Note - As of this
writing, I am two days removed from a Facebook Live broadcast that I conducted
this past Sunday night of the same title of this blogpost. There is so much to
say on this topic that after talking for an hour and a half on FB Live, I knew
it was time to bring it to an end. Although 8000 people have seen the broadcast
to date, I know that many simply don’t have the time to sit and watch a vid for
an hour and a half so what I have done here is capture a few of the more
important points I raised in the video.
Why Black History Month? The creator of Black History Month,
a Howard University professor and dean, Dr. Carter G. Woodson (a name you
should all know), actually created it as a week-long observance for the 2nd
week of February to commemorate the birthdates of Frederick Douglass and
Abraham Lincoln. He coined it Negro History Week and it commenced in 1926. He
saw at that time a need to bring attention to the history of the people who
were descendants of Africa. This history was vastly unknown and quite
unfortunately, that continues to be our reality today in 2018. Dr. Woodson saw
the need for people of all races and ethnicities to read, research, study and
learn the struggles, accomplishments and experience of the people of African descent.
By no means did he feel that this should be confined to a week in February
though. Negro History Week was simply a time to place a particular focus on a
topic that would take a lifetime to learn and absorb. It was a vehicle. During
the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s, Negro History Week evolved into what is
now called, Black History Month.
As a classroom teacher, the aforementioned reference to
Black History Month’s origin must be taught. In so many classrooms across America,
children experience various forms of observing Black History Month via reports,
research papers, projects, assemblies, presentations, field trips, etc., but for
whatever the reason, in so many cases, it is not explained to them why Black
History Month was created and who’s idea it was to create it.
In a month, in all actuality, there really isn’t enough time
to cover much of anything and consequently, there is a clarion call out there for
Black History to be a lifelong pursuit. But with the observance of the month,
it is imperative that you still allow your students (all of them) to gain the
most they can from it. To that end, you must consider your starting point. The
temptation is real to start teaching African American History during the
enslavement period beginning with the arrival of the first African Americans in
Jamestown, VA in 1619. I cannot overemphasize how wrong this practice is,
regardless of the racial composition of your students. For the sake of
discussion, let’s explore this from the vantage point of your black students
and your white students.
If your black students are being introduced to Black History
via a lesson on slavery, you are unintentionally putting your black students at
a mental, emotional, psychological deficit and disadvantage which in many cases
might be permanent. In other words, you are introducing them to who they are historically
as slaves….as captives…as property and thereby considered subhuman. This is a
grossly detrimental way to introduce Black History to black students because it
denies them of a fuller, broader, longer historical context that they can feel
pride in. Starting them off in slavery introduces them to their history and
therefore themselves in defeat. Again, some mentally, emotionally and
psychologically never overcome this reality.
The period of enslavement in the U.S. lasted from 1619 –
1863…244 years. Your black students have a rich and glorious history on the
African continent that goes back thousands of years. Those years cannot be
denied because they too represent the ancestry of your black students. The goal
of history is to enlighten the reader about the past but it is also tool of
empowerment toward the future. In order for Black History Month to serve as a
tool of empowerment, you must first and foremost expose your students and in
this case, your black students to their African past which include the various
contributions in science, medicine, mathematics, technology, engineering,
architecture, astronomy, writing and education to name a few.
Looking at the same problem of introducing Black History,
but in this case to your white and other non-black students in the period of
enslavement, you are sending these students the wrong message as well. Because the
dynamic of slavery is white slave owners owning black captives, just as it puts
that black child at a deficit mentally, emotionally and psychologically, it
puts the white child in a superior or superiority position…at an advantage
mentally, emotionally and psychologically. It says to the white child that he /
she is a descendent of power…a descendent of conquerors. And although, this was
the relationship between the two races in that era, it denies the broader context
of the ancestry of your black students prior to this period. And because in
schools, this emphasis on slavery is perpetuated in many cases throughout the
entire K-12 experience and beyond, there are MANY who never recover from this
omission of African History prior to the enslavement period, throughout their entire lives.
Therefore, history can serve as an instrument of empowerment or a weapon of
defeat. It all depends on perspective.
I will leave you with the GREATEST challenge for the
classroom teacher in this regard…at the end of the day, you can only teach what
you know. If you are a product of a school system that introduced you to Black
History during the period of enslavement, one could make the argument that you
don’t know much more than your students relative to Black History beyond 1619.
Well that brings us full circle then. It becomes imperative that you engage in
the initial intent of Negro History Week…to intensely learn the history of the
descendants of Africa so that you will be in a position to teach it, with
passion, to your students.
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