Valentine's Day and Presidents Day are the big holidays in February. Most retailers focus all of their attention on Valentine's Day gifts and Presidents Day sales. Chocolates, roses, stuffed animals and cards can be found everywhere, even at gas stations. After Valentine's Day, all the gifts that weren't bought go on sell. Not many people pass up that half-off chocolate.

Then it's time for Presidents Day promotions. Companies promote sales in retail, automotives and furniture. This one-day sale no one can miss out on, while missing out on history. The month of February is more than just the shortest month of the year; it is completely devoted to black history.

I have yet to see promotions of black history at a nearby 7-Eleven. There doesn't seem to be enough money in spreading history.

A little furry animal is even commercialized for Groundhog Day. Could a groundhog's shadow really be more important than remembering pieces of history?

Is the Black History Month celebration getting swept under the doormat?

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a phenomenal non-violent activist. Malcolm X was a great activist, "by any means necessary." These two men are always at the forefront of black history topics, which should be acknowledged. However, they aren't the only blacks who changed history.

Growing up in school, the main people students learned about were Martin, Malcolm and Harriet "Black Moses" Tubman . I had to do my own research to find out about the black physicist and mathematician Walter S. McAfee, the first black novelist published in the United States, Harriet E. Wilson, and the first black to play in the PGA golf tour, Dewey Brown; just to name a few.

I feel obligated to mention a small piece of history about black history, this being Black History Month. February was not established as Black History Month until 1976 by Afro-Americans for the Study of Afro-American Life and History.

Long before Black History Month, Negro History Week was established by Carter G. Woodson, director of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, in 1926. He is appropriately named the father of black history.

It's about time people are knowledgeable about other black trailblazers. Black history is American history, and Americans should be acknowledged.

This is not saying to only focus on black history during Black History Month. Because it is American history, black history can be focused on anytime in the year. However, when a month is set aside for black history, the least that can be done is to learn some history.