American historian Carter G. Woodson fought hard for the
creation of a celebration of Black history in the 1920s, launching the
celebration of ‘Negro History Week’ in February 1926, half a century before the
establishment of the month of February as Black History Month in 1976. Since
then, every U.S. President has designated February as Black History Month, a
time when African American contributions to the development of this country are
highlighted in media and in many classrooms around the country. It is seen as a
time when we pay homage to Black achievements and contributions not just to
this nation, but to the entire world.
While this is a
welcome acknowledgement of Black excellence, it is not nearly enough. Black
history, which has been intimately intertwined with the events of this nation
since the 1600s and before, is an integral component of American history. As
such, it should be taught in every classroom, every day throughout the year as
a part of the history curriculum and reflected in popular media and
advertising. The world we live in is multicultural, multilingual, and
multiethnic, and the United States is no exception. Limiting attention to Black
achievements and contributions to one month out of the year, especially when it
is not mandated that Black history courses be taught in all schools across the
country, reinforces the unfortunately stereotype that Blacks, and other
minorities and women, really didn’t play that significant a role in the
country’s development. This is harmful to Black students, who don’t see enough
‘people who look like them’ in positions of importance, and to White students
who in many cases have been exposed to stereotypes of minorities as somehow
less than them.
Black History
Month, an annual repetition of stories about a select few notable Blacks, such
as Harriet Tubman and Dr, Martin Luther King, Jr., actually does more harm than
good, in my humble opinion. Twenty-eight days of celebrating the achievements
of a few individuals obscures the achievements of so many others and reinforces
the view that people of color are somehow limited. The people who are
celebrated were great, without doubt, but they were far from outliers—an
impression created by this limited and repetitive celebration. Ignored is the
fact that after the Civil War and into the early twentieth century, as the
United States expanded its borders west to the Pacific Ocean, ten percent of
the soldiers protecting wagon trains and settlements, building roads, and
protecting our new national parks, were Black. The men of the four all-Black
regiments of the U.S. Army were often the only federal presence in many areas
of the frontier, a fact that won’t be gleaned from watching old western movies
of the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Black inventors contributed to technological
development from the rotary-blade lawn mower by John Albert Burr to the pROSHI
neurofeedback device by Chuck Davis.
Including the
broad range of Black achievements in school curricula year-round rather than
for just 28-days or as an elective Black History course that is subject to
manipulation by state boards of education opens the door to more equitable
treatment of the achievements of other minorities and women.
As we come to
the close of another Black History Month, we should give serious thought to a
nationwide review of how we teach history and what we teach, and
establish a national requirement that all students should be exposed to a
comprehensive history of the nation before graduating from high school. We, as
consumers, should demand that corporations and media be more inclusive—and
accurate—in the portrayal of the country and its people.
If everyone,
regardless of race or gender, is exposed throughout the year to the truth about
our nation’s history, we take another step toward creating ‘a more perfect
union’ as envisioned by the Founding Fathers, and we create a better country
for all of us.
