Why Facts Matter in Black History Month

By Amanda Hughley

I remember it like it was yesterday: “This is so stupid, no one cares.” These were the words of my classmate in my junior year of high school after hearing the “Black History Month Fact of the Day” during our morning announcements. It was both cringeworthy and embarrassing. My emotions vacillated (and actually continue to this day) between anger and hurt. 

I was one of very few students of color at my high school, but this was nothing new to me. I was a biracial black girl who grew up in a very white community. In nearly every setting, I was almost always the only person of color: church, school, restaurants and stores, and yes even at home. When I entered high school, I was comfortable with who I was in that environment, but I began to feel like there was something huge missing from my educational experience. I began to explore black history on my own accord: reading books outside of assigned readings, choosing black subjects for class projects, and researching on my own time. 

During my sophomore year, I began to feel the need to extend my acquired knowledge to others. I talked to my English teacher about including writers of the Harlem Renaissance in one of our units. She encouraged me to select some of the artists and present on them, and that’s just what I did. I taught my classmates about writers like Langston Hughes and Claude McKay, and I took pride in doing so, but I was met with mostly apathy. 

My junior year, I decided to take my interests and research results higher. A friend and I proposed to our principal that the school actively take part in celebrating Black History Month. The problem was, there were so few black students, and virtually no staff or faculty of color to help organize and initiate any activities (everyone else was indifferent to the cause). We brainstormed some ideas on how to get the entire school involved, and decided that for now, presenting anything was better than nothing. Thus, we came up with the idea of presenting “Black History Month Facts of the Day” each morning during the announcements. 

To me, this was a huge, albeit small, step forward in promoting diversity and inclusion at my high school. But, it was not recognized as important or even having value to some of the students. It was clear that simply mentioning the accomplishments and history of African-Americans was shrugged off as not only meaningless, but annoying. But I maintain, even to today that learning about and acknowledging the accomplishments of black Americans, regardless of significance, is an integral part in improving race relations and breaking down barriers to reconciliation and tearing down racist systems. 

You see, knowing that George Washington Carver invented hundreds of products from peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans may seem insignificant on a superficial level, as it did to my classmate. On a deeper level, though, understanding the role of African-Americans in the development of everyday products and modern-day technology means acknowledging the relevance, influence, and necessity of black people in society and its advancement. 

Having knowledge that Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner developed the sanitary pad and that Garrett Morgan invented the traffic light (and gas masks) means that regardless of physical proximity and opportunity to create relationships with black people, everyday life is greatly shaped by, and made more convenient by, the contributions of black men and women. 

Further, learning about inventors such as Lewis Latimer, who developed the carbon filament, a vital component of the light bulb, and helped Alexander Bell develop his patent design for the telephone, provides an opportunity to alter the typical historical viewpoint of African-Americans as merely slaves into the more accurate perspective: they were brilliant inventors and unique intellectuals who were enslaved and/or overwhelmed by racist and discriminatory systems. 

Latimer also designed the railroad car bathroom, and an early air conditioning unit. Alexander Miles invented the elevator, and Alfred Cralle patented the first ice cream scoop; these are just a few of many black scholars. These are facts that are far from trivial, and are slandered by the ignorant, racist response of “who cares”. Modern day life is made possible AND comfortable only through the added contributions of black Americans throughout history. Whether you are driving to work, taking an elevator, talking on the phone, or eating a bowl of ice cream, you are doing so on the back of black ingenuity and intelligence. And that is something to be celebrated constantly, to be intentionally considered in law-making and breaking down the systems of oppression, and to be genuinely pondered in building relationships across races and cultures. 

Did you have experiences like this growing up?  Do you want to share anything?  How did you feel reading this?  What can you do at your school? On your job?  What makes you care?  What will make you keep caring?