A little over a month ago, there was an article about parents being infuriated over their non-Black children having to participate in a Black History Program. Here in Augusta, there was a controversy about a Black History Program gone sour after it featured inappropriate music by Usher--- which will probably be used to spearhead the argument for removing Black History Programs altogether, I know how these things work... I personally found myself at odds with faculty members over a Black History Program I directed some years ago; granted, the school has a history of showing resistance to post-Confederacy thinking, but I expected it from the parents, not the faculty.
*shrugs* …Okay, okay, I get it: having every other month isn’t enough; the Establishment wants the whole shebang. Black History Month is “inflammatory” and “polarizing”. It “creates separation” and “makes folks uncomfortable”. “Everyone gets along just fine” until “you go digging up the past.” Cool beans. Well, ya know what? I want to end Black History Month too; I’m tired of Black History Programs. Because… well, Carter G. Woodson never intended for Black History Month to last this long.
Right now, rather than reinvent the wheel here, I’ll just share a speech from the first (and last) Black History Program I directed:
In 1926, Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life declared the second week of February “Negro History Week”. That week eventually expanded to include all of February, and February became Black History Month as we know it. But did you know that it was never Woodson’s intention for there to be a Black History Month in 2013? Woodson’s expectation was that Negro History Week and Black History Month would be removed once Black History became fully incorporated into American history.
Here’s the problem: that full incorporation never happened. Aside from brief mentionings of slavery, jazz, and The Civil Rights movement, the contributions and achievements of Blacks to American society are largely left out of American History classrooms from August until May. Then, in February, we attempt to cram all of Black history into a single, shortened month, just to say that Blacks are not forgotten. And, sadly, for 87 years, this has been enough to keep African Americans satisfied.
But we’ve been missing the point. The point was never to have a month set aside for any group of American people, but to have all American people represented equally as Americans year-round. The Supreme Court case Brown vs. Board of Education already determined that separate is not equal, and therefore not constitutional; why then are we still teaching a separate-but-equal American history? It’s because Black History is still not seen as American History.
Today, we celebrate the achievements and contributions of Blacks to American History. But perhaps we should instead mourn the failure of America to embrace its own people.
…Now what’s so inflammatory and controversial about that? American History curricula and classrooms that actually represent the entire spectrum of American citizenry. I mean, what truly “American” History curriculum excludes its own people? And what educated, fair-minded person would be afraid of or have reservations about something as simple as inclusion? Minorities spend our whole lives learning about people who don’t look like us, and nobody fears any negative effect it may have on us; surely learning about the lives and legacies of minorities likewise wouldn’t cause harm to the Establishment, right?
Put simply, Black History Month and Black History programs exist to fill an information gap; close that gap, and they’re no longer needed. So let’s make a deal--- we’ll cease Black History Month and Black History programs once we see Blacks, Native Americans, Latinos, Asians, and every other race that helped to make this country great mentioned and regarded alongside and in equal capacity with the Establishment. And as long as we’re excluded, the months and programs should continue.
…Isn’t it hilarious that it sounds like I’m making a huge request?
#HERELIESEDUCATION
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How I feel about Black History Month is the same way I feel about Women's History Month.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd certainly like to hear what the people native to this land mass that was then named after a European have to say.
I was quite lucky to have learned an equal respect for both the oral and written traditions of relating his- and her- stories of the past. And there is absolutely no reason to not wonder about whose stories have not been included except for a profound lack of curiosity, imagination and probably humanity.
YEs!! I'm in total agreement. I tell my students all the time, there's the truth, and then there's what was recorded. What we're teaching is the voices of a few, and we're assuming its the truth without incorporating the voices of the whole. There needs to be much more inclusion, and I believe that inclusion is what will change the way we see each other as Americans, not having celebratory months.
ReplyDeleteLet's create an Native American month
ReplyDelete