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ERWC - Black History Month 2020

Last updated almost 6 years ago
6 questions
Zorithian, Julia. "This Is How February Became Black History Month." Time.com. 29 Jan. 2016. Web.

It was in 1964 when the author James Baldwin reflected on the shortcomings of his education. “When I was going to school,” he said, “I began to be bugged by the teaching of American history because it seemed that that history had been taught without cognizance of my presence.”

Baldwin’s thoughts echoed those of many before and after him. Half a century earlier, when Carter G. Woodson had the same frustration, he set the foundation for what would become today’s national Black History Month, observed each February.

In the early 20th century, while he earned a Masters degree from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from Harvard, both in history, Woodson witnessed how black people were underrepresented in the books and conversations that shaped the study of American history. According to the way many historians taught the nation’s past, African Americans were barely part of the story—a narrative that Woodson knew was not true. So in 1915, he and Jesse E. Moorland founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, or the ASALH). The organization would promote studying black history as a discipline and celebrate the accomplishments of African Americans.
“If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated,” Woodson said of the need for such study.
In 1926, Woodson and the ASALH launched a “Negro History Week” to bring attention to his mission and help school systems coordinate their focus on the topic. Woodson chose the second week in February, as it encompassed both Frederick Douglass’ birthday on February 14 and Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on February
A number of mayors had already adopted the celebration as a municipal event by the time President Gerald Ford decreed Black History Month a national observance in 1976, on both the fiftieth anniversary of the first iteration and America’s bicentennial year.

“In celebrating Black History Month,” Ford said in his message, “we can seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”
Presidents have issued national decrees with each year’s theme since the 1970s. African American History Month’s 2016 theme is “Hallowed Grounds: Sites of African American Memories.”
1

Based on information in the Time article above, briefly retell the history and describe the purpose of the celebration of Black History Month. Use your own words.

1

Thoroughly explain why February became the month for celebrating Black history. (Make sure to mention the significance of the people mentioned in the article). WRITE YOUR ANSWER in 1-2 COMPLETE, CORRECTLY-STRUCTURED SENTENCES with proper spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar.

1

Why was 1976 a signficant year in the U.S. in relation to the history of the country as a whole, and in relation to the evolution of Black History Month and its mission? WRITE YOUR ANSWER in 1-2 COMPLETE, CORRECTLY-STRUCTURED SENTENCES with proper spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar.

1

Consider the quote at the beginning of the article by the famous author James Baldwin, who is African American: “When I was going to school, I began to be bugged by the teaching of American history because it seemed that that history had been taught without cognizance of my presence.”

Paraphrase what James Baldwin said about his experience of learning of history. Then analyze the author's purpose in beginning this article with this quote by James Baldwin. (The more reasons you give, the higher your score).

1

Write a narrative (story) describing what you did or did not learn about African Americans in your history classes, and evaluate the accuracy and completeness of the learning material and instruction. AND relate your own experience to Baldwin’s: Do you feel the stories of people like you are represented in history classes? In English classes? Support your answer with reasoning, and explain why these issues matter.

OR

Write an argument in which you assert and support your opinion in response to this controversy: Should U.S. history classes spend the majority of time on Anglo American history (the formation and processes of government and the involvement of the U.S. in World Wars), or give equal time to the study of the oppression of people of color? Use examples of historical events in your answer. Or are the celebrations of national heritage months sufficient to supplement what history classes are not teaching? Be sure to explain why this issue matters.

(BONUS) from ASALH.com. "Black History Themes." https://asalh.org/black-history-themes/

2020- African Americans and the Vote 📷The year 2020 marks the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment and the culmination of the women’s suffrage movement.  The year 2020 also marks the sesquicentennial of the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) and the right of black men to the ballot after the Civil War.  The theme speaks, therefore, to the ongoing struggle on the part of both black men and black women for the right to vote. This theme has a rich and long history, which begins at the turn of the nineteenth century, i.e., in the era of the Early Republic, with the states’ passage of laws that democratized the vote for white men while disfranchising free black men. Thus, even before the Civil War, black men petitioned their legislatures and the US Congress, seeking to be recognized as voters. Tensions between abolitionists and women’s suffragists first surfaced in the aftermath of the Civil War, while black disfranchisement laws in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries undermined the guarantees in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments for the great majority of southern blacks until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  The important contribution of black suffragists occurred not only within the larger women’s movement, but within the larger black voting rights movement. Through voting-rights campaigns and legal suits from the turn of the twentieth century to the mid-1960s, African Americans made their voices heard as to the importance of the vote.  Indeed the fight for black voting rights continues in the courts today.  The theme of the vote should also include the rise of black elected and appointed officials at the local and national levels, campaigns for equal rights legislation, as well as the role of blacks in traditional and alternative political parties.
1

Why is the theme of Black History Month 2020 "African Americans and the Vote"?