Facing Black History Month in the United States: Why We Need to Break the Norm

When I was in elementary school, I was chosen to read a poem I wrote about Martin Luther King, Jr. It was during a school-wide assembly to celebrate the United States’ Black History Month. I remember reciting my poem and the celebratory feeling in the room. I also remember feeling this sense that we were united by the legacy of this wonderful man and feeling proud of our enlightened accomplishments as a racially diverse school community. Even then, I understood that my presence onstage was meant to be evidence of that enlightenment and that progress.

This is one of the many pleasant memories I had of celebrating Black History Month in elementary school; there were assemblies in the auditorium and art projects in my homeroom. During these times, I felt important as one of the few African-American students in my classes. I was excited to learn about African-American experiences and contributions, and I knew that there would likely be increased attention to my work. Surely some of my classmates (rightly) resented being singled out for their Blackness, but I was perhaps a bit of a ham. I enjoyed the opportunity to shine.

It wasn’t until I was much older that I began to understand the need to acknowledge that Black history—both the uplifting and the incredibly painful parts—was an integral part of the overall history of the United States. While Black History Month continues the necessary job of highlighting the contributions and experiences of African-Americans in this country, it should not be seen as a substitute for striving toward a more inclusive and egalitarian national narrative.

We are part of increasingly interconnected communities. We can’t continue to draw boundaries around the contributions, experiences, and actions of marginalized groups. Our choices—and the legacies of those choices—don’t follow the boundaries of calendars. Certainly this country, through centuries of protest, struggle, and growth, has made amazing strides in acknowledging and writing a more inclusive narrative of its history. This has been done in part by uncovering, amplifying, and reconstructing silenced voices and experiences. We’ve also diversified the voices that write and teach these histories.

Yet we still live in a society where issues of representation and inclusion are painfully relevant. We’ve seen this in the need for a Black Lives Matter movement and more recently in the controversy over a lack of diversity in the 2016 Oscar nominations. These contemporary examples illustrate that we have not yet arrived at a place where our history, institutions, and public life are genuinely inclusive of the many perspectives, experiences, and identities that inhabit the nation.

So, how do we move past the reliance on Black History Month as a catch-all for representation of the experiences, contributions, and voices of African-Americans? Building on the work of activists, teachers, historians, and everyday people, we need to ask why we tell the stories we tell and what impact these stories have on young people. We have to ask who or what is missing when we think our stories are complete. As historians, history educators, textbook writers, and publishers, we have to ask questions about our own identities and biases in the histories we create and share. We have to ask ourselves why we gravitate to the stories of certain individuals, groups, and events, and who might be left out of those preferences. We must advocate for the inclusion of more voices from diverse backgrounds while deconstructing the “norm” that such diversity is exceptional rather than expected. If we maintain these norms then we further the dynamic where non-normative voices can only be part of our history one month at a time.

How do you break the norm—in the classroom or in your own life—when you face history?

Explore key moments in Black history with these Facing History resources:

Eyes on the Prize Study Guide

This study guide provides teachers with an invaluable resource that brings this landmark television documentary into the classroom and ensures its legacy in the education of our students. The guide provides a framework for using the series in classrooms, important primary sources, and guiding questions to help teachers bring the history of the civil rights movement alive.

Democracy in Action: A Study Guide to Accompany the Film Freedom Riders

Developed in partnership with PBS's American Experience, this guide supports educators and students in their use of the documentary Freedom Riders. This film tells the powerful story of the Freedom Riders taking brave and decided actions to dismantle the structures of discrimination—specifically segregated interstate bus travel—through nonviolence.

Choices in Little Rock

Efforts to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock resulted in a crisis that historian Taylor Branch describes as "the most severe test of the Constitution since the Civil War." Our resources on Little Rock ask students to examine these events through the question, “​​How much power do ordinary people have to change the world?” The resources in this collection provide multiple instructional-pathways for teaching this history, as well as student materials available in both English and Spanish.

The Reconstruction Era and the Fragility of Democracy

During the Reconstruction Era, Americans were faced with the challenge of rebuilding a society divided by slavery and the political upheaval of the Civil War. Teaching this history is essential to helping students understand citizenship and democracy in the United States today. The collection includes multiple entry-points for exploring the Reconstruction Era with your students, including a new 3-week unit, videos, and an array of primary sources available in both English and Spanish.