Weekly Reflection: Suppressing Black History in Black History Month

Feb 9, 2023

February is the annual celebration of Black History Month. Its origins go back to 1926 when the Black scholar and historian Carter G. Woodson developed Negro History Week during the week in February that included the birthdays of both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Black History Month was recognized nationally by President Gerald Ford in 1976 as part of the celebration of our nation’s bicentennial. Yet Black History Month 2023 coincides with efforts to suppress significant parts of Black history, especially those that impact our recent and current history. Over the past couple of years, states and localities around the country have passed legislation to ban teaching “Critical Race Theory” in general and specific books and material such as the 1619 Project in particular. These laws are largely based on distorted stereotypes of the concepts and material they legislate against. Just this month an Advanced Placement Course in Black History was banned in Florida. The course itself was eventually revised to eliminate aspects of Black History that directly impact our current racial climate including the Black Lives Matter movement. The image posted above was created last year by the artist Jonathan Harris. The first video posted below includes an interview with the artist in which he describes his motivation for this powerful painting.

The 1619 Project banned in some states and localities started as a collection of essays published by the New York Times. The project highlights contributions made by Black people throughout our history as well as the harsh realities of racism that continue to impact the present. It was subsequently expanded into a book. Just this year, The 1619 Project became a six part documentary series available on the streaming service Hulu. Whether it is the essay collection, book, or documentary series; the historical material is presented in ways that relate directly to the realities of race in our nation. This is what makes the project so meaningful to some and so threatening to others. Yet this project helps us hold two essential realties in tension with each other – Black people have made many contributions that show their deep patriotism, and Black people have made many contributions by challenging our nation to live up to its ideals of freedom and justice for all.

The following words by Martin Luther King, Jr. written in 1967 summarize the importance of learning the difficult and painful parts of our history rather than ignoring or banning them:

Many of the ugly pages of American history have been obscured or forgotten. A society is always eager to cover misdeeds with a cloak of forgetfulness, but no society can fully repress an ugly past when the ravages persist into the present. America owes a debt of justice which it has only begun to pay. If it loses the will to finish or slackens in its determination, history will recall its crimes and the country that would be great will lack the most indispensable element of greatness – justice. (p. 116 Where Do We Go From Here – Chaos or Community)