Black History Month --- To Be or Not to Be

To be; U.S. Black History Week was created in 1926; historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History announced the second week of February to be "Negro History Week." Black History Week was not universally accepted, however, Departments of Education of the states of North Carolina, Delaware, and West Virginia, as well as the city school administrations of Baltimore and Washington, D.C. cooperated. 

At the time of Negro History Week's launch Woodson contended that the teaching of black history was essential to ensure the physical and intellectual survival of the race within broader society:

"If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated. The American Indian left no continuous record. He did not appreciate the value of tradition, and where is he today? The Hebrew keenly appreciated the value of tradition, as is attested by the Bible itself. In spite of worldwide persecution, therefore, he is a great factor in our civilization."

The leaders of the Black United Students at Kent State University first proposed the expansion of Black History Week to Black History Month in February 1969. The first celebration of the Black History Month took place at Kent State one year later, in February 1970. In 1976, the U.S. government officially recognized the informal expansion of Negro History Week to Black History Month.

Not to be; black history is American history, thus there isn’t a need to separate the two. Asian Pacific history is American history, thus there isn't a need to separate the two.

In 2005, Morgan Freeman told 60 Minutes’ Mike Wallace that Black History Month was ridiculous.

“Why?” asked a surprised Wallace.

“You’re going to relegate my history to a month?” asked Freeman, visibly annoyed.

“Which month is Jewish History Month?” Wallace conceded that there wasn’t one.

“Do you want one?” Freeman pressed.

“No, no,” stated Wallace.

Well, Freeman concluded, “I don’t want a Black History Month either. Black history is American history.”

In short – Black History Month is an anachronism that isolates the history of African Americans to a single month, reinforcing the very segregation the observance was intended to counteract.

My thought, Black History Month is to be, if only under the guise of tradition, it should remain. I do assert the founders of Black History Week and Black History Month would have continued to seek further expansion and never set out to establish the tradition as we know it. I suggest they would’ve saw the success in expanding from a week to a month, and aimed for a Black History Quarter, and lastly from quarter to full curriculum integration yearly. Somehow that goal was lost over time.

Black History Month, Women’s History Month, South Asian Heritage Month, Haitian Heritage Month, Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, Jewish American Heritage Month (ironically establish in 2006 a year after the Freeman/Wallace 60 Minutes interview), Caribbean-American Heritage Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, National American Indian Heritage Month, Alaska Native Heritage Month, Confederate History Month, and any “History Month” I may have missed are not needed, but have become traditions, and in some cases commercial successes.

I acknowledge and appreciate the purpose behind Black History Month. However, many are not convinced of the benefits or purpose. We must be careful to ensure that the indifference towards this annual celebration is not allowed to become cynical and jaded about what it stands for. On the other hand, we must not become cynical or jaded in keeping the February designation just because. I suggest Black History Month continues every February [same for other "History Months"), and let's establish a white history month. Regardless of the various history months, overall, we must seek for American history to be taught accurately and unabashed by what American history entails and provokes, even if that means learning and teaching our history yourself.