Quick Response to Study of Abstinence Education

Black History Month is a refreshingly festive time of the year for most of us. Our national choice to give reverence to the contributions of African-Americans is worthy of celebration. If grades were given for effort, we would earn at least a B+ for our joint commitment to allocating a special time to observe and respect African-American history.

But effort is not always enough. Good intentions are a necessary, though not sufficient requirement for us to win the fight for racial equality in America. So, given that our nation has convinced itself that Black History Month should be celebrated, we must now begin to understand how Black History Month might be celebrated in order to be most effective.

My first thought: Why is slavery never really on the table for serious discussion during Black History Month? We are consistently told to remember the Holocaust of Nazi Germany, but for some reason, any meaningful conversation about slavery tends to be reduced to quick mentions of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass and (of course) Abraham Lincoln. Perhaps the reason we are so quick to remember the Jewish Holocaust but want to forget the African-American holocaust is because the latter is simply too close to home. It’s easy to vilify Adolf Hitler for killing Jews, but not good business to do the same to Thomas Jefferson for his ownership of slaves. Perhaps instead of Black History Month, we should consider “Black Honesty Month” and actually talk about what really happened during slavery.

Second thought: Why does the black history conversation have to start with slavery anyway? Were there no black people in existence before the 17th century? After casually mentioning the arrival of slaves to America, we then rattle off a list of standard achievements: “A black man invented this,” or “John Q. Blackman was the first to accomplish that.” All the while, there is little or no acknowledgment of the great civilizations of Africa to match the incessant drilling of Greek and Roman history into the heads of our kids.

While I am certainly proud of African-Americans who’ve led the way with marvelous inventions and achievements, we must be careful about how our presentation of the message affects the self-esteem of black children. By starting our history as “those people who were eventually freed from slavery by a white man (Lincoln),” we are reminding our kids that the primary quest for black people is to achieve equality with whites. White achievement becomes the ceiling of our greatness, which only serves to guarantee our second-class citizenship.

Third thought: Does a celebration of Black History Month negate the need for more productive conversations about modern day structural inequality? We tend to talk about the history of race in America as if the past is completely disconnected from the present. We discuss how “they used to treat black people back then” without realizing that “they” created the foundation of the society in which we live. Without meaningful discussions of present day manifestations of structural racism, including the education, prison and economic systems, we have forfeited our ability to discuss the past in a constructive way.

Fourth thought: Given that most Americans are woefully uneducated on African-American history, it is clear that allocating one month to the topic is not satisfactory. Why not allow all American children to receive a more holistic and integrated historical education that includes African Americans? By relegating black historical education to one month out of the year, have we created a “Chronological reservation,” a space of time that is owned by blacks, but keeps blackness trapped within its borders? Are black history courses mandatory at most universities? Are children in public school being taught a sufficient amount of black history? Perhaps creating a generation of children who are better informed on the history of race relations might help our nation avoid producing the next Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity. Analyzing the present without understanding the past will almost always lead us to incorrect conclusions. The problem is that most of us don’t know enough about the past to put the present into its proper context.

I enjoy the celebration of Black History Month, and our nation has made a relatively sincere effort to show respect for African-American achievement. But there is certainly more to be desired, and we can only improve our understanding of black history if we consciously acknowledge that there is more for us to learn. Black history is not a 300-year montage of inventions, laws and liberations. It is every bit as complex as the history of any other group of people, and the complexity should be recognized.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the initiator of the National Conversation on Race. For more information, please visit BoyceWatkins.com.

It is great to know where you are going but it is more than beneficial to know from whence you came.  We can not depend on our over extended school systems to teach our children about black history. Below you will find some great resources that can be used to teach kids more about Black History Month.  These resources and websites celebrate Black history and culture with facts, games, print coloring pages and more.  As always, we checked them out first.

How to Celebrate Black History Month with Kids
Check out our craft ideas, activities, and educational stories perfect for honoring Black History Month at home or in the classroom.

Academy of Achievement: Rosa Parks
Meet the woman who proved that a single human being can change the world!

African Heritage Animated Electronic Greeting Cards
Find African cards for any occasion including fabulous February greetings for Black History month and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Black History Month from DLTK’s Crafts
Create these cool cultural crafts to celebrate freedom and civil rights all over the world.

