Please Don't Do This During Black History Month
Move beyond the factoids and discover what really connects it all.
I’m being very honest right now. The climate for racial justice is so fraught that I have had very few invitations to speak about Black history during Black History Month. I’m relying more than ever on your support. Consider becoming a paid subscriber today.
As a historian of race, I find Black History Month to be the most wonderful time of the year.
The whole country turns its attention toward Black history-makers and their stories. We plan events, talk about books and remind ourselves that Black history is indeed American history.
But there is an issue with how most of us commemorate Black History Month.
We tend to view Black history as isolated points on a timeline instead of a coherent and continuous story.
When we look at Black history as a set of separate facts without their proper context, we can miss the significance — and the beauty — of it.
This troubling lack of context is also why so many people think history is boring. If it’s just memorizing names and dates devoid of the compelling stories that surround them, then why should anyone care?
When we consider context, we address pivotal questions: Who were the other historical actors influencing outcomes? What other events served as precursors? What were the ramifications and aftereffects?
This article comes from my latest contribution at CNN Opinion. To continue reading click HERE.
How are you commemorating Black History Month or what questions do you have about how to do it? Share in the comments!
If you want to go beyond the factoids and bullet points of Black history, I offer a comprehensive survey of different historical eras that form a continuous narrative of struggle and uplift in my latest book The Spirit of Justice: Stories of Faith, Race, and Resistance.
We will be reading your book Spirit of Justice, the young readers version, outloud in our homeschool morning. Thank you for the work you do!
Fully agree. I plan on doing what you had suggested 2 years ago during Black History Month-to attend a Black Church.