Black History Month: Is Morgan Freeman Correct?

"I don't want a black history month. Black history is American History...I'm going to stop calling you a white man, and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man" So says Morgan Freeman, a well respected African American (sorry Morgan) who believes that celebrating Black History Month is ridiculously relegating his history to a single month, and focusing our attention on our racial differences. He encourages us to see each other as Morgan and Doug, instead of "black" Morgan and "white" Doug. Mr. Freeman feels very strongly about this, as you can tell from his speech, which you can see on YouTube. Is he correct, or is he way off base?

In 1926, Dr. Carter G Woodson started the week-long emphasis that has become Black History Month. Dr. Woodson was a historian, and a very good one. He dedicated his life to research, preservation and publication of the contributions and daily life of Black Americans through the history of North America, beginning with the earliest recorded African Americans in colonial times. Dr. Woodson wrote many books and started an organization which published many works, including a scholarly journal on African American history. In 1926, after more than a decade of experience behind them, Dr. Woodson and his organization determined that they needed to improve dissemination of their message. They weren't happy with how well their findings were being delivered to the public, black and white. They determined to establish a Black History Week in February (because of the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln), with several purposes in mind. First, they believed that if the facts concerning the contributions of the black man were presented, they would speak for themselves. Second, they saw it as an opportunity to express the progress they had made in their research in the past year. When Dr. Woodson died in 1949, his organization, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History carried on his work, and their leadership in choosing a theme and providing content to support that theme has been invaluable to those who look to them each year.

Before Dr. Woodson, there was little emphasis on the documentation of African American contributions, and even less emphasis on education including those contributions. Certainly it is no surprise that many African Americans are interested in learning of the contributions made by individuals with backgrounds similar to their own, and certainly it is no surprise that historians, sociologists, and educators of all races and backgrounds ought to be interested in the truth of all things past. Learning the truth of the past will pave the way into building a better future for all of us.

And yet there is conflict, friction about HOW this truth should be taught. Shouldn't we integrate black individuals and their contributions into our teaching all year long? Of course we should. Should we think that declaring February "Black History Month" gives us a pass to ignore contributions by African Americans the other eleven months? Of course we shouldn't. We should do both. We should teach black history as part of American history, and we should give it special emphasis in February.

African American History is a relatively new field, less than one hundred years old, and there is much research to be finished. It is not complete, it is on-going, and taking time each year to emphasize recent developments can only prove beneficial. Mr. Freeman is right, we should not relegate his history to one month, and he is right to focus on our similarities instead of our differences, and perhaps that very idea is one that we should add to our Black History Month. Many of our struggles in the past stem from the fact that we do not have a history of looking at each other as equals regardless of race.

I will join Mr. Freeman in focusing on the contributions of all individuals as men and women regardless of race, while admitting that many of the groups in America got where they are by walking their own path and experiencing things singular to their own heritage. Perhaps none so singular as the African Americans. You may ask yourself, for instance, where did the National Urban League (NUL) come from, and why was it needed? When former slaves and the first generation of free born African Americans began moving into (primarily northern) cities after the civil war, they found it difficult to accomplish important things like finding jobs, securing living quarters, and enrolling in educational facilities. The northern unions and social agencies (such as they
were), were of little use, denying membership and services, and so the African Americans organized their own groups and helped themselves. One such group was the National Urban League. This year is the centennial of the NUL, and they are still focusing on improving opportunities in employment, housing and education. Economic empowerment is what they call it, and it is the theme of this year's Black History Month. Next year's theme has to do with African American involvement in the Civil War, and I have to confess I can hardly wait to see what the Black History Month organizers come up with on that subject.