February is Black History Month!
Why do we celebrate Black History Month? We don’t single out white history for a month of intentional focus, because every month is white history month. But Black and other non-white Americans have largely been written out of mainstream history. Commemorating Black History Month is one way to fight this erasure. At Hyde-Addison, we don’t cabin Black history into the month of February; we teach students inclusive history year-round. But we shouldn’t take this for granted. White supremacists are fighting all over the U.S., with considerable success, to prevent students from learning complete, inclusive history—banning books and prohibiting teachers from discussing racism in the classroom. So, at Hyde-Addison, we celebrate Black History Month and commit to studying Black history throughout the year.
Carter G. Woodson and the History of Black History Month
Carter Godwin Woodson, widely known as the “Father of Black History,” was born in Virginia in 1875 to previously-enslaved parents. Woodson earned bachelor and master degrees at the University of Chicago, and then a PhD in history at Harvard University in 1912, where he was the second African American (after W. E. B. Du Bois) to earn a doctorate. Woodson then became principal of the Armstrong Manual Training School in Washington D.C. and went on to become a professor and dean at Howard University. In 1916, Woodson began publishing the Journal of Negro History, which was later renamed the Journal of African American History and remains in publication today. Woodson lived in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood from 1922 until his death in 1950, in a home that is now a national historic site. His home served as the headquarters for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, through which Woodson established Negro History Week in 1926, choosing the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Over the ensuing decades, these Black history celebrations spread to cities and school campuses all over the nation. In 1976, President Ford officially recognized February as Black History Month, and it’s been recognized by every President since.
Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi and the Herstory of Black Lives Matter
On July 13, 2013, after a jury acquitted George Zimmerman of murder in his killing of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, Bay Area community organizer Alicia Garza posted to Facebook “black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter.” Her friend Patrisse Cullors replied and included the tag #blacklivesmatter. The rest is herstory.
Black History is All Around Us—R.I.P. Richard Briscoe
Hyde-Addison third grader Seamus Ryan has grown up next door to Mr. Richard Briscoe, a history-making Korean War veteran who passed away on Thanksgiving. Mr. Briscoe (bottom right of photo) was a member of the elite U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Infantry Company (Airborne), the only Ranger unit ever to be made up entirely of Black men—because at the time the military didn’t allow Black soldiers to serve in special forces units—and the first Ranger unit to parachute behind enemy lines during the Korean War. This history is detailed in the book The US Army's First, Last, and Only All-Black Rangers by Edward L. Posey. Black history is all around us!
Reading Recommendations for Adults
Dig into these award-winning history books in February. Stamped From The Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, by Ibram X. Kendi, spans the colonial era of Puritan minister Cotton Mather to our present day, tracing in detail the construction of racist ideas to rationalize and justify discriminatory laws and policies.
Readers 6+ might enjoy the chapter book STAMPED (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You, by Ibram X. Kendi, Jason Reynolds, Sonja Cherry-Paul and Rachelle Baker. It’s an introduction to the history of racism and antiracism in America, adapted from Kendi’s adult-audience history book Stamped From the Beginning, noted above.
PBS has compiled a great collection of suggestions and resources for Teaching Your Child About Black History and a webpage full of resources for Celebrating Black Leaders.
