When people think of black history month they either ask the questions: "Why do they get a whole month?" Or "Why is black history month the shortest month?"
Black history month originally started as a week, it all started with Carter G Woodson. Woodson started this because he felt that Black Americans were overlooked and ignored by history textbooks and teachers. So he started a black history week in 1926, which lead to teachers noticing the contributions that Black Americans had on American history. It was later when the president thought it was a good idea to have a black history month.
February was the month that was chosen because it has the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglas, which Woodson believed they had a huge impact on the rights of Black Americans.
Some people talk about how when it's Black History month they learn about the same five people, and I have to agree. When I was in elementary school, my teachers tried to do at least one lesson the first day of February. But it was always the same lesson; Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks-- what about Emmett Till and the bus boycott that was before the Montgomery boycott. I learned most of my history from my family and I think if you really wanted to know about the civil rights fight you would have to do research by yourself.
I saw this video once that was about the world without black history month. The video talked about how without Black Americans we would have missed out on advancements of cell phone technology, game consoles, personal computers, shoe making techniques, country music, a pacemaker for the heart, the first successful open heart surgery, and several other things. The link to the video is here.
That video brought up things that I didn't know that made me want to know more about certain things. Maybe if we learned more about the inventions of Black Americans and not just Rosa Parks or slavery, then we wouldn't need the title Black history month; because that's all Black History month is; a title to a month.
Black history month isn't a month ONLY for Black Americans it's for EVERYONE. I like to think of Black History month as American History month because of the contribution from my ancestors that changed America.
Black history month isn't about Black people, it's not supposed to praise all the black people around you. Black history month was made to shine a little light on what Black Americans did to help change America for what we know it as today.
Black history month is a reminder for people that you can overcome the pain and the sadness and be beautiful. It reminds people that hope can take you a long way.
