If history is defined as the study of past events, does this then mean that every February we are celebrating the buried and expired achievements of the black race?
The meaning of the word ‘history’ is what i would like us to ponder. Yes, I know that you were expecting your typical blog post of how legendary the pillar heads of Black History Month are, but I think it’s time to question if the study of black history is still as effective as it was when Negro History Week, now Black History Month, was created in 1925 by Mr. Carter G. Woodson.
With a whole 28 days to celebrate, 29 if it happens to be a leap-year, the standard Black History Month tool kit consists of Mrs. Rosa Parks’ bravery on the bus and Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and is a simplified snapshot with no real reference to future of the black race. Only the past.
“The complicity of one month,” Satu Repo states, “is that it allows for the perpetuation of the hegemony that consigns our existence to merely a ‘historical’ period.”
So I ask again is Black History Month History?
The dilution of the study of black history to civil rights often overlooks and suppresses the social and economic incentives that were put in place for the future generations of people of color. The suppression of such information limits the capacity of future generations to ‘carry the torch’ so to speak, in delivering justice to people of color.
Dr. Martin Luther King’s efforts in the “Poor People’s Campaign” for economic justice was disrupted by his assassination. This highlights the selective tool kit in the study of black history. With various information overlooked, the simplification of black history leaves many potential activists unsure of how to ‘carry the torch’ our predecessors left behind.
The slave trade and the civil rights movement then act as “bed time stories” with many in the current generation seeing our past accomplishments as unmatchable.
Yes, President Barack Obama and many others represent a progression of people of color in our world but this month is about the activity of all of us. We must work together. We are on the cusp of Neo imperialism in Africa. The French are in Mali and Niger, occupying their mines, illustrating that the scramble is no longer for people, but now for resources.
Furthermore by promoting fair-trade of natural resources such as oil, diamonds, iron, uranium, copper, petroleum, coco, we are restricting African farmers from joining the world market and encouraging them to remain in a very niche one. Rather than being able to globalize their business and truly rise above poverty, they are tied to receiving the very slight increase in wages offered.
Black History Month should highlight the changes and the ‘history’ we can make today to shape tomorrow. It is our duty and responsibility as people of color to continue the legacy of Dr. King, Mrs. Parks, Kwame Nkrumah and so many others.
A former slave once wrote:
“Any time while I was a slave, if one minutes freedom had been offered to me, and I had been told I must die at the end of that minute, I would have taken it – just to stand one minute on God’s earth a free woman.” -Elizabeth Freeman
It’s time that we do not merely live to survive, but to live with purpose. Even with the knowledge that the seeds we sow now will be reaped in future generations. Be active in your community, and let’s make ‘history’ today.
Great article. I think we should question everything we do and practice in attempt to make sure our life is relevant and purposeful. So to question the effectiveness of Black History Month is good. However, let’s not make it what it’s not. For example, Dr. Woodson and educators created this month for two primary reasons. 1)to assist African Americans int eh re-building of their identity and 2) to infuse, for others, the White supremacist narrative of the country and world with a more holistic picture of reality.
The critique that you give is really direct towards African American parents/community raising their children. BHM supports this identity building process and is not THE process. So how well are we raising our children? What tools do we have to do this? What is the current state our children/community? What future do we want to create? This is where I hear you coming from. So to put these questions in the context BHM is very limiting. How are we as a community going to address the education of our children is a more serious question. Thanks again.
Great article Karen. We all as people of color should endeavor to move out history forward. Africa for example needs a new breed of leaders who will work for the advancement of African people not for the advancement of themselves and their cronies. Our democracy and politics are of the cronyism type and it is not helping Africa develop, we do have the resources and skills to move Africa forward but we as a people do not yet have the motivation and it will to work together to eleviate poverty.
Great article Karen. We all as people of color should endeavor to move out history forward. Africa for example needs a new breed of leaders who will work for the advancement of African people not for the advancement of themselves and their cronies. Our democracy and politics are of the cronyism type and it is not helping Africa develop, we do have the resources and skills to move Africa forward but we as a people do not yet have the motivation and it will to work together to eleviate poverty.
I enjoyed reading your article Karen. I was asked this same question a couple of years ago. This is such a delicious question. I do think the idea is just as powerful, perhaps not how it is practiced. It seems we have once again left it up to others.
This lady from London has no understanding of the meaning of Black history in the United States in general and Black History Month in particular from an African American perspective. I don’t understand why the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation would provide her with a forum to promote her Africa countries development views while denigrating the importance or our Black History Month.
Most of the history I learned about African American, I learned during Black History Week before it became Black History Month. It was during Black History Month that my four children who attended all white elementary and high schools learned the history of their people and this is also true for my grandchildren today who are attending all white elementary school.
In the past two years, one of my sons and I have posted a Black History fact a day on our Facebook’s page to educate our Facebook’s
friends of a small part of the history of African Americans from slavery to the two time election of the first Black President of the most greatest and most powerful nation in the world. The feed back has been overwhelmly postive.
I am glad that there are many of us who promote Black history in America from small Historical Museums like the Henderson Institute Black Historical Museum in Henderson, N.C., the Tuskegee Air Museums located in several states and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.
I definitely agree with your article. I am currently getting my Master’s in Teaching and being in the schools on a daily basis even in the Urban settings the representations of Black people are limited to Dr. King and Mrs. Parks when looking at civil rights. Students do projects and make posters with no real understanding that these issues are alive and prevalent in 2013. There is a lot of work to be done.