Black History Month will eventually be obsolete. That is what historian Carter G. Woodson had hoped in 1926 when he and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History founded the celebration of Negro History Week. Woodson, dedicated to his education, in 1912 earned his doctorate in history from Harvard University and was sorely aware of a void in American history as it pertained to African Americans. By 1976, Negro Week became Black History Month and was officially recognized by President Gerald Ford and the federal government during the nation’s bicentennial. Now it seems that Black History Month is becoming obsolete but not for the reason Woodson had hoped; it is growing unnecessary because of indifference towards the increasingly hollow designation and benign celebratory nature of the month.
“End Black History Month” yells filmmaker Shukree Hassan Tilghman, on a crowded urban street in his documentary film “More than a Month”. People admittedly were confused or upset to see a Black man expressing such a sentiment. Tilghman clarifies later that Black history should not be confined to a month but rather fully incorporated into American history. That is what Woodson had hoped for. Yet, you need not go far before you hear that Americans live in a “post-racial” society or that it is unfair or “reverse racism” to celebrate Black History Month. Some White Americans bemoan the month while declaring there should be a White History Month; perhaps they had not been paying attention to the trends in their history books and museums. If some Americans cannot even comprehend the purpose of Black History Month, how can we expect anyone (especially a non-Black anyone) to care or feel connected to the month?
Perhaps Black History Month has been perceived as a month about African Americans and for African Americans, which is where it went all wrong. The month’s purpose was to provide an inclusive American history that recognized the struggles and triumphs of African Americans in a historically factual way. Undoubtedly, one of the goals was also to boost racial self-esteem for a group of Americans who had been told their whole lives that they ‘had no history’.
These days Black History Month largely revolves around the celebration of exceptional African Americans. This week a statue was unveiled in the Capitol of Rosa Parks and indeed she should be celebrated but there are more issues at hand. The majority of Americans could tell you what Rosa Parks did and probably why but anything past that has lost historical context. How institutional was segregation and why did it exist? How long did Jim Crow last? Wait, what is Jim Crow anyway? Those questions are not being asked. The month has become congratulatory to the point that it is devoid of historical and sociological analysis or questions.
The McDonald’s commercials saluting the Black community, specials on BET, and the sporadic vignettes on Black history greats in high school hallways are not cutting it. Black History Month cannot afford to focus only on its Dynamic Duo, Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks (with the optional third member of Frederick Douglas or Harriet Tubman). Our wider mainstream society need not be so afraid of the more controversial, aggressive, intellectual, or otherwise unique African American figures such as Nat Turner, Josephine Baker, Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, or Angela Davis, for example. Americans should also discuss those non-Black Americans who helped or challenged African Americans of the past. We cannot and should not take the complexity or unpleasantness out of historical figures. Harriet Tubman, for example, is known for helping other slaves escape slavery and many times she motivated followers with threats of violence; Tubman was no daisy. We as Americans should be asking insightful and helpful questions on a private and public level, locally and nationally about Black history and indeed about all racial/ethnic history.
Admittedly, the federal government has put forth honorable effort to discuss the issues of Black history and the newest development of the National Museum of African American History and Culture is a significant example. Those steps are important but we need more. Black History Month is about all Americans because the history connected to that group has touched other racial or ethnic groups in America. I would venture to say that Black History Month is almost as much about White Americans as it is about African Americans because so much of it is about race relations between the two. Black history is also important in understanding women’s history and civil rights movements in LGBTQ and other communities. Black history is not only about them but about us.
Here we are at the end of Black History Month but don’t let those measly twenty-eight days be a barrier on discovering the richness and contemporary relevancy of Black history, also known as American history.
Check out ShukreeTilghman’s documentary “More than a Month” on PBS’ website. It’s free until March 3rd! Also, feel free to watch clips on Youtube provided by Independent Lens:
