Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on February 18, 2013

18th February 2013 0 Comments

By Lee A. Daniels NNPA Columnist

I have a rule about this month. If its February, I know that somebody somewhere has given an interview or written an article declaring America no longer needs Black History Month.

And, sure enough, the conservative National Review Online of February 4 has given us the article of one Charles W. Cooke. Its title is succinctAgainst Black History Month: This month is Black History Month. Lets hope its the last.

That snarky comment is revealing, isnt it? Even if youre opposed to Black History Month, no one would credibly think theres any chance that this months, or next years, or the year after thats, or you get the picture would be the last Black History Month American society commemorates? Its not a serious comment, of course, and it indicates were not going to get a logical argument from Cooke.

But then, thats not entirely Cookes fault. Thats because there is no logical argument against commemorating Black History Month. Indeed, now its more important than ever that we plumb the facts and complexities of African-American history.

This is not a matter of segregating American history into racial and ethnic enclaves. It is a matter of acquiring a fuller understanding of American history by not pretending that considering American history primarily through that of white Americans is the only approach that counts. Indeed, its clear that Carter G. Woodson, the great scholar who established Negro History Week in 1926, had two goals in mind. One was to enable African Americans to see that Blacks had a rich history before their capture and transport to the Americas; and that pursuing the truth of the Black experience in America was the only way to construct an America worthy of its ideals.

Cookes article follows the usual scheme of the attack on Black History Month. He asserts that the undertaking was necessary before the 1960s, when de jure and de facto segregation ruled the land. Now, however, its outlived its usefulness and in fact is harming the ability of all Americans to gain a shared understanding of American history. Black History Month should be eliminated and the Black American experiences should be integrated into schools regular curriculum. If there is still too little Black history taught in Americas schools, Cooke writes, or if Black history is being taught incorrectlythen we should change the curriculum. If Black Americans remain unfairly in the shadows, then the solution is to bring them out, not to sort and concentrate them by color.

This is an argument built on sand. For one thing, Cooke cites no actual examples of the supposed sins of Black History Monthno examples of schools or school systems where Black history is taught only in February and ignored in the curriculum the rest of the year. No examples of colleges where Black studies courses ignore the impact of the other currents of American society. No examples where in either elementary and secondary schools or colleges there is what he calls the equally absurd repetitive focus on heroic Black figures.

These attacks on Black History Month ignore many things: They ignore how deeply Black history has already been integrated into broader examinations of American history, as even a cursory perusal of popular and scholarly books would indicate. They ignore how complex and searching explorations of Black history have becomeas a forthcoming documentary airing next week on the Public Broadcasting Service on Whitney M. Young, Jr., the charismatic leader of the National Urban League from 1961 until his untimely death in 1971, will show.

Read the rest here:
Black History month’s powerful question

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month
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