Open Door: Black History Month
Today is the end of Black History Month. However, Black History does not go away. Like all history it is a fabric of our stories, our identity, our viewpoints, and, ultimately, of our lives. The more accurate and inclusive we can make this storia, the better for you, for me, for humanity. Keep in mind that history is not just facts and figures. It is a narrative, and at the end of the day, that is a story. How we tell the story shares the lessons in a kind and fulfilling manner.
Black History – is a long and complex tale. Humanities roots may be out of Africa. That is for all of us. However, the story of Black History Month begins in Chicago during the summer of 1915. It was a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of emancipation sponsored by the state of Illinois, the State that Lincoln represented in Congress.
Black History Month (BHM) has now become an annual observance. And while originating in the USA it is also received official recognition from governments in the United States and Canada, as well as being observed in Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Slavery casts an ugly shadow on Africans in America – not on the Africans, per se, but on those that trafficked on humans and treated them like chattel. The chattel system allowed people to be considered legal property. They could be bought, sold, and owned forever. It was considered lawful and supported by the United States and European powers from the 16th – 18th centuries.
At a recent Open Door there was a presentation and discussion of Frederick Douglass. He was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. However, his life began as that of a slave. He had to escape from his native Maryland, to become a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York. Frederick Douglass did not apologize for wanting to abolish the terrors and inhumanity that was American slavery.
Black History Month was created to focus attention on the contributions of African Americans in the United States. But is not only about the past. Rather it honors all Black people from all periods of U.S. history. History affects the current and not just the past. Shortly before his death, Frederick Douglass was asked what advice he would give to a young black American. “Agitate! Agitate! Agitate!”
“Agitate! Agitate! Agitate!”
That is good advice for many of us. Douglass understood that the American nation’s founders were great men for their ideals of freedom. However, their search for freedom, shines awareness to the hypocrisy of their ideals by the existence of slavery on American soil. It should be noted, that of the five-man committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence, only two did not own slaves. That means the other three did. Sad.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” ~ George Santayana
Black History Month is not about Black History. It is about History. Our history. Remember “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Once again you never know what you will find, learn, and ponder at Open Door. They are Tuesday Nights, in Downtown Montreal if you should care to find out more, please ask.
Lino Matteo ©™
Twitter @Lino_Matteo
Two of the short videos that supported the discussion about Frederick Douglass
Lino Matteo's Version 