Georgetown College’s Student–Run Newspaper
February 1, 2017
Volume CXXXVII Issue 2
The underappreciated stories of Black History Month Part One in a four–part series on Black History in its modern day context By BAILEE BOGGESS Opinion Editor
For the past several decades, the month of February has been designated as Black History Month. The entire month is dedicated to honoring the accomplishments and achievements of African– American citizens throughout history. Organizations from the NAACP to local schools focus on promoting awareness on a topic that is not often focused on year–round. Black History month started as “Negro History Week” in the early twentieth century by influential members of the African–American community. Carter G. Woodson led the movement by originally only having it during the second week of February to celebrate the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglass, two of the most well–known faces in history that helped black citizens gain civil rights. As time went on, the week developed into two weeks, and then a month. College
Inside
this issue
campuses were the main driving force behind getting the movement started, especially in the 1960s during the Civil Rights era. When recognized as an official holiday in 1976 by Gerald Ford, he said, “seize the opportunity to honor the too–often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history” (history.com). While Black History Month has made many advancements during the past century, it remains under scrutiny by those who do not fully understand its purpose. Those who fight against diversity both discretely and openly question the necessary reasons behind the month, claiming that the history of this community of people is celebrated throughout the entire year. Many say that we should celebrate Black History all year round and that singling out one month is doing a disservice to the African–American community. However, it is apparent that many historical African– American figures are underap-
preciated, unheard, and have been ignored by the general population. People such as these include Congressman John Conyers, Jr., the longest serving African–American in the House of Representatives, Virginia Hamilton, one of the most honored writer of children’s books in America and Sidney Poitier, the first African–American to win an Oscar. While it is important to focus on figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou, there are countless people who deserve to be remembered but have gotten lost in the annals of history. Perhaps one of the most shocking unknown stories is that of Claudette Covin (theatlantablackstar.com). At only fifteen, she was the first African–American woman to be arrested for disobeying the bus segregation law. Her arrest took place months before the one of Rosa Parks’ and was the initial spark for the bus boycotts. Due to her socioeconomic status and unfore-
seen circumstances, including a pregnancy, her story was pushed aside for someone more famous. While Rosa Parks has a story that needs to be focused on, Claudette’s story is just another one that has been overlooked in history. Schools teach about the important people during February, but then place them on the back–burner for the rest of the year. History books, most often focused on the large pinpoints of societal change, tell about the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr.,and Fredrick Douglass. However, they neglect the everyday inventions and success stories that are large components of how modern society functions today. In fact, according to Teaching Tolerance (a project by the Southern Poverty Law Center), twenty states received abnormally low scores on teaching about the civil rights movement to students. Five including Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Oregon, and Wyoming did not teach it at all.
Herein lies one of the problems within America’s education system. A teacher from Maryland, Zia Hassan, said “I believe that having a month for black history compartmentalizes the issues, as if once the month is over we can turn our attention away from it again until the next year” (theatlantic.com). The level to which ignorance regarding Black History onth affects those in the education system is often overlooked. Many times in areas that have a low rate of minorities in schools, students feel singled out. How, as a society that is trying so hard to embrace diversity, forgetting about the emotional strain this must be for an entire population of people? The real issue at hand is this: Americans focus only a short period of time on an extensive cultural history that this country was literally built upon.
Georgetown students write their senators page 2
Equestrian team shows well at UK page 5
Common Ground starts coffee ministry page 6
Trump alarms many with immigration ban page 9