Origins of Black History Month

Photo by Andrea De Santis, Flickr, and sentidos humanos

I love email for so many reasons. One is because it brings learning opportunities directly to my phone and I can share them here, like the first item below. While I don’t necessarily love work meetings, it’s the source for item two about the origins of Black History Month. And lastly, yet another item in this series that talks about health and longevity.

Automation’s Effect on Jobs

One of my favorite weekly emails that arrives in my inbox comes from Noema Mag. This week, they shared a story about automation's effect on jobs, teaching me that each new robot employed in industrial production eliminates an average of 3.3 jobs.

While I support technology that reduces labor and increases happiness, we don’t yet live in a society that accounts for this. Instead, society uses technology to harm workers and increase profits.

Carter Woodson - Black History Month

The recognition and celebration of Black History Month means diving into how it began. Carter Woodson, born in 1875, was a Black scholar who firmly believed Black people should be proud of their heritage and American people should celebrate their achievements.

He started “Negro History Week” in 1926 to fall on the second week of February because of the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Carter died in 1950, and Negro History Week became Black History Month in 1976.

Increasing Life Expectancy

I’ve touched on diet and health many times in this series and will continue to do so. This week, it’s sharing a study that finally put a number on how many years a healthy diet can add to your life.

Switching from a typical Western diet to one that includes more legumes, whole grains, and nuts, while reducing processed and red meat, can on average increase life expectancy by 10 years for individuals who make the switch at 20 years old. Improving your diet at later stages in life is still shown to increase life expectancy.