*Note: For The Journey: Day Seventeen see my earlier post today.
Day Five: So Now We Know
Let’s summarize what we’ve learned so far about the true history of Black History Month.
1. Original Need: There existed in the 1920s a horrible imbalance in historical study. Most history was written by “White guys” about “Dead White Guys.”
2. Original Motivation: Dr. Carter Woodson and other African American scholars recognized this imbalance. In response, they did not want to emphasize “Black History.” They simply wanted a factual, scholarly study of Blacks in history. In fact, they insisted that what we needed was not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national, racial, and religious prejudice.
3. Scholarly Disappointment: Being a Harvard-trained historian, Dr. Woodson assumed that the truth would set us free. He believed that when White historians saw the facts of history–that all people of all ethnicities have made sterling contributions to civilization–that their biases would die. He was wrong.
4. Spreading the Word: Seeing the failure of White historians to face the facts, Woodson and others now realized that it would take a community. The average, everyday citizen would need to be educated in the historical truth of the beautifully diverse nature of the history of civilization. Thus was birthed what we now know as Black History Month.
5. Historical Clarity: Thus, for those who say, “Why should Blacks have their own month!?” we need to answer historically. “Minorities needed their own month to begin to overcome the distortion not only of the other eleven months, but of the preceding 1000s of years of recorded history.” And minority leaders like Woodson never insisted on the supremacy of any one race. They simply wanted to uncover the buried historical riches of any neglected cultures. (By the way, that’s the identical motivation that led to my writing Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction.)
6. Remaining Issues: We still have at least two remaining issues.
a. What Happened Between the 1920s and Now?: Good question. Glad you asked. We’ll summarize that in the coming days.
b. But Do We Still Need Black History Month?: Ah… We start with the history of Black History Month. We’ll conclude with the controversy surrounding Black History Month. Is it still needed? Is it a net positive or a net negative for Blacks? For all Americans? For American history?
Stay tuned . . .
