A LOOK AT BLACK HISTORY MONTH

by Pam North

     "From every mountainside, let freedom ring.  And when this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of that old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! Free at last!  Thank God almighty, we are free at last!'" ("I Have A Dream," by Dr. Martin Luther King - August, 1963). 
     February has begun, and it is important to point out that this also is Black History Month. To fully appreciate that significance, it is important to recall the social and academic climate that prevailed for so long in the Western world, especially in North America. Between 1619 and 1926, those of African descent were classified as a race that had made no contributions to human civilization.  Black Americans continually were dehumanized within the public and private sectors, and relegated to the position of non-citizens, often defined only as fractions of humans. It is estimated that between 1890 and 1925, an African American was lynched every two and a half days. The academic/intellectual community reflected the bulk of mainstream America. Blacks were visibly absent in any scholarship or intellectual discourse that dealt with human civilization. African Americans were so trivialized, and their history so distorted in academia, that slavery, segregation, and lynching were considered justifiable conditions. It was this racist attitude and scholarly omission that inspired the talented and brilliant African American, Carter Godwin Woodson (1875-1950) to search for the truth in black history. Born to parents of former slaves, he spent his childhood working in the Kentucky coal mines, not enrolling in high school until age 20.  He managed to graduate within 2 years, continuing on to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard. As he studied, Woodson was very disturbed to find that history books virtually ignored the black American population, only generally mentioning them in the inferior social position to which they were assigned at the time. He vowed to devote his life to taking on the challenge of a scientific study of the role of black people in America, and of writing their contributions into the nation's history. He established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now called the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History), and a year later founded the widely respected Journal of Negro History. Under his direction, and with the help of other scholars both black and white, he launched Negro History Week in 1926 as an initiative to bring national attention to the
contributions of black people in America, and to attempt to correct the apparent ignorance and deliberate distortions rampant in existing accounts of black history. Meetings, exhibitions, lectures and symposia were organized throughout the year to give a more objective and scholarly balance to the scientific study of the African experience, as black history had barely begun to be studied and  documented. Despite the presence of blacks in America as far back as colonial times, it wasn't until the 20th century that they finally gained a respectable place in the history books.
     In 1976, as part of America's Bicentennial, Negro History Week was expanded to the entire month of February and established as Black History Month, and is now celebrated all over North America to preserve and perpetuate African American history and culture. The expansion's real strength and importance, aside from allowing more time for celebration, has been the new, more encompassing focus that has emerged -- showcasing the collective ingenuity, creativity, cultural and political experience of Africans in America; increasing the infusion of African American history and culture into our national society; ensuring that black people remain strong in their unique culture and develop more
belief in themselves and their intrinsic value; emphasizing the realization that the insidious institutions of slavery, Jim Crow laws and institutional racism have contributed to the ongoing damage of society greater than any affirmative action reasonably can hope to assuage.  Through Black History Month, direction toward the goals of racial healing, respect and understanding are realized and strengthened.
     February's significance is the recognition of the birthdays of great pioneers such as Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, Eubie Blake, and Abraham Lincoln, and institutions such as the NAACP and the first Pan African Congress.   Also, the first African American senator, Hiram Revels, took the oath of office in February, 1870.
     Celebrations such as Black History Month, along with civil rights laws, have exposed overt discriminatory practices, racial harassment and the legal ramifications of such conduct. The struggles for and achievement of independence by African countries in the 20th century also have demonstrated the strength, humanity, creativity and contributions of the African to human civilization. Unfortunately, the prevalence of prejudicial attitudes that generate discriminatory acts in both national and international arenas still has not been erased. While behavior may be controlled by laws, attitudes can change only through education and the elimination of ignorance. Black History Month's focus is on the
reaffirmation of the struggle and determination to change attitudes and heighten the understanding of the African experience. While primarily a celebration for black ethnicity, it simultaneously affirms the humanity of all peoples, emphasizing that diversity should not be feared, but rather respected and enjoyed. Although the United States has an underlying "melting pot" concept, diversity, along with its accompanying traditions, does not have to be abandoned and forgotten for its citizens to be  "American".