Black History Month has always been a special time for me. As a child, I always enjoyed learning about the accomplishments of Africans in and outside of this country. Something happens to your spirit when you see the achievements of people who look like you.
I often marvel at how those captured on the continent of Africa survived not just the Middle Passage, but also a strange land with strange customs, a strange language and strangers — in the truest sense of the word. They not only learned the language and customs (while keeping their own), they endured backbreaking labor and unspeakable and unimaginable atrocities. Those ancestors who came before us were strong in mind, body and spirit.
Black History Month provided an opportunity for me to not only learn about the strength of my people, but to share what I learned with my parents and anyone else I encountered. However, I’m not sure the way we celebrate Black History Month is exactly what Dr. Carter G. Woodson had in mind when he launched Negro History Week, the precursor to Black History Month. It’s 2019 and Black history is still treated as an “other” as if it’s not part of American history. As if this country wasn’t built on the backs of slaves.
If we’re honest, we know America wouldn’t be the “richest country” in the world without the free labor of slaves. So I find it infuriating that in 2019 so many people are uneducated about Black Americans — or of Blacks from other countries. It’s appalling that textbooks don’t do a better job of actually teaching America’s true history, and it’s appalling that the same historical Black figures are celebrated during Black History Month. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for the contributions of Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and W.E.B. DuBois, but Black history doesn’t begin or end with them.
I learned about Mansa Musa from Mali and studied Ghana in fourth grade. I studied Egypt in sixth grade. A Black teacher made sure her eighth-grade social studies students learned about Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey and Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L’Ouverture. Learning of Mansa Musa’s riches taught me Africa wasn’t this pitifully poor country portrayed on TV. Learning about Turner, Vesey and L’Ouverture taught me that slaves fought and died for freedom. Sounds familiar.
While I’m ever grateful for Black History Month, it’s high time Black history is fully integrated into American history and taught year-round. I’m reminded of this every time I see someone wear blackface and say they didn’t know it wasn’t a cool thing to do. I’ve had my own experience with blackface, and I know the parent was clueless that it’s offensive. She thought painting her daughter’s face for a living museum made her daughter more authentically Harriet Tubman. I thought of America’s lack of education as I recently watched a video on Twitter of an elderly white woman tell a Black woman she comes from monkeys.
America is clueless on the contributions of Black Americans. Since most people won’t learn about Black history on their own, social studies textbooks need to include Black Americans (as well as Native Americans) in every chapter and section possible so all students are educated about the contributions of Blacks. It’s beyond time to stem the tide of ignorance in this country.
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