Black History Is Everyone’s History
Black History Is Everyone’s History
Editor: As 2022 Black History Month ends it is important to acknowledge the contribution of black Americans to the arts, sports, science, technology, and innovation. Let’s celebrate their amazing contribution to our country and support the rights of all citizens to participate in the American Dream in all its promised dimensions.
By Wes & Anna Hessel
A Black Mark Not On Our History
As Black History Month comes to a close, let us acknowledge those African Americans that have made a positive impact on the United States and the world. We all recall as children eating peanut butter spread on crackers as we learned about George Washington Carver, but little other significant Black history has been taught in our schools. African-American contributions to our society remain mostly hidden; not celebrated, or taught in schools. Black history has little representation in curriculums, what a shame; it should be an integral part of our education, just as it has been an integral part of life and history. History and culture of African-Americans needs to be taught, alongside other cultures, including the typical Western European WASP and Greco-Roman past. Nothing is done in isolation, certainly not improving the world.
Black History Is More Than A Month…
Founded by historian Carter G. Woodson to honor the attainments of black men and women, it originally began as a week-long celebration known as “Negro History Week” in February of 1926, a week in which the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass occurred. Dr. Woodson was himself the son of a slave and although he did not begin his high school education until the age of 20, delayed by his need to earn a living in West Virginia coal mines, he went on to study at Berea College, the Sorbonne, and the University of Chicago. He eventually earned his PhD at Harvard, only the second African American to achieve this, his predecessor being none other than W. E. B. Du Bois.
