Dr. Carter G. Woodson We live in a society that does a great job of highlighting African Americans in a negative light. We, ourselves have become conditioned to this deficit based view when it pertains to our people. We have no problem knowing when and where the latest murder happened or who was arrested for a crime. This wasn’t the way that Dr. Carter G. Woodson would appreciate African Americans being represented. Dr. Carter G. Woodson was born in Virginia in 1875. Dr. Carter G. Woodson escaped poverty through education and received his doctorate degree in 1912 from Harvard University. It was during this time in which he noticed that blacks were missing from history and/or misrepresented. He was determined to tell the story of his people. In 1926 Negro History Week, the second week in February was celebrated. The purpose of having this week was to correctly inform Americans of the history of blacks so that they could be recognized in a positive light for all they had done. During Dr. Woodson’s time, blacks were portrayed negatively. In 1915 he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life. Twenty-six years after his death Negro History week became Black History Month as part of the bicentennial celebration. Think about what Dr. Woodson was trying to do. His goal was not for our history to be become stagnate and boxed into the shortest month of the year but to become acknowledged daily as a natural, unquestionable existence. Not only should it and other persons of color contributions become part of school’s curriculum but a strong fabric interwoven in every avenue of life. We must continue to find a way to have our history represented in a way that just doesn’t talk about Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. We would challenge you the people to find a way to talk to your local school board and organizations for social change about having African Americans studies and multicultural education classes become mandatory parts of the public school curriculum. We have ancestors who have fought, discovered, and made a mark in society, but we never know about this until someone wants to create a movie. Even then so many stories are left untold. Our lived experiences matter! How do we continue to learn about the history of whites without also talking about the history of blacks? But we were and continue to be the hidden figures in the shadows. Those hidden figures which do make American great! If not for our many contributions how much of an America would there be? We must stop having our voices silenced. We must stop having our God given rights stripped from us. We must stop accepting our position as the “other” as we continue to break our backs as the outsiders looking in. We cannot and will not go on complacent within the agenda of the dominant culture. So what’s stopping us from viewing our communities from an asset based perspective as Dr. Woodson did? We have much to be proud of, yet there is still a lot of work to do. Let’s push to have our voices heard and our history told in it’s entirely. We must educate one another and become aware for ourselves. It is imperative that we stop turning a blind eye to the work which our ancestors begun; pick up your bed and take your place in this mission of greater. You must decide to become part of the solution or you are definitely part of this problem. “History shows that it does not matter who is in power or what revolutionary forces take over the government, those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they had in the beginning.” -Dr. Carter J. Woodson Signed, Two Educated, Impassioned & Concerned Black Women 35
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