It begins bleakly with a phrase comparable to Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy. “Changes” has a transformative attitude, ranging from angry and depressed to brave and optimistic. While nonviolence may not have characterized the life of this West Coast rapper, he confirms his morality and contemplates his own life in this beautiful, expository song. His brutally honest lyrics embody theme found in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s profound “Letter from Birmingham Jail”: a successful protest piece exposes injustice and calls us to action simultaneously. In light of that, the theme seemed appropriate this year, Dulaney says.Tupac Shakur, hip-hop legend who fearlessly translated his discontent with modern society into musical poetry, wrote “Changes” while serving time in jail. He calls efforts in states like Florida, which recently rejected a new Advanced Placement course covering African American studies, and Alabama, where the State Board of Education has voted to limit how educators can talk about race in the classroom, "a strong retrenchment" against coming to terms with Black history. "These efforts have been to advocate for a dignified self-determined life in a just democratic society in the United States and beyond the United States political jurisdiction."ĭulaney says this year's theme was chosen, in part, because of the current politically charged environment around race. "African Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression, in all forms, especially the racial terrorism of lynching, racial pogroms, and police killings since our arrival upon these shores," the ASALH says of this year's theme. This year, the theme is "Black Resistance." There's a new theme every yearĮach year, the ASALH chooses a different theme for Black History Month. Today, Black History Month is also celebrated in Canada every February and the United Kingdom in October. ![]() Ford declaring February as Black History Month and calling on the public to "seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history." they all started to say that this is something we're celebrating," Hunter says.īy 1976, it became official, with President Gerald R. " The Chicago Defender, the Philadelphia Tribune, the Baltimore Afro-American. The Black press also helped push the idea, says Marcus Hunter, a sociology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. cities haunted by race massacres, facing the past is painful and divisive "California was the first state to actually mandate Black history in 1951 for the public schools." "In the South, they tried to suppress Black history or African American history in the public schools," Dulaney says, "particularly about things like Reconstruction and slavery, literally distorting the curriculum."Īt the university level, Black studies programs were almost nonexistent, he says. In the decades after the Civil War and through the racial violence that erupted across the country in the years following World War I, there was a concerted effort to repress the teaching of Black history. Marvin Dulaney, president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History ( ASALH), which Woodson founded in 1915 and today is the official promoter of Black History Month. "Those two people were central to helping to afford Black people the experience of freedom that they have now," says W. 12, and Frederick Douglass, who was born enslaved and did not know his actual birth date, but chose to celebrate it on Feb. Woodson chose a week in February because of Abraham Lincoln, whose birthday was Feb. Du Bois to earn a doctorate from Harvard University - "fervently believed that Black people should be proud of their heritage and all Americans should understand the largely overlooked achievements of Black Americans."īlack History Month 2022 Here's the story behind Black History Month - and why it's celebrated in February According to the NAACP, Woodson - at the time only the second Black American after W.E.B. Woodson, the scholar often referred to as the "father of Black history," established Negro History Week to focus attention on Black contributions to civilization. Here are three things to know about Black History Month: It was Negro History Week before it was Black History Month It aims to honor the contributions that African Americans have made and to recognize their sacrifices. ![]() Vice President Harris (center) marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 6, 2022, in Selma, Ala., to commemorate the 57th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.įebruary marks Black History Month, a tradition that got its start in the Jim Crow era and was officially recognized in 1976 as part of the nation's bicentennial celebrations.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |