February is Black History Month, which naturally raises the usual question of why we should set aside special time to commemorate certain groups.
The answer is simple. The role that African Americans have played, and continue to play, in U.S. history has too often been ignored, and in many cases completely distorted and ignored.
We are still witnessing this situation today, some 159 years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which finally freed humanity from captivity as private property since before the founding of the United States. In some states, teachers are being monitored for what they teach about racial history, and textbooks are being sanitized accordingly. In Florida, lesson plan guidance suggests that slavery was not entirely evil. It actually taught black people trades that could be useful later in life.
Black History Month’s origins date back to 1915, when American historian and scholar Carter G. Woodson, along with thousands of other black Americans, traveled to Chicago to commemorate the time when Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation finally freed slaves. Going back to celebrating our 50th anniversary.
This celebration inspired Woodson to create Negro History Week, which was first observed nationally in 1926. Woodson chose his February month because it was the birth month of two historical heroes of black America: Lincoln and famous black abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
Expanded from a week to a month in the 1970s by then-President Gerald Ford, Black History Month not only recognized the contributions of Black Americans to America, but became a touchstone for setting the historical record straight.
Darryl Michael Scott of the African American Life and History Research Association, which Woodson founded, recently said that while Woodson respected both Lincoln and Douglas, he never liked the celebrations held in their honor. I wrote that there was no.
“He spoke at a large and cheerful gathering, denouncing ‘ignorant magicians’ who demonstrated a lack of knowledge about them and their contributions to history,” Scott noted. “More importantly, Woodson believed that history was not just or primarily made by great men, but by people.”
Moreover, it was not just these two celebrities who won freedom, but the millions of victims who fought in the Civil War and the slaves themselves. And he wanted to focus on their stories, their accomplishments, their role in building America.
In many ways, it’s happening across the country. Newspapers, magazines, and broadcast media focus on individual stories and historical events to tell stories that have gone untold for too long. Universities, private schools, and public schools are holding symposiums and sponsoring conversations about a history that too many Americans know little about.
This month, the American Legion, for example, is running a full-scale feature on the late, great boxing champion Joe Louis, often reviled for his blackness, and his exploits during World War II that most people don’t know about. I assembled it.
Black History Month was created to draw attention to the contributions African Americans have made to the United States. The award honors all Black people from all eras of U.S. history, from the first slaves brought from Africa in the early 17th century to African Americans living in the United States today.
At the very least, setting aside a month will give you a reason to find out the full story.
Dave Zweifel is editor emeritus of the Capital Times. [email protected], 608-252-6410 and @DaveZweifel on Twitter.
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