The month of February is identified
by many different occasions and holidays.
We recognize President’s Day, which celebrates the birthday of President
George Washington. Arkansas recognizes Daisy Gaston Bates Day, which honors the civil rights activist for
her role in the integration of Little Rock Central High School in 1957. And I should mention that Valentine’s Day,
although not a federal or state recognized holiday, occupies as much (if not
more) of our time as either of these days.
But since 1920, February has had the distinct recognition of being a month in which we can cram everything we know about black history into 28 days. Carter G. Woodson chose February to honor President Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. It was in 1920, while pursuing a doctorate at Harvard, that Woodson founded “Negro History and Literature Week”.
He wanted to bring attention to the contributions that black people had made and to show that their history was an integral part of U.S. history. But in doing this, Carter noted that there was no respectable mention of black people in history books. In many books, they were either ignored or mainly represented as slaves. Black figures in American history were not given the same intellectual examination that is always given to white figures that were in the same time period. A good example of this is Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
Now we fast forward to 1975, where “Negro History Week” has now been expanded to “Black History Month”. This expansion was bolstered by President Gerald Ford’s urging of all Americans to “recognize the important contribution made to our nation's life and culture by black citizens”. All US Presidents have carried on this message of “recognition” since then. However, we have not done all that we can do.
Black history, ironically, remains as segregated from the rest of American history in a manner similar to the public facilities of the Jim Crow south of the early 1900s. It has become the “optional” history to learn about and understand, simply because it has its own month. It would be in our best interests and the interests of future generations for us to craft our history in the most unified way possible. But even in properly interspersing Black history throughout American history, we must be extra careful in telling and sharing the history.
The history of black people in America is largely tied to the some of the most negative and shameful moments in American history. The path to citizenship for black people began with nearly 250 years of forced slavery and it continued for another 100 years with legally supported segregation in the Jim Crow era. Not to mention, the abolishment of slavery was not always the top legislative agenda. Additionally, the abolishment of Jim Crow practices, such as the introduction of anti-lynching legislation, was usually filibustered and defeated in the halls of Congress. If one were to take an objective look at America’s past, it would seem that freedom and equality for its black citizens was never in the equation.
Because America has not had a serious discussion about its racist history, this makes it particularly difficult to produce an educational curriculum that places Black history in the proper context within American history. This limits us in too many ways to list here. As referenced above, we learn all about the lives and times of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, and countless more American heroes. But little (and sometimes incorrect) information is given about Benjamin Banneker, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Daniel Hale Williams, and Charles R. Drew.
Black History Month can still be a great tool to learn about American history. However, we must work harder to see that our history does not remain segregated. If we can put our history together and tell the story the way it needs to be told, we can come together and be the stronger America we always strive to be.
But since 1920, February has had the distinct recognition of being a month in which we can cram everything we know about black history into 28 days. Carter G. Woodson chose February to honor President Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. It was in 1920, while pursuing a doctorate at Harvard, that Woodson founded “Negro History and Literature Week”.
He wanted to bring attention to the contributions that black people had made and to show that their history was an integral part of U.S. history. But in doing this, Carter noted that there was no respectable mention of black people in history books. In many books, they were either ignored or mainly represented as slaves. Black figures in American history were not given the same intellectual examination that is always given to white figures that were in the same time period. A good example of this is Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
Now we fast forward to 1975, where “Negro History Week” has now been expanded to “Black History Month”. This expansion was bolstered by President Gerald Ford’s urging of all Americans to “recognize the important contribution made to our nation's life and culture by black citizens”. All US Presidents have carried on this message of “recognition” since then. However, we have not done all that we can do.
Black history, ironically, remains as segregated from the rest of American history in a manner similar to the public facilities of the Jim Crow south of the early 1900s. It has become the “optional” history to learn about and understand, simply because it has its own month. It would be in our best interests and the interests of future generations for us to craft our history in the most unified way possible. But even in properly interspersing Black history throughout American history, we must be extra careful in telling and sharing the history.
The history of black people in America is largely tied to the some of the most negative and shameful moments in American history. The path to citizenship for black people began with nearly 250 years of forced slavery and it continued for another 100 years with legally supported segregation in the Jim Crow era. Not to mention, the abolishment of slavery was not always the top legislative agenda. Additionally, the abolishment of Jim Crow practices, such as the introduction of anti-lynching legislation, was usually filibustered and defeated in the halls of Congress. If one were to take an objective look at America’s past, it would seem that freedom and equality for its black citizens was never in the equation.
Because America has not had a serious discussion about its racist history, this makes it particularly difficult to produce an educational curriculum that places Black history in the proper context within American history. This limits us in too many ways to list here. As referenced above, we learn all about the lives and times of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, and countless more American heroes. But little (and sometimes incorrect) information is given about Benjamin Banneker, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Daniel Hale Williams, and Charles R. Drew.
Black History Month can still be a great tool to learn about American history. However, we must work harder to see that our history does not remain segregated. If we can put our history together and tell the story the way it needs to be told, we can come together and be the stronger America we always strive to be.
