This Month’s Focus: Education & The History of Black August, News In Progress

August is a potent month historically – the first enslaved Africans were brought to America in August. The deaths of W.E.B. Du Bois, the Jackson brothers, and Mike Brown happened in August, as well as the births of Marcus Garvey and Fred Hampton.

Dr William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868 – 1963), 82-year old anthropologist and publicist, co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) who has been nominated as the American Labor Party candidate for Senator from New York. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

Nat Turner’s slave rebellion, the underground railroad, the March on Washington, and the Ferguson riots all started in August, too.

But Black August was born out of prison resistance movements in the 1970s, as freedom fighters like George Jackson and the San Quentin Six fought for liberation. In solidarity, many revolutionaries utilize August as a more radical Black History moment.

Colorized illustration (after a woodcut published in 1831) depicts scenes from a rebellion of enslaved people, under the leadership of Nat Turner, August 21 – 23, 1831. The original woodcut, titled ‘Horrid Massacre In Virginia,’ was published in Samuel Warner’s pamphlet ‘Authentic and Impartial Narrative of the Tragical Scene,’ described the scenes as, from left, a woman pleading for the lives of her children, the murder of an enslaver identified as ‘Mr Travis,’ and another man, a ‘Mr Barrow,’ defending himself as his wife escapes. The enslaved peoples, with the aid of some so-called ‘free blacks,’ killed between 50 and 60 victimsÑlater white mobs, assisted by militias, killed more than 120 enslaved people and free blacks in retaliation. Turner himself was captured several days after the pamphlet’s publication and executed the following November. (Photo by Science Source/Photo Researchers History/Getty Images)

Why should you talk about Black August? (1) Not many folks know about it. (2) “Black August is a time to embrace the principles of unity, self-sacrifice, political education, physical training, and resistance,” explains Black Opinion.

Studying Black history, and organizing our communities around Black resistance and uplift, is essential throughout the year. But an embrace of Black August and its values can invigorate our efforts to fight for justice on and offline.

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