PERSPECTIVE: Is Black History Month still relevant?
For 94 years February, Black History Month has been the time for an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing the pivotal role of blacks in U.S. history. Conceived of by historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the celebration was set in February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
As the celebration has evolved, the question of whether it still has relevance in our fast-paced, social-media-driven nation has surfaced. Two black celebrities — actor Morgan Freeman and actress Stacey Dash — have come out publicly saying that Black History Month should be done away with because it limits recognition of blacks’ accomplishments to a single month. Some have questioned its usefulness in a post-racial America. Is it still important to set aside a time to recall the many contributions of black Americans to history? Have we progressed beyond the need for the tradition?
To answer that question and others, we reached out to some local educators and community leaders for their opinions on the topic. Those who responded felt education about history and the contributions of African Americans is definitely still relevant. Their reasons provide insight into just how complex the question is.
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Delia Armstrong Busby is an award-winning educator and community activist. Busby made history as a member of the District 11 Board of Education and the first African American woman selected as a high school principal in Colorado.
As you might expect, Busby’s thoughts centered on education:
Reserving a time to chronicle how our African roots have impacted the cultural and social patina of the United States has allowed our voices a fuller expression. So yes, it’s relevant.
I came into this life during the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was not until recent times in my world that there was a broadly designated month when we collectively can identify lives and values and actions we select as significant to be elevated to levels of attention and recognition and generational replication.
Yes, Ida B. Wells, wrote against lynchings and other social injustices during the late 1800s, but that to me is not the same a contemporary time that allows us to widely define if we choose, that the Black Panthers did socially needed and valued programs. Or that Angela Davis is a Shero rather than a villain.
I grew up in a young integrated world (Los Angeles) where there was no Toni Morrison or Maya Angelou or James Baldwin. A world that for the most part was intolerant of celebrating the genius of Paul Robeson, that made the gifted Marian Anderson sing to segregated audiences until the NAACP intervened to change things.
We have this designated time (Black History Month) at our collective insistence. We control through our writings and music and giftedness our own definition of Black self, by being about what we are about and using social media such as Facebook, Twitter and other platforms to make/share history through our voices available to the world … The month was just a portal. We make it a megaphone.
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Dennis Moore, a retired Air Force program analyst also known for his countless hours of volunteer work with the Colorado Springs Police Department’s Neighborhood Watch program, felt there has been an effort to leave blacks out of the nation’s history:
Sadly, Black History Month is still relevant because educational materials at all levels, authors and documentarians still fail to include true black history in their work. … history should reflect that African American influence is far-reaching. There is virtually no field, occupation, or event that is not touched by persons of color in some significant way. That includes exploration in science, medicine and inventions, educators, farming, music, the military, industry and business, which all have benefited from the hands of African Americans.
That history should include the challenges/difficulties that were faced in the midst of racial hate and the murder/lynching of men, women and children. There is little justice a small newspaper article can do about the story of black America.
But you will often have to diligently research to find information to support this claim, as those in education, authors and media that are writing about our past have made every effort to minimize or not include the role of African Americans in history.
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Michael Sawyer is assistant professor of Race, Ethnicity & Migration Studies in the Department of English at Colorado College. His recently completed book, “Black Minded: The Political Philosophy of Malcolm X,” will be published in March. He highlights the complicated reasons to understand black history:
The notion that Black History Month is anachronistic implicitly if not explicitly implies that the lives, legacies, and historical footprint of people from the African diaspora are irrelevant or the study has been exhausted and there is nothing else to learn. Neither of these notions could be further from the truth. The relevance, or lack of it, of Black History Month is the notion that it should be bracketed by the 31st of January and the 1st of March. The celebration of Black History Month in February should only be the first step in establishing a type of positive awareness by all of us that is a positive step toward mutual respect and the eradication of race-based discord among all of us. There are all kinds of “what about” comparisons that are more reductive than progressive. The simple fact is that there is no cost to anyone to spend the time to understand the history of those who are part of the complicated and fraught experiment of the United States of America, particularly those who have been systematically barred from their proper status as full citizens of this nation.
