Carter G. Woodson began Negro History Week in 1926. in 1976, that week was expanded to Black History Month. of course, these celebrations of Black achievement in america began with noble intentions, but to my way of thinking, something feels wrong about the concept of setting aside a month to celebrate Black achievement in america. considering the fact that Black people have been in what is now called the united states since before there was a united states AND considering the fact that Black people have been contributing members of this society (through forced labor and worse) since before this society existed. the history of Blacks in america is the history of america, as surely as any other group of immigrants who landed on america's shores.why is there not an asian history month? why is there not a latino history month? my good friend over at Diary of a PhD Student asks the question, "why is there not a white history month?" he goes on to link Black history to the history of all of america.
i purposely waited until after the end of february to write this post, because i think acknowledgement of Black history month was an attempt to pander, to "throw a bone" to the Black community out of a sense of white guilt... thanks, but no thanks! there is no more a need of having a month to ponder Black folks' achievements in america than there is a need to spend a month thinking about arab-americans', jewish americans', irish-americans', italian-americans', or mexican-americans' achievements in america. the history of america is the shared history of all americans. it was as wrong to denigrate the contributions of Black americans as it is to create a false celebration of it. and that is my issue with Black history month, while celebrating the achievements of Blacks in america, it marginalizes those achievements by confining them to the shortest month of the year.
the true history of this country is yet to be written, but there is every hope that it will ultimately contain the contributions of all.
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