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BLACK HISTORY FOR A MONTH?
Published On 02-06-2010 , 9:14 PM
IT'S here.
Like just about everything else celebratory, it comes every year. But for African-American - or Black - History Month, this hasn't been the case for long. It has been with us since 1926, but back when Carter G. Woodson founded it, the time for acknowledgement and recognition was only a week.
Should we count the expansion as progress?
Still, there are always the same questions: Shouldn't black history simply be part of American history? What's with giving us the shortest month of the year? This one-month recognition of African Americans' contributions to this country raises the old issue of the separate but equal legal doctrine that justified systems of segregation.
Among those who think that a month is progress, many are willing to admit it's all still an after-thought. I also suspect they're ready to say, "OK, the history books neglected to include the real story, but as a people, black and white and others, we've got to accept the omission and move on."
Easier said than done.
No number of parades, award dinners, oratorical contests or other alleged consciousness-raising festivities will bring meaningful light to what's been omitted. Steps in the right direction? That depends on which of the bands you're cheering for in the local parade.
I remember sitting in my 10th-grade U.S. history class and reading the two paragraphs about slaves picking cotton while happily singing hymns. Should I want to identify with this group of people when I was anything but happy when asked, not forced, to clean my own bedroom?
Did I wonder if there was more to the story? Of course not. I was too enthralled with the beauty of the antebellum Southern women, white women, with beautiful hair, beautiful clothes and foolish people, who looked like me, seeing to their needs.
Am I dwelling in the past? Is this recollection just what the progress group seemed to think should be left behind? I eventually learned that everything one reads ain't true. But I was way grown and a student at UCLA in a black studies course with John Hope Franklin's "From Slavery to Freedom" as one of the assigned textbooks.
Ah - so slaves were not happy. Yes, they were singing hymns, but hymns whose words had a runaway message such as, "Swing low, sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me home ..."
Do I celebrate my heritage during the month of February? I celebrate who my people are every day. I have worked to help my children understand the true American landscape. I've worked to overcome the words my mother spoke when I asked why she had never told her children of the Negro's struggles in this country.
My mother answered me by saying; "We moved here from the South and didn't want to burden our children with what we knew and had experienced. We came to a different place - we thought."
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Comment
| | 1. | I enjoy reading these weekly observations on dealing with youth, edging them constantly to become responsible, knowledgeable adults. This mention of reading about black history, and her early exposure to this topic makes me suggest for readers, here, a post at Free Republic.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2365266/posts
There you will find a concise summary of Blacks in America, from the days of the earliest colonies to the present. In a link to another site, you will also find a summary of Frederick Douglass’ book, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, written by himself.”
- by Scott Mansfield, 02-10-2010, 10:50 AM
| | 2. | Missa Shirley...What you doing stiring up all this trouble about Black History month. Now you know we are not suppose to talk about Mr. Woodson. Don't you realize after all these years the Washington D.C. men in government has refused or should i say forgot to mark on Florida Avenue %28the home of Mr. Woodson%29 or create a national mounument out of his old stomping grounds called home. You would think in that it is so close to the restored dwelling of Dr. Fredrick Douglass. Maybe we will wait and see if Howard University will give some long overdue acknowledgement for his service to their university where he taught for a while. Or maybe the Phillippians will recognize the wonderful work he did in the building of a educational system in that country. Now don't you go to D.C. or write your congress folks no wrong letter concerning Mr. Woodson. But we owe you one for your bold announcement of mentioning his name with the thought of Black History month.
We had a eventful week in Clinton, Tenn. last week. Attended a Children Defense Fund conference regarding the "Freedom School." The idea behind the program of teaching children the art and love of reading is wonderful. We would like to have such a program at our church, but we don't have the $65,000.00 to fund it. I'm sure you are well aware of the Freedom School movement.
Oh, i shouldn't have mention the "freedom School" project in that it was held at the Haley ranch. Somebody might get upset cause it might remind them of "Roots" or James Baldwin, Martin Luther King, or Malcolm X. But anyway, keep on doing what you do and may the good Lord bring you through.
Peace........
- by Pastor William Wilson, 02-08-2010, 4:42 PM
| | 3. | Shirlee,
What differences in our up-bringing. My folk moved from the South when I and my sister were 4 and 2. But, we were brought up "Southern". The South moved West with us and the group of folk that either moved with us, or soon followed.
We got a full dose of "colored folk interacting with White folk" and stuff like that. We understood why in McNary, Arizona, the White folk lived up on the hill, while we colored folk lived down the hill by where the saw mill was. And, we "understood" why we could only go to the movies ONE night a week.
In Las Vegas, Nevada, we could go any day. But, I one theater, We sat on one side, while THEY sat in the middle and the other side. Then, in the other show, with no "sides", THEY sat downstairs, while we sat upstairs.
We even "understood" later when we lived in Pasadena that we could swim in Brookside Park swimming pool only on Thursdays. And, they drained the pool and cleaned it out after we got out.
So, My Sister, we were "taught" early in life.
Black History...we LIVED it.
- by Hank Wilfong, 02-07-2010, 9:03 AM
| | 4. | Absolutely fantastic, deep, meaningful, and touching.
- by Susie, 02-07-2010, 2:23 AM
| | 5. | Dear Shirlee: I am on my way to age 69, an aging white woman, of Irish ancestry. I strongly dislike the teaching concepts of Black Studies, Latino Studies and Women's Studies.
The struggles of other peoples, and women, in our country should be a part of every general history course, including high school; in good schools, I believe this is so now. The impact of the Supreme court case: Plessy vs Ferguson, should also be taught, as it validated segregation in our country from 1896 until the Brown vs Board of Education case, in 1954. The history of the American Indian is also replete with stories of horror and violence against them, including cruel attempts to destroy their cultural integrity by imposing white cultural standards on Indian school children. I do not consider this violent behavior to be a white characteristic, but a human characteristic.
I never took a Black Studies class, and even as a young woman, I was well aware of the violence and injustice of slavery in America, so it surprises me that you did not learn this horrific history until you took a Black Studies class. I watch Gone with the Wind on a regular basis, and am always happy with the destruction of the slave holding South, while pitying the loss of life. The Civil War had a greater loss of military lives than any of our modern wars.
A voracious reader as a young woman, I had read many eye opening books that had informed me of the truth about slavery. If you had to learn this in a Black Studies class, I am sorry, because that is not the way it should be. Long ago, I read Dickens' American Notes, which had, in the back of it, advertisements from early 19th century American newspapers about runaway slaves, describing the horrendous marks of physical abuse and mutilation used to mark recalcitrant slaves. He reported this material out of disgust and shock.
I do not believe in the concept of multiple races. There is one "race": human. There are of course, many human cultures and ethnicities. There are many types of humans, mostly, I believe, shaped by the environment. For example, it has been theorized that humans living in an area of short sun light hours will develop lighter skin, to accommodate the need to intake more Vitamin D. You may wish to go to http://www.aaanet.org/resources/A-Public-Education-Program.cfm, for more on the view of racial issues by scholars.
- by Beverly, 02-06-2010, 9:31 PM
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