Black History Month is February because Negro History Week was in February. Negro History Week was in February because of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln's birthdays. But we don't actually know Frederick Douglass's birthday.
Frederick Douglass was kept apart from his mother by the man who enslaved them both, and only saw her a few times in his life. Like many enslaved people, he did not know his birthday.
In one version of the telling, his mother once referred to him as "my valentine." In another, she made him a heart-shaped cake the last time they met. Either way, he said he took it as a clue, and as an adult he chose Valentine's Day as his birthday.
Happy birthday, Mister Douglass. 
Depriving a child of his birthday is a tiny thing next to depriving him of his mother, and yet.
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