African American History Month


Mission

So has Black History Month been effective in advancing this purpose?

What could/should be done to increase it's effectiveness?

Since I'm relatively young I have to get these second hand. Any interesting stories about the "Civil Rights Era" that members would like to share?

You know, the funniest thing, the most informative black history I have seen so far on any of the little promotional tidbits you see in TV and print, is MTV- I am somewhat of a history buff, and I must say, blacks are definately left out of the equation, but MTV has done a pretty good job of presenting some actual folks, and the history channel did one about the first black general, which was very interesting.

It is sad that we just don't recognize great poeple on a regular basis regardless of race, no matter what month it may be.

Actually, I'm not sure the time for that idea has come yet.

The #1 reason for a "Black History Month" as I see it, is to combat the fact that many Americans (I might take a leap and say most) have a very poor perspective on how far removed (chronologically) our country is from blatant institutionalized racism (answer: not very, not even a single lifetime).

The nation is still in a state of denial, so I believe the special attention that a Black History Month can bring is still needed. The purpose is not simply to spread information about the achievements of African-Americans but to acknowledge African-American History as a whole. (A key distinction).

I have been worried that Black History Month is not achieving that goal. First in term of focus (gee, as proud as I am that George Washington Carver invented peanut butter, I think we have bigger issues on hand)

and in term of prominence. (Don't blink you might miss it)

There it's gone, happy?!

So has Black History Month been effective in advancing this purpose?

Yes, overall, it has had a positive influence in the areas of promoting and educating numerous sectors that can contribute to the cause in addition to educating the general public including African-Americans.

What could/should be done to increase it's effectiveness?

With the cooperation among various heads of our educational system and the teachers, students at all levels could learn a wealth of information far beyond the scope of their history and social study books. There is so much information out there in various formats (the Internet, speakers, theater, movies, TV, etc.) in addition to the assigned course of study.

A few links to Black History web sites for those who may be interested:

http://www.census.gov/pubinfo/www/radio/bhfeb.htm

http://www.time.com/time/reports/blackhistory/

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhm1.html




Cruising Ram, I agree with you because our children, especially, from all cultures/races...from the very young on up should be more aware of their historical background and in the process learn to be PROUD of their heritage!

All of that is great, of course, but I think the focus on school education excludes a key element of the racial dynamic in this country.

I am speaking, of course, of adults. Children are relatively easy to educate about racial awareness if only the desire is in place in the schools leadership. There, I think, we are on the right road.

Yet there remain sectors of society relatively unreached. The real public discourse.

I believe that a focus on our present society could do Black History Month a world of good. Black History Month should be used to facilitate open discusssion on race issues between adults.

There are organizations dedicated to racial understanding and improved relations. And those who are interested attend these lectures which raise public awareness. The local channels cover these events, and then it goes away for a while.

To me, the key is to use textbooks and lesson plans in every public school that present integrated history and social studies. My daughter's class has also watched "Ruby," the movie about a black girl who was the first to integrate a public school in the south, and movies about Martin Luther King.

When teaching history and social studies, including the contribution of African Americans should be done all year, not just one month out of the year. While designating one month represents progress, the real progress will come when teaching American black history is no longer a novelty.

I do not think that will ever happen. Whenever this subject comes up the most common responses I hear are
We never owned slaves
I havent gotten any preferential treatment in my life
They'll automatically get the job cause they're black, what else do they want
If you don't agree with them you're a racist
I really do not beleive that there will ever be open dialogue about racial issues in this country. The best we will get is that the pain and discomfort will fade as each generation dies out and takes their bigotry with them. Looking around the neighborhoods I live in I see incredible mixtures of race and cultures. I see lots of teens who are dating outside their particular shade.
Is it always that helpful. Where I grew up I went to school with 3 black kids. We were all friends and until we started having lessons on the subject of black culture and slavery and discrimination I can honestly say that we didn't know about any of it. They were just friends. After that however there was a definite separation from then on. The fact they were black was pointed out to us continuously. Any Question on racial issues became "Daryll how does this make you feel" or "Have you experienced this" I think the damage done to them was the worst as they then really understood they were black. They were always the specimen and not just people. It was imposed on them. They were more stereotypically white than many, but were always from then on came with the added label of "my friend whose black". Hell Daryll got flack from other blacks for being what they called a sell out or being ashamed of his blackness. Uppity nigger and House boy were thrown his way.
Now I have to say that yes the town i grew up in was small, and once we got old enough to travel out the problems of and about race became very apparent, also the bigotry of the parents began to seep into other kids in school as we got older, but in my opinion by continuing to focus on race instead of the individual we only prolong and even promote continued racial tension.
I have always wondered about this. If you raise a child and tell them that they can be anything they want and then also tell them that it won't however be allowed because they're black, wouldn't this, coming from a respected elder, automatically install a sense of fatalism. I think you clip them long before they ever fly.

So has Black History Month been effective in advancing this purpose?
I think it has but in avery limited way. More like useless knowledge that will come in handy during jepoardy.

