Black History Month is set aside to celebrate the history of the peoples of the African Diaspora. It’s celebrated in England in October and in Canada and the United States in February. It was started by historian Carter G. Woodson, the son of former slaves, who emphasized and encouraged the intellectual study of black history.

Woodson picked February because it marked the birthdays of two men who affected black history profoundly, namely Abraham Lincoln and former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Despite it being established in 1926, the month has faced criticism from within and outside the black community.

Some have asked why a month should be set aside for one race; others say setting aside a month for one race’s history makes it harder to become part of mainstream American history. Some have argued that, like many things, it has been co-opted by mainstream society into another excuse to sell boxed-set DVDs or some other black history related merchandise.

Despite the controversy, Black History Month is still the celebration of a shared history. One cannot take away from the necessity of celebrating Black History Month.

You don’t need to be an academic or scholar to understand modern civilization has historically marginalized all peoples of color. Western academic tradition has emphasized Western literature, art and history more than any other. The contributions of people of color to world history are ignored. We study everyone from the great Napoleon to Isaac Newton, but black history is only taught as far back as when the first black slaves were brought to America.

Yet, even then this history very tacitly ignores that black American history also stretches thousands of years to Africa where great civilizations and powerful states existed. The emphasis has always been on the wretched and often sad aspects of black history. Black History Month is essentially an attempt by a people to reclaim a proud and important culture that makes them as American as any large immigrant group.

Racial identity is a complex issue because everyone wants to believe in racial neutrality. Everyone wants to believe they can be any color and walk down the street and have someone look at them and see a human being. This is a very nice, upbeat view of the world; sadly, by and large images of blackness on TV and in academia are associated with deeply held misconceptions about the black experience.

Black History Month gives everyone an opportunity to engage in a full-on discussion of race and racial identity. The view of every young black male as a potential gang-banger or ex-convict is still common today. By having Black History Month, we give people a chance to question these misconceptions and get an accurate, more humanistic view of the black experience. It isn’t made to emphasize differences, it actually is an opportunity to humanize the black experience. It’s a chance for people of color around the world, all taken to the New World by slavery, to celebrate each other and their struggles.

Slavery afflicted the whole New World. People rarely think of black people in Latin America. The reality is they exist in huge numbers, yet in this century still haven’t gotten a fair share in those societies. Black History Month is a chance to celebrate in a shared history that is sad but eventually is a celebration of the transcendent nature of the human spirit.

Embracing our unique identities isn’t an attempt to forfeit our own, but is an attempt to live in another person’s shoes. Black History Month opens hearts and minds to the black experience and shows how authentically unique and American it truly is.

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