LUBOCK, TX - February is Black History Month, and Texas Tech University’s history department is commemorating with faculty-led talks, film screenings and panel discussions, one of which honors 25 years of celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. 

Black History Month is an annual celebration recognizing the achievements and momentous role that African-Americans have and continue to contribute to U.S. history.

Barton Myers, history professor and Civil War historian, said the history department has been trying to put together a series of talks and panel discussions for Black History Month over the past few years, and it finally came together this year.

“It’s always been my opinion that as Americans we own all of American history,” Myers said, “both the good and the bad.”

Myers said he thinks it is wonderful that Texas Tech is hosting events to celebrate Black History Month, and it is important to highlight the role of minority communities in American history.

“As a Civil War historian,” Myers said, “I think it is fundamental to study African-American history.”

Myers said it is important not to only look back at 20^th century black history and the Civil Rights movement, but also to go as far back as the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

Myers led a brown bag lunch and discussion that covered a wide range of black history, but specifically examined black military resistance to the Confederacy during the Civil War. He said approximately 180,000 African-American soldiers aided the Union Army to victory, which was pivotal to American history.