Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, members of the Municipal Council and the Jersey City Department of Health and Human Services/Division of Cultural Affairs will hold a flag raising ceremony to mark Black History Month at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, February 19, 2013 at City Hall, 280 Grove Street. The flag-raising ceremony will be followed by a short program.

The Pan-African flag, also referred to as the Universal Negro Improvement Association flag, or Black Liberation flag, is a tri-color flag consisting of three horizontal bands colored: red, black and green. The Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and African Communities League adopted the flag on August 13, 1920.

“The African-American flag is a symbol of unity, suffrage, strength and dignity,” said

Mayor Healy. “In raising the flag, we are paying special respect to the countless contributions made by African Americans throughout the ages; contributions that continue to enrich our great city and great nation.”

Black History Month originated in 1926 when historian Carter G. Woodson developed what was known as “Negro History Week” in an effort to educate people about the accomplishments of Africans and African-Americans. Carter G. Woodson made it his cause to teach the broad spectrum of African-American history to all Americans, black and white alike.

In 1976, the celebration was expanded to include the entire month of February, the birth month of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, an African-American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman and abolitionist. Black History Month is celebrated to remember important individuals and events in African and African-American history. Carter G. Woodson is acknowledged as the Father of Black History.

This year’s observance of Black History Month marks the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement.

For more information, please contact the Division of Cultural Affairs at (201) 547-6921.