Black History Month is an opportunity to discuss and reflect on the role Black Americans have played in shaping the United States.
Its roots go back to Negro History Week founded in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson. Son of a slave, Woodson earned a Ph. D from Harvard and chose February for Negro History Week because it was the month in which Abraham Lincoln was born and the month Frederick Douglass who as a slave never knew his actual birth date chose for his birthday.
Woodson believed that black Americans should be proud of their heritage and that both white and black Americans should understand the largely overlooked achievements of black Americans.
When President Gerald Ford officially designated February as Black History Month in 1976 he said our nation should “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”
That is the hope, and I suspect it is realized more every year as white and black students in elementary through high school learn about the achievements and leadership of black men and women who have made America and the world better ((I say the world because England, Ireland, and Canada also celebrate Black History Month).
That is a good thing, but it has not and will not solve the evil of racism. Racism is an infection of the soul that poisons people’s perception of themselves and other people.
Many white Americans prove the persistence of racism by their dismissal of the need for Black History Month. Many of them believe it opens the door to school curriculum that includes ethnic based history courses whose aim is to promote hatred of white people.
Nothing could be further from the truth, but the real question for me is to wonder what these people are so afraid of when it comes to the history of racism in America. I learned about it by growing up in a racist culture in Virginia. Learning the truth didn’t damage me. It helped me to grow beyond racism and to commit myself to doing more for racial justice.
Nor as a father was I ever afraid that in school my children would learn the truth about America’s pervasive racism. Neither am I concerned about my grandchildren learning the same truth. I believe racism itself is the source of such irrational and unfounded fear of a full and candid study of American history.
It is ironic that the Jesus so many of these white people who are afraid of honest history claim to believe in said that truth would set people free, but I suppose their racism is too strong for even his words to penetrate.
Black History Month is an appropriate emphasis on the contributions of black Americans to our nation’s development that have for too long been ignored and, if understood, can dispel the conspiracy nonsense surrounding things like Critical Race Theory and undermine the exploitation of it by scurrilous politicians.
That white people can believe they are superior because of their race while others are inferior because of theirs is so patently absurd that it can only be described as senseless nonsense.
Black History Month won’t cure the exploitation of racial fears in America today, or even advance the cause of racial justice itself as much as is needed, but it can, as it always has, exalt the lives of great black Americans who serve as models for others to follow, black and white alike.
Dr. Mae Jemison is one such example. In 1992 she became the first black woman to go into space. Later when talking about space and her becoming an astronaut she said the lesson she had to learn was this: “Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.”
That is something every child should learn regardless of his or her skin color. Back History Month increases the chance of that happening.
It is needed more than ever.
linnposts.com 
One of your best ever Jan. This should help all of us to explore in greater depth the reality that is around (& in) us daily.
Joe Grubbs
So grateful for your comment, Joe.
Jan, your “senseless nonsense” descriptor sums it up so nicely!!
Bill Blackwell
I kind of liked that description as well, Bill. Thank you.
Thank you!
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Thanks, Shari.
Very well said.
Thanks, Michael.
Jan, I hope to see you on February 15 at Lynchburg College or University… I also recall a statement my former father in law use to say…” Treat people as people.” His name was Bob Belcher and he was the owner/pharmacist at his own Bob Belcher’s Drug Store in Valdosta, Georgia for over 50 years. He worked up to age 96 when he died.
Bob was a wise man, Mel. Look forward to seeing you Wednesday.
Jan, this is a remarkable description of the “evil of racism”. It must be stopped. It may not happen in my lifetime. But it must be stopped. America and “The World” cannot survive without “humanitarian”, “cultural”, “social”, “political” and “spiritual” solutions to this epic dilemma. And it is also a powerful “white person’s perspective” on our need to honor the accomplishments and progress of Black America. The Civil War should be education enough. But it is not. Today we remain in constant turmoil because of white racism and its powerful influence on “The American Dream”.
I once shared with you that while my skin color is not black, my soul is every bit black as it is white. That is because I was born in Washington, D.C. and lived the first 35 years of my life in suburban Maryland. I remember the 60’s with vivid detail. I was also not taught with enough truths the stories of black survival in your Virginia and my Maryland. But I am now well aware of Frederick Douglas, John Brown, Harriet Tubman and many others. The reason my soul is as much black as it is white is because of Martin Luther King. Martin Luther King did not just teach black people how to overcome, he taught me how to overcome.
I was 45 minutes away from King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” at the Lincoln Memorial. I was working in D.C. on a Friday afternoon when the entire city was evacuated because of the riots following Kings death. And I lived 30 minutes away from Laurel, Maryland where the attempted asassination of Gov. George Wallace took place.
And I still have a good memory.
But I would like to share with you and your readers, a quick story. I am a member of The Orpheus Male Chorus of Phoenix. Four years ago, we went on a tour to the east coast that included Washington, D.C. At my request to our Director, we all got in a bus to sing an impromtu concert of one song on the steps of The Lincoln Memorial. That one song is entitled “Harriet Tubman”.
Below are the lyrics:
Harriet Tubman, by Eloise Greenfield
“Harriet Tubman didn’t take no stuff
Wasn’t scared of nothing neither
Didn’t come in this world to be no slave
And wasn’t going to stay one either
“Farewell!” she sang to her friends one night
She was mighty sad to leave ’em
But she ran away that dark, hot night
Ran looking for her freedom
She ran to the woods and she ran through the woods
With the slave catchers right behind her
And she kept on going till she got to the North
Where those mean men couldn’t find her
Nineteen times she went back South
To get three hundred others
She ran for her freedom nineteen times
To save Black sisters and brothers
Harriet Tubman didn’t take no stuff
Wasn’t scared of nothing neither
Didn’t come in this world to be no slave
And didn’t stay one either
And didn’t stay one either”
John
John, I missed seeing this during recent travels to Virginia. Living in the D.C. area during the 60s was an education in itself and it obviously affected your heart as well as your mind. And thank you for sharing the story of your Arizona group singing “Harriet Tubman on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. That had to be an experience no one could forget. Love the words and would have loved to have heard it sung then. Thank you such a thoughtful and heartfelt comment.
Thanks Jan. We are performing “Harriet Tubman” at the Mesa Arts Center this coming March 26th. I will try to see if we have a recording to send to you. It is incredibly moving and powerful. John
I hope that works. Would love to hear it. Good to be in touch.