What could/should be done to increase it's effectiveness?
Remove the kid gloves. There was a very short lived sitcom a few years back.
2 roommates. 1 black 1 white. They had started an advertising firm. They way the writers went after stereotypes and racial tensions was blunt honest and extremely funny. The jokes were racist and all too true. No punches were pulled. It lasted one episode and got creamed by guilty whites and opportunistic "civil rights "leaders looking for airtime. It was HONEST. They went after all the bull we all have stored up about other races and about our own. The bigotry was portrayed very honestly and there were no taboos left untouched. Imagine Cedric the Entertainer in Barber Shop along with George Carlin or Dennis Leary.
Only by brutal intellectual honesty along with a sense of humor will we ever make a dent in the problem socially.
IMO we have to drag out the misconceptions and bigoted ideas and see them for what they are, STUPID. Then laugh it away. We must however each be honest with ourselves.

i'm a college student and for the whole semester i have had professors talking about racial discrimination, going into black history, showing moview like jungle fever etc. they are all totally againt racism, but i wish they would stop bringing it up as a topic for discussion so often. personally i think that if i was a black and i was sitting through classes where everyone was talking about our unpleasant history and everyone in class was feeling sorry about the prejudices, i wouldnt be happy. people dont need reminding of their unpleasant pasts everyday.
i think its a great thing to spread knowledge about black literature, art, culture etc just like it would be done about any country, but daily reminders of racial prejudices unnecessary and undesirable.

That is precisely what I'm afraid of. Not that it won't work, but it isn't terribly proactive now is it?

I do believe that defensiveness and fear on the part of the majority in our society is a major barrier to communication. As is the anger and distrust in the minority community. The natural response is to distance one's self from this particular part of America's past but ignoring it doesn't make it go away.

This is not a purely philosophical debate, the lack of discussion means the American public has lack of perspective on present day race issues. (Why are African-Americans still so angry, they have rights now don't they? It's not as if intstitutionalized racism in the past has to do with any of the difficulties experienced today. )


Discussions should, of course, be age appropriate, this is certainly opposite of my experience (most blacks are well aware of "being black" the separation is already there among strangers).


I think that we have to teach children (and encourage adults) to think about society as a whole. Because we live in a democracy our decisions affect more than individuals we know, so we need the perspective. I don't believe discussion will promote tension, it will likely release it because people in America will finally have the chance to understand one another.

Society will never be color-blind (unless we all be come literally blind) and that's not really a bad thing. The solution to a problem that comes with knowledge (in this case knowledge about a person's race) is not found through ignorance.


That's one element, but the discussion needs to range beyond entertainment...

I didn't mean laughing as in sitcoms. But if you can't laugh at yourself IMO you probably aren't much of a human being. Way too uptight. Fear of failure, fear of mistakes leads to very angry people (Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and Hate leads to the Dark Side ).

I disagree. Black history study certainly shouldn't be a pity-party but subjects shouldn't be avoided because they are emotionally heavy. Indeed, that (next to the core subjects, of course) is what an older student needs most.

There has been complaint about teaching kids civics, doing so while ingoring basic information on hot button issues is leaving far too much to chance.

It seems to me study of Black history has focused more on trivia than understand of the social dynamic that contributed to the problems. The Civil Rights movment is without a doubt one the most influential events in recent US history (I say "one of" only in the extremely unlikely event a more important one occurs...) and more advanced study should be persued.

If you can't get the issue into to real national dialougue that is...

I actually never really knew about Black History Month! --- ---

I think the reason for Black History Month was a noble idea that fulfilled its purpose. We're more than our history and now I think we're more focused on our past than we are on our future.

Black History month is important because it is tradition and I still think blacks are left out of history. When we learn history we don't get all the leaders involved.

You get Crispus Attucks, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King, Jr. and then you get a sprinkle of the other leaders in February. Until history puts blacks into it fully, black history month should remain.

Then again, even if they do acknowledge blacks and other minorities fully, I think it's good for the tradition. Just because it's about race, doesn't mean it's divisive.

One problem I see in this county is that everything dealing with black people is turned into some divisive race issue. Like Affirmative Action. I notice this stuff never happens with Jews and the history of the holocaust, or with women to a certain extent. I think it has to do with whites always feeling guilty about looking at things at segregation or slavery; but they don't have to.

I think you are wrong in thinking that this type of thing doesn't happen to Jews and women to a serious degree as well. You say Rosa Parks, MLK jr and a few smatterings,

quick think of US women's history beyond the women's rights movement.

It is Seneca Falls, the 19th Amendment and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Jews? Outside of ancient history you have the inquisition and the holocaust and the formation of Israel.

I think there is a great value to black history month. If even just for historians to become acquainted with new figures, or if they are experts in the field, a forum for them to put out stories from new areas.

At its worst black history month gets claims that are exaggerated or false about things that were invented by blacks but given credit to others.

