February is Black History Month, followed by Women’s History Month in March, and several other less publicized celebrations of cultural history which pop up from month to month throughout the year. During these times, Americans are supposed to take the time to step back and honor the many great accomplishments and contributions to society which these marginalized groups offered to our country, which have long been left out of history books, over looked and unappreciated by the general population. While these months dedicated to learning the history of minorities and the marginalized were dedicated to such with the intent of bringing to light the many contributions that these great men and women brought to society throughout history, the sad truth is that by the end of each intended month, most Americans have returned to the same history books and curriculum they used before— history books written without the inclusion of the men and women in our history who belonged to marginalized groups.

Sadly, these months meant to draw focus to forgotten histories, now give an excuse for some to practice a sort of “socially acceptable discrimination”, in which they don’t feel the need to add the history of minorities and the marginalized to mainstream history books because these groups already have specific times when we are supposed to learn about them and celebrate their accomplishments. In other words, we celebrate the history of a select group of white males year round, and in an effort to be sure we don’t appear racist, sexist or homophobic, try to touch on the history of marginalized groups once a year. We have recreated the idea of “separate but equal” in the way we teach history, and the result is a cleverly guised form of discrimination in which there is the “main” history that all Americans must know, which tells the story of a few select white males , and many optional “side” histories which are to be touched on if there is time.

While what is being argued here may seem controversial, this isn’t the first time this problem has been brought up. In a http://www.trueactivist.com/morgan-freeman-wants-you-to-stop-talking-about-ridiculous-black-history-month/2005 interview, highly acclaimed and well respected actor Morgan Freeman brought up the issue, claiming he believed that attempting to fit all of African-American history into one month was not only “ridiculous”, but the added attention and separation only worsened racism; the opposite effect which the focus was meant to have. Freeman argues that “Black History is American History” and should be treated as such. Separating Black History from American History separates the accomplishments of great African Americans in history from those of any other great American of a different race and ethnic background. The history of minorities and the marginalized is just as much American History as the American History which is taught year round, and deserves a place on the pages of the history books that are used, not only once a year during a certain month, but are taught with the same importance everyday of the year.

Minorities and the marginalized deserve more than just one month out of the year, and furthermore deserve to be treated with the exact same importance and respect as other histories are treated. I do not mean to belittle the fact that aspects such as race, gender and sexual orientation posed (and continue to pose) barriers for equality in or society, and believe recognizing the extra challenges members of marginalized groups had to overcome to succeed is essential to understanding the depth of their accomplishments; however these historical figures should be remembered and respected along side all other great Americans— not kept in a chapter in the back by themselves. Fully learning the history of our country cannot take place when we attempt to confine the rich histories of marginalized groups to 30 days out of the year, separating our history in a way that not only divides us, but weakens our ability to see past a person’s race, sex, gender, and sexual orientation and to instead see a fellow member of the human family.