To mark Black History Month, Initiatives in Art and Culture links central themes regarding Black history in America with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the United Nations in 2015, as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The 17 SDGs are integrated, recognizing that action in one area will affect outcomes in others and that development must balance social, economic, and environmental sustainability.

Etched in the collective consciousness are images such as this of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the March 1965 Selma to Montgomery march. The words from his speech “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution” given at the National Cathedral on March 31, 1968, continue to resonate: “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” In pursuit of justice and SDG Goal 10, we must continue the work.