Education First: Black History Activities
Enter this web guide to find references for almost any Black History subject.

History Channel- Celebrate Black History Month
Get short bios on many prominent African- American figures in history. (This is one of our favorites!)

Black History Books
Check out these featured reading ideas for Black History Month.

The Internet African American History Challenge
Try this 3 level Black History quiz, and see how well you can read and learn! It’s open-book!  (See how much you know.)

Activities

An interactive Treasure Hunt

Crossword puzzle filled with words to test your knowledge.

Printable Fill-In-The-Blanks

How much do you know about Black historical figures?

George Washington Carver
Martin Luther King Jr.
Jesse Owens
Rosa Parks

Coloring Pages for Younger Children

Printable coloring pages of some famous Black historical figures.

Rosa Parks
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Jackie Robinson
George Washington Carver

History

Encyclopedia of Prominent African-Americans
Harriet Tubman, Her life in words
Learn about the first African-American US President, Barack Obama

I’m not sure how I feel about the fact that the child’s identity has been revealed but, the teacher’s identity has not.  The news outlet made it a point to outline that teacher stress has gone up, which implies that this child stressed the teacher out.  My concern as a parent would be that my child would be labeled.  Would subsequent teachers lack patience with my child because she “stressed” this other teacher out?  Additionally, does teacher stress justify this behavior?  The little girl told Milwaukee’s News12 that the teacher called her over to the desk, said that she was going to give her candy, then cut the braid and threw it in the trash while the entire class watched and laughed. Lamya went back to her desk in tears. She says that the teacher asked her, “‘Now what you gonna go home and say to your momma?,’” to which she sensibly replied, “‘That you cut off my hair,’” according to News12.

Although the local school district would not comment on the specifics of the case, an apology was given.

The News12 report says that the District Attorney has decided not to press charges, but police did issue a $175 fine for Disorderly Conduct.

So, what would you do if this happened to your child?

www.slavevoyages.org

Anthony A. Parker

Neither the old=time slavery, nor continued prejudice need extinguish self-respect, crush manly ambition or paralyze effort…
Paul Robeson

No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow. Alice Walker

We must focus on those things within us that allow others to control us, know those who would empower themselves to control us and understand that the forces can be brown male or female, white male or female, as well as our selves.
Andrea Canaan
It often requires more courage to suffer in silence than to rebel, more courage not to strike back than to retaliate, more courage to be silent than to speak.
Booker T. Washington

The cost of liberty is less than the cost of repression.
W.E.B.  Du Bois

If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

The major threat to blacks in America has not been oppression, but rather the loss of hope and absence of meaning.
Cornel West

In your lifetime if you come up with one good idea you have accomplished a great deal.
Max Roach

Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King       African-American Sharecropper       Malcom X

We should emphasize not Negro History, but the Negro in history. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice.

- Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) on founding Negro History Week, 1926

Dr. Carter G. Woodson, considered to be a pioneer in the study of African American history, is given much of the credit for Black History Month. The son of former slaves, Woodson spent his childhood working in coalmines and quarries. He received his education during the four-month term that was customary for black schools at the time. At 19, having taught himself English fundamentals and arithmetic, Woodson entered high school, where he completed a four-year curriculum in two years. He went on to receive his Masters degree in history from the University of Chicago, and he eventually earned a PhD from Harvard.

Disturbed that history textbooks largely ignored America’s black population, Woodson took on the challenge of writing black Americans into the nation’s history. To do this, Woodson established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. He also founded the group’s widely respected publication, the Journal of Negro History. In 1926, he developed Negro History Week. Woodson believed that “the achievements of the Negro properly set forth will crown him as a factor in early human progress and a maker of modern civilization.”

In 1976, Negro History Week expanded into Black History Month. The month is also sometimes referred to as African American Heritage Month.

Woodson chose the second week of February for the celebration because it marks the birthdays of two men who greatly influenced the black American population: Frederick Douglass (February 14), an escaped slave who became one of the foremost black abolitionists and civil rights leaders in the nation, and President Abraham Lincoln (February 12), who signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which abolished slavery in America’s confederate states.

Because of his work, Dr. Woodson has been called the “Father of Black History.”

Source:  http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/01/30/extra.black.history.month/index.html

  Frederick Douglass                     Jack Johnson                         Ella Fitzgerald                 Mary M. Bethune