March Issue v

6 the hourglass | March 2021
February is Black History Month.
Black History Month offers the opportunity
to change our perspective
about Black history, and how it is taught in
schools across the country.
White fragility has minimized the reality
of what Black Americans have faced
in this country; Black history as a whole
has been made palatable for the fragile
White public. In simpler terms, the White
audience has made it possible to shield
themselves from Black pain.
Black History Month began in 1926
as Negro History Week. Carter G. Woodson,
a historian, introduced this idea, as
he believed that educated Black people
would be able to join in discussions and
offer perspectives on our country’s racial
affairs. With other progressive historians’
help, Woodson’s week of Black discovery
became a month of celebrating Black excellence
and rediscovery.
We have the observance to combat
systemic racism caused by the efforts of
White supremacy. In today’s modern discussion,
Black History Month has become
a mission to lay the truths of Black history
bare, without the restraint of White fragility.
Black people want to focus on the
long-lasting social impacts of issues like
slavery and the Jim Crow era—their effects
are still felt today. Understanding our
unvarnished history is critical for avoiding
similar problems in today’s social climate;
we talk about history because acknowledging
the issues is essential for improving the
future.
To fully understand what happened in
the near and distant past, the educational
system in the United States—specifically
White educators—should fully acknowledge
the cruelty that Black Americans
have suffered and continue to suffer.
For example, institutions and the media
should stop printing only the black-andwhite
pictures of the March on Washington
as it distorts our perception and paints the
event as a centuries-ago occurrence. If we
saw the March on Washington in color, just
like President John F. Kennedy is pictured
in history textbooks, we would remember
that the struggle for civil rights is in the recent
past and is still ongoing.
Students must actively expand their
knowledge. They shouldn’t walk away
from history classes with the most generic
information—that slavery and racism are
bad and that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and
Rosa Parks were good. Students should
understand the historical significance in
context.
Black
History
MONth
By IFUNAYA OBIDIKE ‘23
what it was,
what it became,
and
what it could be
Fellow members of the Black community
will undoubtedly recognize this
experience: that the Black names taught
in history class can be counted on one
hand—Rosa Parks, Barack Obama, Frederick
Douglass, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
and Harriet Tubman.
Black history should not be considered
as a separate subject in the school
curriculum. Students should learn about
Juneteenth: a celebration of freedom for
the last group of enslaved people. Students
should understand the connection between
the emancipation of the enslaved and the
creation of the penal systems. Students
should study or Black inventors like Valerie
Thomas who created 3D movies and
television.
More Black names should be added
to the system’s index as White names now
dominate. Names of random generals, innumerable
men who started wars—the list
goes on and on. These events all stem from
White people. White history has been the
norm for years, while Black history remains
optional.
Educational institutions across the
country must improve the teaching of
Black history because young Americans
rely on the educational system to teach us
why Black people are important figures of
the past, the present, and for a better future.
There’s no point in teaching Black
history if most of the crucial lessons are
not thoroughly examined. Predominantly
White institutions need to confront their
fragility and face up to the racism that continues
to harm people of color.
If this unabridged education is introduced,
understanding the stance an
anti-racist White person should take is
important. The Black community needs
accomplices, not allies, in challenging
systemic and casual racism. Developing a
better understanding of Black history and
its connections with contemporary racism
is the first step. Black people need to be
listened to, not spoken over.
Those with privilege should help the
Black community battle the status quo by
advocating for the teaching of a complete
Black history. Nor should Black students
be used as a resource for a class discussion
about racism; Black trauma is not a free
educational tool for any current racist misdoings.
Black students are not informants;
the internet is, and no one should be infantilized
or coddled on the subject of racism
in the past or in the present.
Education is elevation. Our schools
should teach us complete lessons so we
can grow to teach others. If our country
does not change the way Black history is
taught, the initial purpose of Black History
Month will cease to exist.