We need not have a history of selected races or nations...

"We should emphasize not Negro History, but the Negro in history. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice."  ~Carter Woodson, 1926

Carter Woodson created "Negro History Week" in 1926 for the purpose expressed above and was celebrated the second week of February to commemorate the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and (roughly) Frederick Douglass. The week was later expanding into a month.