Black 365: A Year of Achievements, Culture, and Celebration
This blog post is part of our “Stronger Together Oregon” blog series that focuses on communities of color in Oregon.
Black History Month exceeds a 28-day period to reflect on the contributions of Black people throughout American history. It is a year-long celebration of Black joy, brilliance, intelligence, culture, and communities. Black history, multi-dimensional by nature, is created every day on a continuum. It is constantly changing, and driven forward by Black youth from a foundation their ancestors secured through strength and resilience.
Black history and American history are not mutually exclusive, but intricately connected. Black minds have made significant contributions to all disciplines, including notable advancements in physics, biology, medicine, psychology, and immunology. Gladys West, a Black mathematician, played a large role in developing global positioning system (GPS) technology during the 1970s and 1980s. Nadine Burke Harris is a Black pediatrician and author who became the first Surgeon General of California in 2019, after her groundbreaking work screening for and managing the consequences of Adverse Childhood Experiences transformed our understanding of early child development and lifelong health, ushering in a national movement focused on promoting early relational health to improve health outcomes for everyone. In 2020, immunologist Kizzmekia Corbett recognized that the spike protein of the SARS-COV2 virus could induce immunity to COVID-19 infection, and helped discover the structure of the spike protein, allowing the mRNA-based Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to enter Phase 1 clinical trials just 66 days after the viral sequence was released. The vaccine she helped create was found to be extremely effective and safe, and has now been successfully administered to millions of people across the U.S., and prevented countless infections and deaths from COVID-19. These women are just a few of the trailblazers who, acting as integral agents of mathematical, scientific, and medical ingenuity, have shaped American history. Black history is American history. The achievements of Black Americans have greatly contributed to American society as we know it.
During February and throughout 2022, Boost Oregon will proudly highlight Black Oregon-based community organizations, and achievements of Black people from recent history. We encourage everyone to celebrate Black history and culture all year long. We are excited to continue to focus on Black history and voices throughout the year.
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