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Deborah Hendrix is executive director of Parents Challenge, an organization founded by Steve and Joyce Schuck to provide greater educational opportunities to kids in the Pikes Peak region. Her comments also focused on the value of historical information:
Black History Month will always be relevant. So, in asking the question my concern is, why wouldn’t it be relevant? First of all, one month out of the year does not do justice to the contributions of African-Americans in this country. I am sure every culture group would state the same — Hispanic Month, Native American Month, Asian Month, etc. These months are just a snapshot discussion when schools place a ton of emphasis on becoming culturally aware or sensitive, and the country spends time recognizing certain individuals that they believe should be celebrated. African Americans have made contributions to impact this society that can never be forgotten or dismissed. There have been authors and book publishers over the past couple of years that have tried to remove historical information about the past that would erase key historical components relevant to African-Americans and the struggles, successes, failures and contributions made to the American culture. You cannot dismiss a group of individuals or a culture that has been paramount in the development and design of this country. What we deem important should be remembered, celebrated and honored. This month highlights the giants of the past, present and future.
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Before joining the Center for Creative Leadership, George Houston was active in education and business. A former principal and human resource manager, Houston shared his concerns about the omissions in our nation’s history:
Toward the end of 2019 while visiting Jackson, Miss., I had the good pleasure of spending some time with civil rights icon, James Meredith. My question to him, in the context of a race, equity, diversity and inclusion discussion, was … “understanding your contribution to the civil rights movement and the current climate of ‘post racial America’ and political vitriol across the U.S., where do we go from here?” Response was given in two parts – the first part I address now and the second part for another time. Meredith said, “The greatest weapon of oppression is denial of education. Our children must be taught the truth. Truth leads to freedom.”
Black history remains relevant because truth of our history continues to be lost, stolen, ignored, and misrepresented — why did it take until 2016 to reveal in a Hollywood movie (“Hidden Figures”) the truth of three black women (Kathrine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn, and Mary Jackson) that made John Glenn’s space flight and safe return to earth possible? Glenn was given honors and a ticker tape parade, White House reception, a real American hero. And these three women received so little considering their contribution to this landmark feat until they were well into their 80s, over 50 years after the fact! They bested some of the computer analytics and all the white men assembled. I checked some history text books from public schools but no mention! To be sure the relevancy of the truth about black history is paramount to us (black folk) and to the U.S. We are more than the “talented tenth,” we are not just footnotes here and there. We are the very foundation of everything that is America, except racism.
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Juanita Martin is a direct descendant of a historical Colorado Springs family, the Strouds. Known for their remarkable success in business, engineering, music and scholastic achievement, the Strouds are intricately woven into the history of the Springs. Martin’s comments touch on a possible future for black history:
So much of history that is taught in schools and promulgated through the media is “cherry-picked” and “revised” with the intent of upholding the myth of justifying slavery as having rescued black people from ignorance, savagery, and primitive lifestyles. So called “Black History,” which actually is the foundation of and an inextricable part of U. S. history, must be recognized at any and every opportunity in order to counteract the spurious teaching that helps to infect self-image negatively. The messages of “lesser than” and “different from” must be obliterated by sharing widely the contributions of black people in America and throughout the world. We must become our own frame of reference and standard of achievement. We must encourage young people to aspire to become historians who write our own stories in books that will be used for teaching in schools of the present and the future.
These local voices all emphasized a common theme: African Americans can and have been left out of history and recognition. There is a need to recognize and educate about the contributions of blacks to the nation’s history. That alone underscores the need for Black History Month and the hope that the lessons learned in February spark an interest that lasts throughout the year.
Pula Davis is a member of The Gazette editorial board and the newsroom operations director.
Deborah Hendrix
Dennis Moore
Michael Sawyer
Members of the
Stroud family in
1929
. Seated, from left: James, Bobby, the Rev. K.D., Rosa May, mother Lulu. Standing, from left: Jack, Nina, Dolphus and Effie.
Delia Armstrong Busby
Juanita Martin
George Houston
FILE — Carter G. Woodson in an undated photograph. Woodson is a founder of the Association for the Study of African American History, who first came up with the idea of the celebration that became Black History Month. Woodson, the son of recently-freed Virginia slaves who went on to earn a Ph.D in history from Harvard, originally came up with the idea as Negro History Week to encourage black Americans to become more interested in their own history. (AP Photo)
Dr. Carter G. Woodson was a founder of the Association for the Study of African American History and came up with the idea of the celebration that became Black History Month.
This undated photograph shows abolitionist Frederick Douglass.