Reflection On Black History Month
- Details
- Category: Lifestyle/People
- Published: Thursday, 28 February 2013 22:01
- Written by Cynthia Harris
As technology progresses, our youths are becoming less aware of who we are and why we exist.
When we think of Black History Month, the most notable figures that come to mind are Rosa Parks, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. What exactly does this mean to me?
Is there anyone else that helped makes a difference in the world? Can I make a difference in the world as those who came before me? The answer is YES I CAN!
Carter G. Woodson is the founder of Negro History Week that is now celebrated as Black History Month. Mr. Woodson felt that there was a greater need to ensure that colored people understood and learned Negro History. That is, the history of our ancestors and of our struggles of life before we were brought to America and during our continued years in America.
In 1926, he created “Negro History Week” in the hopes that it would become a fundamental part of American history. As a result, it prompted an enthusiastic response and motivated the creation of black history clubs. It also increased interest among teachers, and heighten the awareness and regard from progressive whites.
The federal government acknowledged the expansion of Black History Week to Black History Month in 1976. Most African-Americans today don't understand the true efforts or meaning of the month long observance. They often criticize that blacks have the shortest month of the year to celebrate our contributions in history.
It was not Mr. Woodson's intentions to make this a permanent week or month long observance, but rather 365 days of inclusion into American History. In other words, Mr. Woodson wanted Black History to become part of American History. However, today, we still remain segregated not only in our knowledge but also in our thinking. Like his ancestors before him, Mr. Woodson believed in self-reliance and racial respect.
We stand on the shoulders of giants, yet we dishonor our heritage and our struggle for racial equality and self-reliance. So how do we fix this? We read, we learn and understand that we are people of excellence and that the shoulders that we stand on and its legacy will continue.
We must educate ourselves about people like Clitus Niger who was the aide to Alexander the Great around 300 B.C Clitus Niger was a black general and the son of Alexander’s nurse, Lanice.
We must educate ourselves about a prominent Roman citizen, Terentius Lucanus who was so impressed with his African slave that he gave the youth his name. Thus, Publius Terentius Afer, for Africa, was destined to become one of Rome’s greatest Latin stylists and writers of comedies.
We can talk about Zenobia (250 A.D.), known by scholars as Queen of the East. She seized the throne of Palmyra after husband Odenathus died. She enjoyed many battles and could be seen riding horseback and driving a speeding chariot. Occasionally she marched great distances at the head of her infantry.
Some people believe that we are responsible for our own holocaust. This misnomer is simply untrue. Admittedly, African slavery was thousands of years old and was not pleasant for those who experienced it. It took Christians to turn slavery into a thing of total degeneracy whose single objective was to reduce men of different color and background to animals. They were turned into animal with hands to provide profit and pleasure for their master.
Slavery and exploitation had come with Christianity and when the leaders of Africa learned of this, they fought tooth and nail until their demise. American history will not teach you this. We must go beyond the shadows of what we have been taught and learn more. By learning through American history, you have been taught that we are only identified through Africa.
Blacks have made broad migrations to many parts of the world for many centuries, but the stories have been diverted to fit the needs of the storyteller. There is evidence before written history that Blacks were world travelers.
This is what Mr. Woodson was talking about when he wanted to create an awareness of who we are. Blacks were prosperous and made a difference in the world as we know it today. There is no question that we are traveling behind some great footprints in history. So as we reflect on this last day of Black History month, remember we are History makers today and in the future. What footprints will you leave in History?