Black history month is a time of the year when people of all backgrounds are able to reflect upon periods of vast injustice and segregation black people faced while celebrating the victories of people of color throughout history. It is a way to celebrate their success in those moment and their massive contribution to the society, despite everything they have been through.The purpose of BHM is to praise the fight against racial oppression. BHM should be integrated into every calendar year as it serves the purpose of reminiscing the fight against the slavery, praises the achievements of the black community and is a warning about potential future injustice.
It is important to understand how and why Black History Month was proposed and got included into our calendar year. BHM originated with American historian named Carter G. Woodson. Carter was a journalist and a scholar who proposed a tradition of integrating ‘Negro History Week’ into second week of the February to align with birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass whom he had great respect for. (Greene 2017)
BHM started its glorification of black community history as a week. Later with recognition of its importance with other communities and acknowledgement throughout educational systems in the US, February was finally integrated as a Black History Month in 1976. (Greene 2017) Transition from ‘Negro History Week’ to ‘Black History Month’ is an analogy of how the Black community demands and pursues for everything they believe that they deserve. Black community is great not only because they achieve their goals but overcome adversities that society put in their way.
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The most notable purpose of BHM is a fight against the racial oppression. Racial oppression did not stop when the slavery was condemned (1865), but has continued and is unfortunately a common occurrence in today’s modern US. While the slavery formally ended in 1865 black community was and is still a discriminated minority in the United States. With numerous controversies regarding black community discrimination and racism in America one of the most notable examples is the civil rights movement of Martin Luther King Jr. Nobel Peace Prize winner MLK was the leader and face of the movement that fought against conflicts between African-American community and white people and he demanded equal treatment and rights for people of every race. With his famous sentence: “I have a dream..” he carved his name into American history as one of the most important civil rights activists and contributed to the beginning of the end of segregation and discrimination of the people of different races.
However, Martin Luther King was just one of the many African-American people that are important to the American history. Numerous scientists, politicians, athletes, writers and poets also have a crucial role in developing their fields, however not every one of them got the recognition they deserve. Indefinite number of our black heroes never got to wear their cap and that’s what makes BHM special. It is an opportunity to remember and acknowledge all of people that do not have their names in the history books because they are not prioritized throughout the rest of the year. Some people argue that BHM is a way to divide black communities history from American history.
These opinions are becoming more popular and have recently made headlines with prominent entertainment figures like Morgan Freeman, Stacey Dash and rapper Nas. (Simon 2017) Separation of those two is unnecessary because black communities are a part of the United States and they should represent American history. Furthermore, if children in schools learn about black history separately and in such a small time frame of one month a year than they might form an opinion that black history is not only essential, but not even important part of the American history.
Appreciation of historic black figures has a meaningful purpose. Their battle with oppression is a timeless lesson for everyone struggling and going through adversity. Likewise, the saying: “History is the teacher of life” illustrates a valuable lesson about future racial injustice. Racial discrimination is present in today’s world and movements like ‘Black Lives Matter’ and etc. are evidence of black people’s unhappiness with today’s society but also a willingness for change. ‘Black Lives Matter’, specifically, is an activist’s movement against systematic racism against black people, which addresses most common problems in today’s America like police brutality, incarceration and problems with the criminal justice system targeting African-American people. Another example of fight against the racial discrimination is NFL’s quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s protest of the national anthem. Resulting in a major backlash Colin stood up for something – with sitting down. As history teaches us, all great figures stood up against the majority. In the end Colin became a face of the Nike’s campaign against racial oppression, but also got dismissed of the San Francisco’s 49ers.
Black History month is an ongoing activity which purpose and importance will always be a part of the discussion and bring controversial questions. However, the facts are that African-American people are a part of the American history that fought against every obstacle and has continued to do it today. In my opinion, even if there was none racial oppression today, Black history Month would be worth celebrating to reminisce of all people we do not reflect upon everyday and to expand knowledge of black communities history. However, since oppression is ongoing subject in today’s society and is in fact, still out there, I think BHM is an essential component of stopping the racism and learning about the fight against it through historic figures like Martin Luther King Jr, or today’s individuals like Colin Kaepernick.
