Celebrating 2025 Black History Month

“Whenever you are engaged in work that serves humanity and is for the building of humanity, it has dignity, and it has worth.” – Martin Luther King

At FocusWorks, we take time every February to recognize Black History Month as an annual opportunity to reflect, celebrate, and provide education on the history, culture, and the indelible contributions of African Americans to life in the United States.

Established in 1926 as Negro History Week by historian/author/journalist Carter G. Woodson, the celebration revolves around a different theme every year. The theme for 2025 – African Americans and Labor – focuses on “the various and profound ways that work and working of all kinds – free and unfree, skilled, and unskilled, vocational and voluntary – intersect with the collective experiences of Black people.”

Black History Month is a chance for all of us to reflect on Black Americans’ progress in every field, from politics and entertainment to education and business and beyond, while also acknowledging the ongoing issues that continue to plague today’s Black communities. It’s also about education, with schools and museums across the country working to provide historical context and foster important conversations.

At FocusWorks, we work everyday training leaders and their teams to thrive and succeed. As a Black-owned business we are ever mindful of those Black Americans that have worked so hard to pave the way for our success. From Harriet Tubman to Booker T. Washington, From Frederick Douglass to Rosa Parks, from Louis Armstrong to Diana Ross, from Malcolm X to Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall to Barack Obama, Clarence Avant to Oprah Winfrey, Mae Jemison to Victor Glover, Maya Angelou to Amanda Gorman, black leaders continue to inspire generation after generation to do the work necessary to move forward in the face of formidable odds.

For all of us at FocusWorks, this year’s Black History Month inspires a renewed commitment to confront racial injustice and continue to do the real work necessary to build bridges and create cultures of inclusion and understanding at a time of deep political divisions.