Dr. Yohuru Williams, professor of history and founding director of the Racial Justice Initiative, wrote an op-ed for The Progressive about the promise and problem of Black History Month. A month full of opportunity to celebrate Black culture also involves responsibility. The piece discuss how history must be retold and truthfully taught to ensure collective healing.
From the op-ed:
That tension – between progress and unfinished struggle – has always defined the promise and the problem of Black History Month. From its inception in 1926 as Negro History Week, the celebration served two purposes. It uplifted the achievements of Black Americans while reinforcing one of Carter G. Woodson’s core convictions: that such special recognition would be unnecessary if history were taught honestly and without bias.
That danger is especially apparent right now. Efforts to reshape museum exhibitions, silence educators, and sanitize public memory reflect a broader attempt to rewrite the American story. Scholars have long warned that such efforts obscure the structural contributions, resistance, and creativity of Black communities that have shaped every facet of national life, from labor and the arts to science and politics.
One hundred years after the first observance of Negro History Week – and on the eve of the nation’s 250th anniversary – the stakes are clear. The question before the nation is not whether this history belongs, but whether we are willing to face it. To honor Black history is not to fragment the American story. It is to tell it honestly.
