Essay On Black History Month

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At 13 years old I sat in my 8th grade honors English class; I knew an awkward moment was approaching. I was the only black kid out of 30 students. It was February. We were reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and in the previously assigned reading, the “n” word was used. I had a feeling my teacher would address the word, and tie it into black history month. I was right. Mrs. Miller, my teacher, thought it would be appropriate to call on me and ask my opinion on the word and its use. I shared my views with the class, thinking the awkward situation would finally come to an end. I was wrong. Mrs. Miller decided to show the class her knowledge on Black history. She stumbled upon the story of Emmitt Till. From the start I could she see was in…show more content…
African Americans are fed up; they refuse to be treated as if they do not matter. There is no better way to show blacks that they do matter than incorporating black history into k-12 education. When the teaching of Black history is strictly confined to Black History month, blacks feel as though they are only important for the month. It is for this reason, that I do not like black history month. Black history month began as Negro History Week, which was created by Carter G. Woodson in 1926. Negro History Week became Black history month in 1976 when President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black Month in his bicentennial address due to the push of students from Kent State University. The initial idea of black history month was established as a time to celebrate the accomplishments of African Americans. While this was a step forward in in terms of progression of a group of people, unfortunately it marginalized the history of African Americans. Since then, Black history has been restricted to the month of February. Black history is bigger than 28 days out of the entire year. Black history is bigger than Martin Luther King Jr. Black lives don’t just matter during
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