What Does Black History Month Mean To Me?

What does Black History Month Mean To Me? 


A lot...

In the broad, overarching sense, black history is at the core of American history. One could not tell the story of America without featuring black folk as essential players i.e. their contributions, struggle, and ultimately perseverance; however, this country's history has been told without giving African Americans due credit. When historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson established "Negro History Week" back in 1926, he noted that blacks' contributions to American history "were overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by the writers of history textbooks and the teachers who use them." It's in Dr. Woodson's original purpose, to better acknowledge the richness of black contributions to our country, with which I most agree and value. Furthermore, it's essential that kids are able to learn about who they are and the deep legacy which they inherit.  

When I was in elementary school, I couldn't really appreciate black history because it was framed as a story of "victimization." Looking back on my early encounters with my history as it was taught in public schools, the lack of detail or multiple perspectives greatly hampered my outlook; I thought black history was embarrassing (it pains me to type these words). Think about it like this; I would summarize my early understanding of black history in three statements: 

1. Black people were slaves to white people. 

2. Black people were segregated from white people and were treated unfairly. 

3. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came around and made everything better; now we're all equal.  

I also learned about other historic African American figures such as Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Jackie Robinson, and Rosa Parks. Basically, I was taught about who these people were, the obstacles they faced/overcame, and their contributions to black people... not American society overall, but just black people (that was the way it felt). After February, it felt as though these folks either disappeared as their posters were taken down or I wouldn't hear about them again until next year. A lot of this exposure to African American history felt like "lip service," but at home, it was definitely a different story. 

My parents grew up totally in blackness. Both my mother and father grew up in a racially divided 1960s and 1970s Washington D.C. and lived a lot of what I was learning in school. I remember my Dad telling me about seeing Dr. King in church as a little boy or my mother mentioning how she used to see James Brown in the Howard Theater for a Saturday afternoon matinee show (mind-blowing). My parents knew about the watered-down version of black history taught in my school and attempted an intervention of sorts by trying to teach me more, but I wasn't ready. At a young age, I wasn't ready to absorb and understand the complexity of the black experience - the pain or the joy. 

It wasn't until I participated in the W.E.B. DuBois Scholars Institute (essentially a nerd summer camp for minority scholars with an emphasis on African American history) in 2004 that I truly began to study and really appreciate black history. At this time, I was more mature and ready to take in the complexity of blackness. I enjoyed learning about different, and in my opinion, more interesting black historical figures including W.E.B. DuBois, Ida B. Wells, and of course Malcolm X. It was at the Institute that I learned that a people's history can be tragic in the atrocities, yet beautiful in the perseverance and triumphs. 

Today, I have a more favorable opinion of Black History Month. I am glad that it exists in that it increases awareness, but agree with the popular sentiment that by no means should the study or celebration of black history be limited to a single month; it needs to be an ongoing process. I hope that schools don't stop (or decrease) exposing kids to black history because it's no longer February. Also, I deeply dislike how commercialized this month has become - just look around. 

If I had one wish for the future of Black History Month, it would be this: More exposure for the efforts of some of the less recognized figures of African American history - that would be great!

Believe it or not, my favorite historic African American figure to study is  the first black World Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson: his story is deep.