Black History and World History

I can tell you right now that this is not going to be popular and that there will be people who disagree with my argument. I hope that readers will stick it out to the end of this article before bearing their claws and going for my throat.

I'm from the United States so my personal references and comments on the general culture are specifically referencing common culture in the United States. I'm just making that point clear before we begin.

Black history month is a very sad thing though not just because it exists but because of how important it is that it exists. If the world wasn't so goofy there would be no reason for this celebration to be anything more than a mild acknowledgment. Why should we spend a whole month every year remembering and discussing the accomplishments and contributions of a specific group? Simply because the culture as a whole does such a poor job of dealing with the topic in general.

Ask the average person about "Black history" and I can almost guarantee that an overwhelming majority will reference the civil rights movement from the 60s. Now there's nothing inherently wrong with that as it was an important time period in history but why do so many people jump to that specific timeframe, skipping over anything else that may have happened since then? This problem gets worse if you ask those same people about "older black history." You might get a vague reference to Jim Crow laws or segregation and if you're lucky maybe a reference or two to a handful of important court cases but more often than not you'll get references to slavery. Again, those are all important things but it is hard to accept that those are the only important things that happened during those time frames.

The problem gets far more out of hand if you ask for anything even older than that. The glossy eyed stares and vague references to scenes that sound like they've been taken straight from a Tarzan movie rather than a history book can be completely disheartening. It's as if the idea that history even existed prior to that moment was something that the average person had never even considered.

It's not entirely their fault though. Go and ask the average public school history teacher these questions and you'll realize where people are getting their information from. Sure they'll give you a more detailed view in most cases but hardly enough information for someone who is supposedly an expert on history. Ask the same teachers how much of that information they ask actually teach in their classes and you'll find "very little of it." This is hardly a big surprise as there are only so many hours in the day and even a teacher with free reign over their topics still need to ensure that they cover certain concepts so their students can be prepared for the next history instructor. That cycle continues until you've graduated and there is no longer a next instructor left to prepare for.

I'm not just imagining this; I went to a fairly well-funded public school and took courses in both ancient and world history but the first time African history was treated as having any of more substance besides the slave trade and the land of ancient evolution was in a history college. An introductory course I might add.

We don't need black history month; what we need is for a more well-rounded view on world history to be taught in schools. Until that happens I guess we'll simply have to take what we can get.