Black history not just for one month

Since its inception in 1976, Black History Month has never quite freed itself from its… Since its inception in 1976, Black History Month has never quite freed itself from its sphere of controversy. But more middle ground exists than either side is willing to admit. And the supporters and detractors of this annual commemoration do not fall into the categories some might suppose.

Cecil Blake is the current chair of Africana Studies at Pitt and one-time Cabinet Minister of Information and Broadcasting for the government of Sierra Leone. But despite the recognition his department gets during February, Blake opts for a more measured approach.

“If we just focus on black history in February, it distorts the reality of the blood, sweat and tears that made this country what it is today,” Blake said.

Although he respects those who founded and observe Black History Month, Blake suggested the artificiality of specifying a particular month to celebrate an ethnic minority that has been in North America since the 1600s.

But this is not to say he believed black history has been given its due. On the contrary, Blake contended that all Americans must understand how slavery transformed the American economy, which later fostered the county’s current superpower status.

He questioned whether current grade-school history curriculums were valid and comprehensive if schools or the culture at large required a separate month to focus on the history of a particular minority.

Making grade-school and high-school curriculums more inclusive and accurate, as well as allowing black people their place in important institutional positions, would be much more critical to celebrating black history than February’s designation, Blake said.

“The celebration should be daily.”

Anne Johnson, secretary of the historically black sorority Delta Sigma Theta at Pitt, pointed out that the celebration might be more important for some school districts than others.

Johnson, the only black student in her class at “a predominantly white high school” near Kansas City, Mo., said that the event “not only helped to bring awareness to black history