In the designated month of February, an annual celebration occurs for the achievements and contributions made by black Americans throughout our nation’s history. Most people consider Black History Month as one of the most important months in America, and I strongly agree with that. Several reasons occur to prove the importance of Black History Month, but the most important seems that it “connects literacy with history, and sustains the keen insight, ability, and enthusiasm of young children and their peers” (Shanahan 1). An important aspect of Black History Month seems that it engages the community. By reliving and remembering history, we create awareness of the struggles and challenges that African Americans overcame in this country. This …show more content…
For instance, Martin Luther King Jr., an American Baptist minister, and activist, who existed as a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. His role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs, such as marches, sit-ins, public speeches, and boycotts, caused him to become well known. “I Have a Dream” became his most famous speech that he wrote. Because of his great work, in 1964 Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize, as the youngest person ever to receive this high honor. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., at thirty nine years old, caused his birthday to act as a national holiday on the third Monday in January, because of his exceptional likeness from the people. Martin Luther King Jr. played a major role in the ending of slavery, becoming free, and the freedom of speech, because he allowed citizens to understand other viewpoints rather than just their own, and the governments, which made him very important to the nation’s history. The awareness from children about history greatly makes an impact on society, as well as their own, because slavery seems as a major part of the debate of the
This documentary not only talks about a significant period in African American and American history; it also gives us a mo...
For in an extraordinary career spanning three crucial decades, the man and the history became one, so much so that it is impossible to deal with the history of black people without touching, at some point, the personal history of Carter Woodson, who taught the teachers, transformed the vision of the masses and became, almost despite himself, an institution, a cause and a month. One could go further and say that the scientific study of black history began with Woodson, who almost single-handedly created the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and the prestigious Journal of Negro History. Not content with these achievements, he ventured into the field of mass education, creating the annual black history celebrations.
Most public schools in the United States kept it simple and straight to the point. They taught, what we know as, “Black History” from the media’s standpoint. This concept neglects the true meaning of black history in the educational system, making it hard for African Americans to be prideful in who they are. Knowing history other than what the school systems tells us African Americans would not only give us more knowledge, but would allow us to stand up against others when try to put down our history. Media gives us mainly negative perspectives with very little positives of our
David W. Blight's book Beyond the Battlefield: Race, Memory and the American Civil War, is an intriguing look back into the Civil War era which is very heavily studied but misunderstood according to Blight. Blight focuses on how memory shapes history Blight feels, while the Civil War accomplished it goal of abolishing slavery, it fell short of its ultimate potential to pave the way for equality. Blight attempts to prove that the Civil War does little to bring equality to blacks. This book is a composite of twelve essays which are spilt into three parts. The Preludes describe blacks during the era before the Civil War and their struggle to over come slavery and describes the causes, course and consequences of the war. Problems in Civil War memory describes black history and deals with how during and after the war Americans seemed to forget the true meaning of the war which was race. And the postludes describes some for the leaders of black society and how they are attempting to keep the memory and the real meaning of the Civil War alive and explains the purpose of studying historical memory.
Although an effort is made in connecting with the blacks, the idea behind it is not in understanding the blacks and their culture but rather is an exploitative one. It had an adverse impact on the black community by degrading their esteem and status in the community. For many years, the political process also had been influenced by the same ideas and had ignored the black population in the political process (Belk, 1990). America loves appropriating black culture — even when black people themselves, at times, don’t receive much love from America.
What has been described here has kept African Americans proud of where they came from and how they can overcome any problem that they are faced with. The phrase “Strength in numbers” comes to mind when reading what they had to endure especially the families of the four little girls that died in the devastating bombing of the 16th street church. They will always be remembered and missed dearly.