At its best it brings African Americans back into the pages where they have been whitewashed out of. For example, the fact that the wild west was filled with blacks. Two of the ten cavalry regiments of the late 19th century (and over ten medals of honor) were black regiments (buffalo soldiers) 1 of every 3 cowboys were black. And many great plains pioneers were blacks trying to escape black codes and Jim Crow laws east of the Mississippi. (The exodusters of Kansas for example)

In between, what harm does it do to become more familiar with African American culture?

I'm not talking about the content, I'm talking about the attitudes toward women's history and the holocaust. You don't see people complaining when they bring up the holocaust, but slavery and segregation always make people feel uneasy.

I think there's something to that as well. It seems to me that people are much more willing to discussing women's rights or the holocaust than the civil rights movement. The unwillingness to discuss how such a recent and momentous era has affected present-day America is the greatest reason Black History Month is necessary.

It not just for kids, adults are those in the greatest need of this particular education.


It seems to me that we are ignoring the past effect on our present. Which is at the root of much racial antipathy. Black History Month has certainly not done all it can do to solve this problem.

I believe that the dissemination of knowledge about African culture and accomplishments has occured. Today's american and world history texts are more inclusive of key individuals and groups who've made great contributions to not only their people, but to the world. I have old textbooks from the late 1950s and '60s. In comparison with those texts, today's books are far more advanced.

Scholarship has also increased as well-the plethora of black studies departments and journals would be evidence for that I believe. Cornel West is one whom I really admire and read a lot of.

'Black History Month'? It's difficult to answer when the event in question is vague enough. When is there going to be 'Hispanic History Month', or 'Vietnamese-American History' month? Do those respective cultures not deserve to have 30 days devoted to the trials, tribulations, and eventual accomplishments of their people? Why not?


"You don't see people complaining when they bring up the holocaust, but slavery and segregation always make people feel uneasy."

The slavery issue hits closer to home for Americans because its part of our history. This isn't Germany, so the obvious guilt-trip about the Holocaust isn't a part of the social consciousness here, tho Hollywood won't let us forget so easily.

As for the 'uneasiness', I grew bored with sob stories about the underground railroad, the Civil War, and discrimination/prejudice by the time I reached high school. What's the purpose of preaching it, other than to inflict guilt and shame on the current generation of non-black kids who aren't even responsible for it?

It can be said that BHM serves a political purpose; to develop and maintain a certain sense of social identity among black Americans. By proclaiming to educate children about 'black history' under the guise of tolerance, social sensitivity, and 'celebrating diversity', the symbolic 'victimhood' of the black community is often unconsciously absorbed by the young and susceptible.

Although I'm sure that there are many ways for the said communities to celebrate their place in American history, it's a matter of perspective.

None have play the pivotal role in American political history that African-American's have. The Civil Right Movement remains the single most powerful event in recent US history.

I believe you are missing the point. Studying such events is not an attempt at a guilt trip (after all, most [at least by now I think it's most] Americans have nothing to be ashamed about... they weren't involved). Rather it is both a crucial study of the events that shaped modern America and a lesson to prevent similar abuses in the future.


Not if taught properly... children of any racial and ethnic persuasion had absorb victimhood from historical events. The perspective that is gained form knowledge of such events outweighs the possible dangers.

I voted Im not sure, becuase like all school assemblies, I skipped the Black History month assemblies every year. Except once, and I regret it. I am in no way that I am cognitively aware of a racist, though as I am now reading the autobiography of malcolm X, I fear I may need some improvement. The one assembly I was harpooned into watching was nothing more than a Black-youth-culture-athon, MTV generation stage dancing and mostly a complete waste of time. There was some great poetry from administration and teachers, as well as a few African dances that I got a kick out of, but for the most part I felt like a victim.

This is not to say that respectful nods towards african heritage have not been more successful at other schools. My school was very, very lame.

I am totally supportive of this black history month, but I wonder, why a month? Do blacks have to get white history the other eleven months? Probably so, and what about Latino History? Or Slavic History? I think total education reform to include World history would make up for the need to waste time and money on barely effective moments of non-status quo in regards whose history we teach.

Black History Month sounds great in title doesn't it. Affirmative Action sounds pretty good too in title. There are a few others but we won't list them all.

While the names may sound noble let's look into what we have here.

We are going out of our way to point out the differences between the races. Education is one thing but an entire month?

I though that we were trying to create a more equalized society, a colorblind society (in a sense). I thought that we were trying to create a society where we look upon each other as Human Beings, not as Black or White.

IMO (In My Opinion) when we force an employer (for example) to look at skin color FIRST we a drive a wedge between the races.

Just an opinion.

In a way, isn't Black History month almost degrading to blacks? It's almost like someone saying "hey, look, blacks are good for something after all!"

I think black history month has outlived it's usefulness. It was conceived at a time when some people still had the notion that african americans were in some way "inferior" to other races. But now, in a society where race is becoming a nonissue, i think it serves to perpetuate the division between races; almost insisting that we not forget that we're not just americans, but black, white, hispanic, etc. To be honest, being white, i couldn't care less about black history month. I don't care that the guy who derived more than 300 products from a peanut was black. I think black history month only serves as a pat on the back to other blacks. Nobody else really cares.