Since their inception 97 years ago, black history observances in February have served as opportunities to celebrate African Americans’ rich contributions to government, politics, science, society, culture and other threads in the fabric of life in the U.S.

Black History Month also provides myriad opportunities to reflect upon those contributions as well as to listen anew to the powerful words and heed the responsible calls of civil-rights trailblazers. Taken together they can guide us toward a stronger and more-harmonious nation.

The roots of Black History Month date to 1926, when Dr. Carter G. Woodson and his Association for the Study of African American Life and History first declared Negro History Week, timed to encompass the February birthdays of famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass and venerated U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Over the decades, the observance expanded to one full month and spread to all corners of our country.

That proud tradition plays out this month throughout the Ohio Valley and the nation. “Black Resistance” has been selected as the theme behind 2023 observances nationwide. That apt theme runs through much of the history of African Americans on this continent. They have resisted all forms of discrimination and oppression most often nonviolently over the centuries to advocate for a dignified life and a meaningful piece of the American Dream.

The observance also rightfully continues to draw attention to the unique black experience in America.

Sadly, some of that experience remains mired in struggle, bias and tension.

The struggle endures in poverty rates that are three times as high for blacks than whites. It endures in low graduation rates and lackluster educational achievement in too many black communities. It endures in disturbingly high rates of black infant mortality in our region and nation.

And it endures most viciously in lingering attitudes among relatively small pockets of society that black lives still do not matter as much as white lives do. Witness, for example, the wanton murder of 10 black shoppers in a racist mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store last May.

Clearly, more profound attitude adjustment remains necessary. That process can start by better understanding the contributions of African Americans that have benefited all Americans. It can be enriched by listening again to the powerful and resonant voices of civil-rights and cultural heroes of bygone years who, true to this month’s black history theme, used resistance constructively for lasting change.

Listen, for example, to the impassioned pleas of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the icon of America’s civil-rights movement, on the necessity for the masses to peacefully engage in constructive actions ­– oftentimes in resistance to unfair aspects of the status quo — to warm race relations in this country.

King once said, “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualist concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

Those insightful words continue to reverberate today, and Americans of all backgrounds should embrace their timeless message. It and other voices of the past can provide renewed momentum toward crushing resurgent racist attitudes today.