Martin Luther King Jr was a activist that was known for his famous speech “I had a dream”, he changed the lives for many people and helped changed the future. The world renowned Baptist minister and social activist had a massive impact on the American civil rights movement from the mid 1950’s until his assassination in 1968. Martin Luther King Jr was born on the 15th of January, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, known as Michael Luther King Jr and was than assassinated on the 4th of April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, United States and has still left a footprint on many people
Black history month is an observance in the United States that is celebrated in the month of February to remember all of the important African Americans in history. This observance is still celebrated annually and brings forth a debatable question such as is there still a need to celebrate black history month. I strongly believe that Black history month still should be celebrated for several reasons one being that children need to know how African Americans contributed to society. Young African American children need to know their ethnicity background. The legendary icons who fought for whom was considered “colored” people need to be acknowledged. If were not for them the children in today's society would still be faced to deal with segregation. They need to have an understanding of what our ancestors and important African Americans had to go through to get us where we are today. We should celebrate black history month because it represents African Americans as a whole. By celebrating this month it shows that we fought for our rights and never gave up. It shows that we went through ...
The Black History Month is guided by racism, which is still prevalent in the U.S. One of the reasons why this month is full of racism is the first reason that Morgan Freeman puts cross, which is relegating a race’s entire history to a month. This simply shows that the whites view the blacks as people who have had the least contribution in that country. This is because the entire history of the black population is taught to the children in this month implying that all the achievements made by blacks are so little that they can be analyzed in a month. The other reason why the Black History Month shows racism is the idea that it was fixed in the shortest month of the year to further show how few the accomplishments made by blacks are. Since the accomplishments made by the blacks are only taught during this month, it shows that the teachers would not have to bother themselves with it any other time throu...
Negro Achievement week was placed in February in order to commemorate the birthdays of two men who helped pave the way for African Americans: Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas. Both of these men’s birthdays were already being celebrated in black communities, thus increasing the possibility of success for Negro Achievement Week. But Woodson didn’t want this celebration to just be about these two men; however great, neither one of them single-handedly abolished slavery. Rather, Woodson wanted Negro Achievement to celebrate and appreciate the great accomplishments and history of the whole entire African race. Woodson’s Negro Achievement Week received a lo...
...e time television depicts Black Americans as people who do not know how to speak proper English, live in the projects and ghettos, and procreate beyond our existence so that all we can do is rob the system and depend on welfare for our sustenance. These depictions are very stereotypical and negative. Martin R. Delany, a renowned Black American who wrote a book that discussed the attributes of a black man said that Black Americans should foster a sense of pride because of our complex and unique history. We need to bind together and “Lift up Every Voice” (Black national hymn) to make sure our past and future histories are not forgotten, not just by us but by every American. The legacy of Black History Month is an achievement we all should be proud of, but for Peace’s Sake do not let others undermine your past and accomplishments and do not forget your own history.
Of course, we learn some things about the important people and events in African American history, but some of the most important things remain untold, which will take more than a month to learn about. The Fight for Freedom and Rights When Afro-American’s came to America in hopes of having a better and easier way of life, and after they arrived, it was a total opposite of what they expected. The following are a couple events that took place in different locations for the fight for freedom and rights. The first was Bloody Sunday which took place in Selma, Alabama. This particular event was the march of black activists from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
In 1926, as an initiative to bring national attention to the contributions of black people throughout American history he launched Negro History Week. He chose the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. In part to the Civil Rights Movement late 1960’s and the growing of black identity awareness; Negro History Week had evolved into Black History Month in many colleges. Black History Month was officially recognized in 1976 by President
This course will emphasis on the ideas of black social thought, political protest and efforts to create social change. About one half of the course covers the historical foundations and background to the modern black experience, from the struggle against slavery to the Harlem Renaissance. The second half of the course focuses on the past seventy
Martin Luther King Jr. was the most influential leader of the American Civil Rights Movement as he fought for the freedom of African Americans. King’s most influential speech is his “I Have a Dream” given on August 28, 1963.1 King himself was a man whom thousands of people admired. Martin Luther King Jr. uses an expressive tone in his speeches by using verbal powerful imagery toward his audience, reminding them of the challenges facing them and defeating racism. Martin Luther King Jr. inspired others to take action, lead by example, as shown in his speeches and promoted non-violence as a method for change.