Black History is American History

Celebrate Black History

It is part of America’s history

 

February was first marked as Black History Month in 1926 to recognize the accomplishments of African Americans. It continues to be celebrated nationwide. February was chosen because it is the birth month of Abraham Lincoln who issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing former slaves, and of Fredrick Douglas, an African American orator, social reformer, and abolitionist. It celebrates the central role played by Black Americans in our collective history. 

 

Many African Americans have made their mark in the arc of our history. Most notable is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who led the civil rights movement through non-violent direct action. 

 

Rosa Parks is remembered for refusing to move to the back of the bus in the segregated South and sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott which led to desegregation efforts across the region. 

 

Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Clay, led many in the sports world and beyond to reject remnants of slaveholding and consider separatist movements tied to a Black identity. He became a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War and raised the connection between race and other left-wing activism. 

 

Frederick Douglas was born a slave and lived during the Civil War. After escaping slavery, he went on to form the abolitionist movement which helped end the ownership of humans in America. 

 

W.E.B. Du Bois was an author, academic and activist in the time before Dr. King and Mrs. Parks and helped found the NAACP which remains a leading organization for African American rights and activism. 

 

Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in professional baseball leading the way towards the integration of all professional sports in America. Major League Baseball retired his number 42 for all teams in 1997 in recognition of his contribution to sport. 

 

Harriet Tubman was also born a slave. She became famous for helping other escaped slaves make it to the North on the Underground Railroad which led many to freedom. 

 

Sojourner Truth, another woman born into slavery who later escaped and helped recruit escaped slaves for the Union Army during the Civil War. 

 

Langston Hughes was a poet and novelist during the cultural movement called the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. His work helped highlight the economic plight of impoverished African Americans in cities in the North. 

 

Maya Angelou is one our best known African American authors. Her autobiography, “I Know Why a Caged Bird Sings,” shows us how racism affected her as a young girl. She worked with Dr. King and others to put a permanent end to a segregated America. 

 

More recently, we saw Amanda Gordon, a young Black poet, read a memorable ode during President Biden’s inauguration that expressed her hopes for the future. 

 

Now we have a Black/Pacific Islander woman, Kamala Harris, serving as the Vice President of the United States of America making history herself rising from the many struggles of those who preceded her. 

 

There are many other notable Black Americans in our history who made significant contributions to the fabric of American life. 

 

President Gerald Ford, a Republican, elevated Black History Month, with his formal recognition of the effort in 1976. The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Gallery of Art, the National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum have created a website collecting and paying tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society. It can be accessed at: https://blackhistorymonth.gov

 

Milwaukee’s Black Holocaust Museum opened in 2012. It was closed for financial reasons and during the pandemic but will re-open on February 25^th in its new home at 4^th St. and North Avenue. It chronicles the struggles of Black Americans here and across the nation and helps us to understand racism here still rears its ugly head. More can be found at: https://www.abhmuseum.org

 

Black History Month celebrations are planned across Wisconsin, including Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, the Fox Valley, Eau Claire and on many UW Campuses. Local Libraries across the state have put up special collections of materials recognizing Black achievers, authors, and activists to help us learn from their stories. 

 

We need to take the time and effort to study these unique Americans and their contributions to our society and culture. With a deeper understanding of their struggles for equality and civil rights, the controversy over Critical Race Theory will become clearer. 

 

After all, the struggle for equality and civil rights for African Americans is a critical part of America’s story. Until people of color enjoy the same rights and privileges as everyone else, none of us will be truly free and equal.