Black History Month

After much dwelling, and not a whole lot of writing, I decided on my blog topic for the week. February, as many Americans know is Black history month. There is a legacy behind this designation that always causes Americans to question the necessity of such a thing. People always question why African Americans need a whole month dedicated strictly to their heritage. Isn’t that racism, or favoritism, or something? These are the people who question why we also don’t have a white history month, to which I respond that we have eleven of them.

So what does this have to do with the Civil War? In all honesty, it is not directly connected to the Civil War. In fact, Black history month is also celebrated in the UK and Canada in October, so its not even a strictly American celebration. But, in the grand scheme of things, the American Black history month would probably not exist with the conflict of the Civil War. We are able to trace the threads of uplifting and freedom back to the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13^th Amendment. And while I realize these threads go back even further, the catalyst for their growth is the actual Civil War.

Every February, the same questions make their rounds. What purpose does Black History month serve? Is it really fair to dedicate an entire month to one race? Etc, etc. The most prominent figure in these discussions is usually Morgan Freeman, as he has been quoted as saying that “black history is American history.” I tend to agree with this point. We don’t need to a whole month dedicated to this study. I know when I was in grade school, we would often spend the entire month in units about MLK and Malcolm X, but after that, there was usually not another black soul mentioned. This is a slight to not only African-American history and culture, but also to the school children. So I guess what I am saying is, we need to make a conscious effort to stop segregating our history. It isn’t black history, or white history, it is American History.