Believe it or not, there was a time in my life when I dreaded Black History month. Where I grew up, Black History month consisted of talking about slavery and watching a cartoon about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and time travel. That was the extent of my history, or so I thought. My teachers used to talk about how black people were slaves until Abraham Lincoln freed them all (LOL) and how MLK had a dream but was killed for trying to make that dream a reality. I would feel so ashamed because it seemed like any history related to black people ended in captivity or death as if that was all there was to us. As I got older, Black History month became less and less of a big deal. February slowly but surely became just another month and my teachers would continue to limit our history to slavery and Dr. King in our curriculum. This is one of the many reasons I wanted to attend a Historically Black College or University (HBCU). I was tired of being taught that all there was to being black was being oppressed or killed for speaking out against the oppression. I was looking to be taught my real history with people who looked like me by people who looked like me, and thankfully that's exactly what I found at Spelman.
Spelman College has a required course for first-year students called African Diaspora and the World and it has changed my life for the better! In this class, we are taught that African/Black history DID NOT start with slavery. We learn about how there were chocolate Kings and Queens and that Africa used to be one of the most powerful continents in the world (until the Europeans came a messed everything up). We are taught to acknowledge the fact black people have been conditioned to believe that we are inferior to those of other races and to realize that the psychological stratagem used during slavery is still affecting the black community today. This class has taught me more about real black history in one and a half semesters than I learned in 12 years of grade school.
The great thing about attending an HBCU is that every month is black history month. When I am to read a text, 9/10 times the author is black. When we have esteemed scholars and leaders that visit the college to speak, they are black. And the social causes/movements that are promoted around campus all support the betterment of the black community. I am finally in a setting where I can be completely immersed in my blackness instead of being ashamed or embarrassed because of it. My HBCU has shown me how to be unapologetically black no matter where I am and I have found a strong sense of self that I could have gotten nowhere else.
I am proud to attend my HBCU, where black history and black excellence is celebrated all year long.
