By EMERY CHILDS
Every February the same bit of recycled information about African Americans surface. You get a heaping dose of Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson and maybe Fredrick Douglas, if your school really cared. What people are failing to realize is that there is a world of Black history that is being ignored.
American history is taught every day however, the adversities and triumphs that is Black history get archived for the shortest month of the calendar year. The culture with arguably the richest history dating all the way back to Egypt, gets exiled until the frost bitten month gives African Americans the cold shoulder, again.
What hurts the most is Black history is quintessential when telling American history but still is disregarded. When ignoring Black history a missing link in Americas past becomes obvious. Students like Kia, a college senior are disappointed in history books negligence. “It’s not fair that when learning about history certain cultures are ignored. History should not be subjective, it should be the truth.”
Black history month,first began as “Negro History Week” in 1926. The week was initially the second week of February, strategically placed during Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglas birthdays. It’s recorded that both birthdays had been celebrated by the Black community since the 1900’s. Although in the beginning the feelings of “Negro History Week” were mixed, the tradition has continued and expanded to a month of observance.
But instead of telling the truth, textbooks are filled with factitious characters like “Johnny Appleseed” and “Paul Bunion”. The common narrative told of Blacks is slavery, Martin Luther King Jr., and Obama. Surely there were other significant events and people than a man traveling the globe and planting apples seeds. Admittedly, apples are delicious but considering there would be nowhere to relieve oneself after eating one if African American inventor Thomas Elkins hadn’t invented the toilet proves there is no comparison. So here is an example of the underrated Black history month facts and not so public figures.
How could such historic figures and facts be over looked?
The common figures discussed every Black history month were handpicked based on how well their story sat with main stream America. Historical selections picked based on tolerance of the public, looks and how Americanized they appeared were some of the qualifications. . For example, Malcolm X is rarely talked about because he was an extremist. He didn’t agree with American values and cultivated a strong relationship with leaders outside of the United States. Malcom X, who was a Black Muslim fought alongside Martin Luther King Jr. for black liberation. He did not seek approval from American society therefor, he was cast out of history books, even though he stood for the same thing as Martin Luther King Jr. What both figures have in common is the suspicion that they were both murdered by the United States Government. Martin Luther King Jr’s family sued the government for the assassination of DR. King and won, unbeknown to most people.
Another narrative often told is that of poverty in the Black community. Dating back to the 1300s in Africa, there have been Black billionaires. No, Dr.Dre didn’t isn’t the first one, nor is Oprah. Musa I of Mali was king of the Malian Empire which consisted of territory formerly belonging to the Ghana Empire. In today’s currency he owned billions of dollars of gold in the 1300s. Not only was he rich but in route to Mecca on mission he had quite an influence on Timbuktu.
Madam CJ Walker was the first woman to be a Self-made millionaire. She sustained the economy by creating the black hair care industry. Which remains a 70 million dollar industry.
The very same race that gets dismissed from US history books are the same race that built the country. Beginning with slaves, Major-General Abram Petrovich Gannibal who was an African slave who was brought to Russia by Peter the Great and became major-general, military engineer and governor of Reval. He is rarely discussed.
Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, and Paul Robinson were famous civil rights activists. The Foot Soldiers, much like “the Little Rock nine” whom through acts of courage made a huge impression in the civil rights movement are almost unknown. Even the underrated Black Panther Party who notoriously fought to establish revolutionary socialism through mass organizing and community based programs are brushed off by grade school Black history month lesson plans. They also are never recognized as being the party who created free breakfast for children which still remains.
Politicians and government officials are not exempt. There were a few Black men such as Louis E. Martin who worked in the Kennedy administration. They fought for equal voting rights and essentially helped JFK get elected.
Although slaves were kidnapped and worked for no money which led to America being one of the richest countries that story will never be told. The same slaves that built the White House are omitted when telling the story of America. Only fragments of the truth dance across Television screens and the pages of history textbooks every February.
One month simply doesn’t pay enough homage to African Americans. Every day should be a day to learn about the true history of the country.
This article was awesome, the images were very powerful and added so much to your story. I didn’t know most of the information that was featured in this story so I found it to be very interesting. I think it would be really interesting to look at how different schools all over the world look at black history month.