Last week, I received a newsletter from The Atlantic titled "There's no American history without Black people's history." The letter went on to explain a new project spearheaded by editors at The Atlantic called “Inheritance," which focuses on uncovering "lost Black history to better understand Black identity and culture today."
Managing editor Gillian B. White wrote:
A full accounting of the history of Black people in America—both what they have
endured and what they have achieved—has been left out of America’s creation myth.
And yet Black people, their labor, their ideas, and their lives have been crucial to the
formation of this country and its continued evolution.
Often times American history chronicles a story of the pain "endured" by Black people while neglecting their "crucial" part in our country's "continued evolution." The debate over how to frame Black American History as American History has become heightened during Black History Month (February).
In accordance with The Atlantic, I think that Black History Month does not provide adequate time to highlight all the Black stories and people that have impacted our history. The idea that Black History is just one isolated portion of American History perpetuates the idea that they are not intertwined as a whole. Instead, Black History Month (a 29-day cycle) only "Others" Black Americans and their impact on our history.
Instead, I think it's crucial to re-frame how we teach American History in the U.S. This starts in elementary school classrooms but also extends to older generations as well. The Biden Administration ushers in a new era of hope that Trump's "1776 Commission," which called for teaching “patriotic” history will be overturned. Ideas about how teaching critical race theory and not making topics political offer a jumping off point for re-structuring curriculum.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr famously said, “history is written by the winners, so it largely depends on who’s writing the history.” But Black Americans are "winners" too, and it's time to stop "Othering" Black History. All change takes time, so let's hope modern American history is written by "winners" who look different than Abraham Lincoln and Alexander Hamilton.
I’m ashamed to say that I did not understand the full extent of the struggle of Black Americans until I got to college. I also will say that I never truly will fully understand because I can’t. Saying that, it is horrible that it took going out on my own and being exposed to start a process of learning. While I encourage everyone go out and do their own learning, I also realize how racist, ignorant and selfish our country is and know that unless they are forced to do something Americans likely won’t do it. The only way to get people to learn is to institutionalize it in the public school system. While it is hard because so much…
I just feel like racial hate crimes are arising during the pandemic. From the black movement back in Trump administration to recent massive kill in a Atlantic spa, hate crimes just shift from one minority to another.