People say that we should be in the Christmas spirit all year round, but does it go the same way for Black History Month?
This February, we spend some extra time learning about the extraordinary accomplishments of African-Americans. Overcoming enormous obstacles, these outstanding individuals made remarkable contributions to our everyday world.
Throughout these 28 days, people across America do their best to pay respect to those being celebrated. Video stores dedicate an entire shelf to African-American movies. Bookstores put African-American novels in the front window. And teachers all across America try to think of more inspired ways to teach black history than tacking up a few poems by Langston Hughes on the bulletin board.
However, one month of black history is hardly enough. When a teacher teaches it for only one month out of the year, you just can't give full use. By putting together black history into "traditional" U.S. history, students get the bigger picture. As students, like myself, learn "traditional" history, they get a better sense of what a historical period was really like.
Every day a person can hear the lyrics of Louis Armstrong: "I see friends shaking hands saying 'how do you do.'" They're really saying "I Love You," ("Wonderful World") - or "R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Find out what it means to me," by Aretha Franklin. What does respect really mean to us? We can find out that answer and many more if we celebrate the contributions and actions of African-Americans not just in the month of February, but all year round, 365 days a year.
African-Americans deserve all the respect and gratitude for what they have accomplished, and what they had to go through to get there.
Everyone can celebrate Black History in his or her own way. Listen to the blues of Ray Charles or the poems by Langston Hughes or the "I Have A Dream" speech of Martin Luther King - not only during the next couple of weeks, but throughout the year.
Black History began its celebration as a week, then a month. Now it should extend to the rest of the year.
Throughout these 28 days, people across America do their best to pay respect to those being celebrated. Video stores dedicate an entire shelf to African-American movies. Bookstores put African-American novels in the front window. And teachers all across America try to think of more inspired ways to teach black history than tacking up a few poems by Langston Hughes on the bulletin board.
However, one month of black history is hardly enough. When a teacher teaches it for only one month out of the year, you just can't give full use. By putting together black history into "traditional" U.S. history, students get the bigger picture. As students, like myself, learn "traditional" history, they get a better sense of what a historical period was really like.
Every day a person can hear the lyrics of Louis Armstrong: "I see friends shaking hands saying 'how do you do.'" They're really saying "I Love You," ("Wonderful World") - or "R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Find out what it means to me," by Aretha Franklin. What does respect really mean to us? We can find out that answer and many more if we celebrate the contributions and actions of African-Americans not just in the month of February, but all year round, 365 days a year.
African-Americans deserve all the respect and gratitude for what they have accomplished, and what they had to go through to get there.
Everyone can celebrate Black History in his or her own way. Listen to the blues of Ray Charles or the poems by Langston Hughes or the "I Have A Dream" speech of Martin Luther King - not only during the next couple of weeks, but throughout the year.
Black History began its celebration as a week, then a month. Now it should extend to the rest of the year.
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