Learn Black history because it is indeed American history
Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a noted Black American historian, scholar, educator and publisher, created “Negro History Week” in 1926 to correspond with the February birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. It became a month-long celebration in 1976.
A theme is set every year by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, an organization founded by Dr. Woodson in 1915. This year’s theme is “The Black Family: Representation, Identity and Diversity.”
Across the land, many will sing the Black National Anthem, “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” a song originally written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson in 1899 and set to music by his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson, in 1900.
This Black History Month, I invite you to look through my eyes and see what I see.
Representation — the action of speaking or acting on behalf on someone — like Jesse Owens in the movie ‘Race’
The 1936 Berlin Olympic Games were expected to be a German showcase and a statement for Aryan supremacy. The NAACP expected track star Jesse Owens to take a moral stance against Hitler’s racist Germany by boycotting the Olympic games on behalf of Blacks in racially segregated America. Owens rejected this hypocritical stance and, instead, went on to win four gold Olympic medals, representing to the world, Hitler, and Black Americans that determination is supreme.
Eighty years later, President Barack Obama invited to the White House the families of the 18 Black athletes of the 1936 Olympic Games, offering praise that President Franklin Roosevelt did not. Eighty-four years later, Kamala Harris becomes the first woman of color, the first Black American and the first South Asian American vice president.
According to Forbes, “representation matters, because it helps break down stereotypes and biases about what a leader looks like, and seeing different types of leaders helps pave the way for more opportunities for others.”
Represent.
Identity — the fact of being who or what a person is — like Queen in the movie ‘Queen’
Queen, the daughter of a White man and a Black woman entrapped in the system of slavery, said to her mother, “I love the Black side of me. Who the other side?” No response. After figuring out her true lineage, she says to her White grandmother at the end of the Civil War, “You my people. You my family.” Her grandmother replied, “No, you are a child of the plantation.”
No, I am a Queen of African, Blackfoot, Cherokee, Hebrew, Japanese, and Seminole descent. I am brilliant, resilient, and I am still here. I am real, relevant, and relational. I love large and I bring hope: help other people excel. I am a gift to the world.
I get to define myself — unapologetically — because words matter. Who be you?
Diversity: the condition of having or being composed of differing elements; variety
“Lee Daniels’ The Butler” clearly depicts the diversity found in the Black family, which is often viewed wrongly by others as an ethnic monolith. The Gaines’ family reminds us that intergenerational synergy between our elders and our youth, no matter how diverse the beliefs, can indeed transform family and society.
The strength of the love and beauty of the Black family portrayed in this movie is beyond description.
Watch it, lean into it, weep over it.
This year, I also invite you to:
Learn “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing.” It just might become the national hymn.
Look up A World Without Black People - Philip Emeagwali (philipemeagwali.com)
Lean into Black history because it is indeed American history.
Dr. Karen A. Johnson (Dr. J) (she/her/hers) is a transformative, authentic, servant leader and a member of The Olympian’s 2020 Board of Contributors. She may be reached at drjcolumn@gmail.com.
This story was originally published February 5, 2021 at 5:45 AM.