Red, White and Black

It's time to integrate history

By Kelvin Wade | | February 26, 2009 17:10

'We don't learn about black history in school except for one month. I think it should be mixed and we should learn a little black history every year like we learn geography.'

- Aisha King, 12, Crystal Middle School

There has been a lot of debate about ending Black History Month. The most popular argument goes that since Barack Obama's election as 44th president, the goals of Black History Month in large part have been met.

But before we hang a 'mission accomplished' banner at the National Civil Rights Museum and congratulate ourselves, I think it's time we end Black History Month by expanding it.

Just like young Ms. King said in a Daily Republic story earlier this week, my problem with Black History Month is that it squeezes black history into a twelfth of the year. That's like those folks who go to church on Easter and forget about their religion the rest of the year.

As a society we've gotten used to talking about black history or civil rights around Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and Black History Month. I've found myself holding off on some race-themed columns until February. That's not right.

Personally, it's not Barack Obama's election that prompts me to want to do away with a single month long observation of black history. I've argued for a long time that black history is American history and shouldn't be separated from it. In fact, the first time I wrote about it Obama was just about to marry Michelle Robinson.

The biggest problem with singling any group's history out in 2009 is that our students' history scores are abysmal and the public's general knowledge of American history is so wickedly limited. What's the point of emphasizing black history when many blow off history in general?

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute sponsored a study last year of 14,000 college seniors and freshman who took a 60 question, multiple choice test on American history. College seniors scored an average of 49 percent on the test. In several schools, the freshman scored less than 30 percent.

That's failing.

I don't see how we can even have a debate about a specific area of American history when as a whole the country is foundering.

There's an opening now for us to embrace history like never before. The key to getting students interested in history is to connect it to the present. Obama's election does just that with black history.

More than that, there is great interest now in the Great Depression, the New Deal and Franklin Roosevelt because of the parallels to our present troubles. Historical biographies are selling well.

It's time to teach black history year round within the framework of American history. One can't tell the history of this nation without covering black history.

Carter G. Woodson's Negro History Week and Black History Month have served us well during a time when black achievement was whitewashed from the history books.

Now it's time to integrate our history. Peace.

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Don't get me wrong. I love black history. Growing up, our dad kept a library of books like The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Roots, The Negro Handbook, Black Almanac and all sorts of other because black history was important to him. He ensured that it was important to us. But in school, the only time we covered black history was during Black History Month. What started out as a good idea has turned into a prison.

There was a time when black contributions to American history were ignored. Worse, black contributions were often deliberately suppressed. There was a need to fill in the gaps and flesh out the story of American history. Carter G. Woodson's Negro History Week started that. It was an attempt to show that there were great contributions to this country by blacks. It was a matter of telling the truth.

Unfortunately, with Black History Month, corporations and schools grew to love it. So instead of fleshing out American History, a separate month was carved out and crammed full of black history. Then, during the rest of the year, black history vanished. That wasn't the original intent.

We've come to a point where there is no longer an viable option of ignoring or suppressing history. There's too much out there. The internet makes suppression unrealistic. Now it's the time to teach American history, full and complete, with the contributions and contradictions and triumphs and tragedies of Americans from all backgrounds.

And America woefully needs to learn it's history.

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it...remember?
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I've been muse-less the last couple of weeks so writing hasn't come as easy as it has in the past. When all is right, it just flows like I'm taking dictation from another dimension. That's what it feels like. I've really had to work at it lately and it's been a struggle. There are few things more daunting to a writer than a blank screen and a fast approaching deadline. But I manage to get it done....

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In the Other Side DR blog, I tackle what I think is wrong with the Republican Party today.

In the Wading In blog, I tackle social networking sites in general and Facebook in particular.