A celebration of Us!
24th February 2020 · 0 Comments
Black History month was officially recognized as a monthlong celebration in 1976 when U.S. President Gerald Ford suggested that all Americans “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”
Black History Month was first proposed by Black educators and the Black United Students at Kent State University in February 1969. The first celebration of Black History Month took place at Kent State one year later, from January 2, 1970 – February 28, 1970.
Today, Black History Month is observed in Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. It is celebrated in February in the United States and Canada, and observed in October in Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
African Americans, people of color, or whatever we people “who are darker than blue,” as songwriter Curtis Mayfield sang, are now called, recognize that Black History Month is too gratuitous and too brief a celebration (29 days) to review the accomplishments of a people up from slavery, segregation, Jim Crow, Jim Crow Jr., and Jim Crow, Esquire. What’s more, we are Black 24-7, 365 days of the year: in perpetuity.
We have too much to celebrate to cram into 29 days. Our people have gone from enslavement, to the cotton fields, factories, war, corporate boardrooms and into the Oval Office. Our history is one of sacrifice, suffering, and hardships but also one of soaring spirits, determination, and “Yes we can” attitudes and accomplishments.
As we celebrate our historic feats and the tangible and principled things we are still striving to accomplish (economic justice, wealth accumulation, the American dream), let us look back and forward, let us breathe in the moment and appreciate and embrace the lives we are living, while celebrating ourselves and those on whose shoulders we stand.
There is much we can acquire and learn from those who came before us, those who are around us, and those who live with us, to spur us on to unthinkable heights.
Let’s revisit what Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black History, accomplished.
Carter Godwin Woodson was the son of former slaves. He was born in Virginia on December 19, 1875, in New Canton, Virginia. As a youth, he only attended school part-time because he had to work in the coal mines of West Virginia to help his family.
Woodson attended Berea College and worked as a teacher and school administrator before earning a graduate degree from the University of Chicago. In 1912, he became the second African American, after W. E. B. DuBois, to obtain a doctorate degree from Harvard University. The historian would spend his academic career at Howard University, where he served as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and announced the second week of February to be “Negro History Week,” in 1926. This celebration was the forerunner to Black History Month.
Woodson is best known for his 1933 book “The Mis-Education of the Negro,” but when he published The Journal of Negro History in January 1916, the magazine was among the first Black-owned publications to focus exclusively on “Negro History,” with inspiring stories about people in the African Diaspora in America and worldwide.
In 2002, the Journal was renamed the Journal of African American History and continues to be published today by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH).
Some of Woodson’s colleagues questioned why he chose to focus on “Negro” history. They reasoned there was no such thing as Negro history, since Negroes were born in America, there was only American history.
We see that same thought pattern today from people like Stacey Dash, the actress who said she is just an American and that BET and Black History Month should cease to exist. She is also a Republican and a Trump supporter.
Naysayers aside, Woodson’s foresight in documenting our story rather than His-Story, earned him a place in the stratosphere of American history. In 1984, the U.S. Postal Service issued a postage stamp honoring Woodson.
Woodson’s many books and articles are uplifting but his greatest contributions are his less-celebrated words of wisdom and his philosophical view of African Americans:
Black History Month 2020’s theme is “African Americans and the Vote.” While we gear up to do that let’s apply the greatest lessons that Carter Godwin Woodson taught us: Self-Determination, Self-Motivation, Self-Respect, Self-Confidence, and Self-Knowledge.
To read of The Journal of Negro History – Volume I, visit: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/13642/13642-h/13642-h.htm#a1-2.
This article originally published in the February 24, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
