In 1915, Carter G. Woodson had a vision of creating a celebratory tradition in which black people would take the time to learn, honor and talk about the African American experience.

This initiative caught on and was formally taken under the direction of our fraternity (Omega Psi Phi, Incorporated) and became officially known as Negro Achievement Week. Woodson’s vision included going beyond the “great man” approach to understanding history, which usually included a list of biographical accomplishments of prominent African Americans. Instead, he wanted this initiative to focus on the overall experience of the race in order to depict the rich culture and struggle of everyday black people in America and even Africa.

For a while, many black civil and educational institutions took on Woodson’s charge. Fraternities and sororities formed black history clubs and debate teams focusing on black history. Black colleges and universities took deliberate steps toward organizing their curriculum around black history by offering classes and conducting research on black life.

Woodson imagined that Negro Achievement Week would evolve in time and African American history would be infused into school curriculum, civic groups and even churches year round.

Like most progressive attempts, the socialization process of teaching black history to the black community was quickly deinstitutionalized during the Civil Rights Era. The desegregation of schools and public space simultaneously segregated black history from American history by observing black history during only one month of the year. Consequently, the way we recognize the historical accomplishments of black people is the “great man” approach that Woodson was so adamantly against.

To further contextualize this transition, one need only consult one of Woodson’s insightful books on education titled “The Mis-education of the Negro.” Woodson’s main thesis in the book was that black children/people were not learning about their heritage, cultural, history, or identity; however, they were being taught a warped, inferior, and incomplete version of Black history. This treatise on black education sadly describes the current condition of how black children are educated and also how they come to understand the African American experience.

There are astronomical consequences for people who have been mis-educated about their history. The late Dr. Amos Wilson in his book “The Falsification of Afrikan Consciousness” sums up the importance of knowing your history and the ramifications of not knowing. He intimates:

“People who are ahistorical, who have little knowledge of history, are people who are more gullible, more easily manipulated and people who can be more easily adapted to the capitalist machine than people who are historically knowledgeable. History can become a basis for self criticism, a basis for self-understanding, and more importantly the basis for the understanding of the motive and psychology of others. When history is not taught appropriately we are left to just follow orders, and to just trudge to our work, our jobs, without knowing the reasons why. Yet trudging to our jobs has not secured our futures at all. We must recognize that merely going to work, merely studying computer science, merely going to the office, is not enough.”

Drs. Wilson and Woodson are right; the proper socialization of black history must be a careful and continuous process that goes beyond the confines of this month. Thus, for African Americans, black history month should not be a time of celebration but a reminder of how much work needs to be done to integrate this knowledge into our schools, churches and civil institutions so that our children truly know the past from which they came.
***
Joseph L. Jones, Ph.D., is assistant professor of political science at Johnson C. Smith University.

Got news to share with Qcity readers? Email us at editor@qcitymetro.com.
Sign up for our weekly email newsletter below

Sign up for our Weekly Email Newsletter Email: For Email Marketing you can trust

Other Ways to Share Twitter Del.icio.us MySpace

Discussions and Submission Agreement