Resources / Ripples & Wipeouts

I remember a time when I looked forward to February because it was Black History Month.  It was for me, a time when I knew I would get to see interesting programs on public television about great moments in black history.  At other times, I dreaded it because I could feel the eyes of all the white students on me as we spent the Social Studies period talking about famous black historical figures.  After I was a little older, I remember being curious about whether I would see the same old programs as the year before.  It seemed to me that black history revolved only around slavery and just a handful of noted people such as Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, and if you dared to be radical, Malcolm X.  Black history had become as limited and narrow as the American history we were taught in school.

Some history about Black History Month:  Carter G. Woodson created Negro History Week in 1926.  Woodson was also an author, a journalist and a teacher.  He earned his PhD from Harvard and founded The Journal of Negro History, known today as The Journal of African-American History.  The Journal is still published by the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History, also founded by Woodson, who is generally understood to be the “father” of black history.  In 1976, Negro History Week became Black History Month.

Now the debate:  With the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States, there have been rumblings about how his achievement marks the end of racism in this country.  His election is also stirring up discussion about whether there is still a need for a month devoted to studying the history of blacks, and by extension the history of any single group of people.  I argue that an annual focus on the histories of people of color remains necessary and important.  The reason there are these special months is because of the woefully narrow version of history that is presented in textbooks and taught in public schools. 

Why do we still celebrate Columbus Day, for instance?  Columbus did not “discover” America, yet this is what students have learned for decades.  There is so much more to learning history than memorizing a few names and dates.  Let’s teach our kids about Abdul-Aziz bin Saud, Henrietta Szold, Sharif Hussein and the many others who played a role in creating the modern Middle East.  Let’s be sure students understand Timbuktu as an ancient seat of knowledge and Lhasa as a real place, not some mythical Shangri-la. 

There is still no accurate teaching of the history of the continent of Africa.  Why should that only happen at the college level?  And even closer to home, let’s teach about the real world of the indigenous people of this land.  Let’s get beyond the Pilgrims and the “first Thanksgiving.” Until that happens, we really need Black History Month.

--Joan Grangenois-Thomas