--- description: "Just in case we want to have a parade" title: Chris Rock: Black History Month in the Coldest, Shortest Month of Year image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [celebrities](/tag/celebrities/) ## celebrities Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Chris Rock Has a Theory Why Black History Month Is in February by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 12, 2015 8:41 PM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 12, 2015 8:41 PM CUT Comedian Chris Rock isn’t one to shy away from conversations about race. In a new video for[ _Essence_](http://www.essence.com/video/chris-rock-black-history-month "undefined"), the _Top Five_ star sounds off on a topic that’s of particular interest this February: Black History Month. “Black History Month is in the shortest month of the year, and the coldest—just in case we want to have a parade,” Rock says. And though Rock jokes about February being the one month that black is “in,” in the two-minute clip he also reflects on the prejudice and racism African-Americans faced in the Jim Crow South around the time he was born in South Carolina. “I was born in ’65 in South Carolina,” Rock says. “We were not mixed up with white babies.” Watch the full video at [_Essence.com_ ](http://www.essence.com/video/chris-rock-black-history-month "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3707793/chris-rock-black-history-month/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3707793/chris-rock-black-history-month/"},"headline":"Chris Rock Has a Theory Why Black History Month Is in February","datePublished":"2015-02-12T20:41:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:23:29.674Z","description":"\"Black History Month is in the shortest month of the year, and the coldest—just in case we want to have a parade\"","url":"https://time.com/3707793/chris-rock-black-history-month/","keywords":["celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3707793/chris-rock-black-history-month/","name":"Chris Rock Has a Theory Why Black History Month Is in February"}}]}] ```