poet’s life.

Remember the Roots

Remember the roots within your bones.

Acknowledge the past and learn to grow.

Remember the roots within your bones.

Don't let the world set your tone.

Remember the roots within your bones.

Honor your ancestors; you are never alone.

Remember the roots within your bones.

Our history is deep, and it is yours to own.

Remember the roots within your bones.

Our heritage is history (ignore the man on the throne).

Remember the roots within your bones.

Seek the truth and let it be known.

Remember the roots within your bones.

Inherit your power, treasure it like a moonstone.

Remember the roots within your bones.

You are God’s creation, distinctly sewn.