Whether Black History Month (BHM) is still relevant today is a hotly-debated topic that often divides opinion. Personally speaking, Black History Month is very pertinent in this day and age. Black History Month is a time to celebrate all the good aspects of African-American culture. Public schools usually only teach students about black history during BHM. Experiencing Black History Month every year should remind us that our African-American history is not dead or distant from our lives.
Black History Month is a time to celebrate all the accomplishments and quality facets of African-American culture. Although most of the time, only the negative aspects of black culture is accentuated in society, like poverty rates and criminal reports, BHM gives us the opportunity to focus on African-American culture from a positive standpoint. According to theodysseyonline.com, President Gerald Ford stated that he felt that America needed to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history” (Ford), when he expanded Negro History Week to a full month in 1976. Americans can commemorate black culture in a number of ways.
People can listen to jazz music sung by Ella Fitzgerald, the first African-American woman to win a Grammy Award, or dance to soul music sung by Aretha Franklin. People can study paintings that were painted by Henry Ossawa Tanner, the first African-American painter, or read a poem written by Phillis Wheatley, the first African-American poet. People could even find a way to honor black doctors and surgeons like Alexa Canady, the first African-American brain surgeon. Celebrating BHM empowers us to recognize and pay tribute to African-American culture.
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African-American history is generally only taught in public schools during Black History Month. Black history is hardly taught in the standard curriculum year-round alongside other aspects of history and BHM is like an individual month designated to teaching African-American history. According to tolerance.org, “[i]n 2017, Teaching Tolerance reported that only 8 percent of high school seniors could identify slavery as a central cause of the Civil War” (Dillard). Most students leave high school without knowing much of African-American history, like for example, the role of slavery in the Civil War.
This is mostly in part because states have been unsuccessful in setting up high expectations for learning and knowing black history. During BHM students really only get a few brief lessons on African-American history, a few quick facts, and that is it; that is all that schools really teach about African-American history. Black History Month is a chance for students, and really all people, to expand their knowledge and see how the past interconnects with their daily lives.
In conclusion, even if Black History Month is not as apposite today as it was in 1976; it is still relevant. All the accomplishments and good aspects of black culture should be celebrated and commended during BHM. Black History Month is ordinarily the only time public schools teach students about African-American history. BHM is reminder of our African-American past that is needed to remind us of not just how far we have traveled, but how far there still is to go.
