February is well underway and so are the many festivities and TV specials dedicated to black history month.
You know, the many assemblies held at schools all over the nation, the documentaries on PBS, oh and let’s not forget our very own Black History Month Convocation that will be held soon.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that for the next 29 days, what we will be seeing is essentially the same old same thing we see every year. We learn about Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, and Rosa Parks all the time.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying learning about these pioneers every year is unimportant. It really is, not just for us, but also for the generations of young African-Americans after us.
However, what I wonder about are those individuals behind the scenes.
The people who were not in the spotlight but made huge contributions and strides in our culture that we don’t hear about. There are plenty of people we don’t know about, who like King, have added to our history. Like the gentlemen who worked with Dr. King that carried on his legacy after he died.
No, I’m not talking about Jesse Jackson.
I’m talking about the other individuals who worked with him. We might not even know their names.
There’s so much that we don’t know. And all we have to do is look more into things. We need to research and share what we find. For this month, no, for every month, as a culture we should delve deeper in our history. We learn and teach the same things so often that seems as if that’s all there is. But there is so much more to be learned.
I encourage each and every one of you to find someone in our history that we don’t know much about.
Believe me, you can find somebody, and research more into what they contributed and what they went through to contribute to the struggle of equality and freedom. Once you have done that, share what you find. I know I will.