Surely the ultimate success of Black History Month is its own demise.
Not that there isn’t profound value in the declaration of February (since 1976) as a time to recognize the many vital contributions African-Americans made and make to this nation. The list is long and spectacular, ranging literally from A to Z: Baseball legend Hank Aaron to urban photographer James Van Der Zee.
But the obvious question inevitably comes up: When will the contributions of the likes of George Washington Carver, Frederick Douglass and Bessie Coleman (first African-American woman to get a pilot’s license) be common knowledge rather than February fodder?
It may be accidental, or it may be a sign that we’ve turned the corner. It may even be ironic. But King’s College in Wilkes-Barre will host a free airing of the film “Agents of Change” – a documentary produced by two people who lived through the events depicted – Friday evening, and did not specifically bill it as a “Black History Month” event.
“Ironic” because, as reported in the Times Leader Wednesday, the movie focuses on a 1969 incident at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Black students occupied a prominent building to protest, first and foremost, a Euro-centric curriculum virtually void of minority contributions.
But the movement, which spread across the nation to more than 1,000 institutions of higher learning, also highlighted an academic culture that let professors freely denigrate minorities and a judicial system that brutalized them, movie co-director Frank Dawson told the Times Leader.
The Cornell case netted national attention when the students armed themselves, but Dawson stressed it began as a peaceful occupation, only acquiring the menace of munitions after white fraternity students attacked the protesters, were repulsed and reportedly planned to return with guns of their own.
King’s College, with a student body that is only 3 percent black according to federal data, is to be credited not only for hosting this event – the third public viewing of the film – but for seeking Dawson out and inviting him.
And while the decision to not bill it as part of Black History Month may be minor, it is also relevant.
We all benefit when “black history” becomes an integral part of “our history.”