By TJ Edouard, Contributing Writer
As we all know, Feb. 1st marks the beginning of Black History Month. Be on the lookout, because it is now the month when Lackmann Dining serves fried chicken, yams, and cornbread in some vague and unsought effort to be culturally diverse. You might overhear someone stating the rather ignorant fallacy that Black History Month is in February because it’s the shortest month of the year. Nevertheless, this February, we are given a chance to reflect on the current state of American racial relations; 2010 makes the 50th anniversary of the Greensboro sit-ins.
On Feb. 1, 1960, four African-American students from North Carolina A&T State University sat down to be served in Woolworth’s “whites-only” restaurant seating. They weren’t served (as anticipated for that particular time in United States history), so the next day, 27 more students joined the four. Hundreds more African-American young-adults and teenagers joined within the next few days. For the most part, the Greensboro sit-ins were non-violent, allegedly due to the participation of A&T State University football players.
Franklin McCain was 17 at the time that he and his three college friends had planned and executed the peaceful protest. As he tells the story, he remarks: “Some way through, an old white lady, who must have been 75 or 85, came over and put her hands on my shoulders and said: ‘Boys I am so proud of you. You should have done this 10 years ago.’ That is exactly the sort of person you didn’t expect to hear anything from.” This amazing quote affirms, yet diminishes, the “us against them” mentality when approaching topics within the Civil Rights movement. Sadly, this frame of mind still subsists in some white Americans and African-Americans alike.
With President Barack Obama leading our nation, some wonder why Black History Month is even relevant anymore. It’s a remarkable and polarizing question to ask. As an African-American child, our history never looked that appealing. From what I understood, there were shackles, nooses, and Jim Crow; George Washington Carver may or may not have actually invented peanut butter; and W.E.B. Du Bois hated Booker T. Washington, and later, Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King feuded. These are pretty superficial analyses of these specific historical events and this is after near a dozen Februaries. It wasn’t until I picked up Souls of Black Folk and The Autobiography of Malcolm X that I was able to identify with the use of black skin as a diadem of sorts, worn by these great men of history. From then on, it became clear why education, especially about the African Diaspora, was valued to black people in the early to mid 20th century.
I believe Black History Month is a great learning experience, even though I doubt it lives up to the potential that would lead Carter G. Woodson to pioneer “Negro History Week” in 1926. What began as a week (and later a month) of reflection and empowerment, sort of becomes a gimmick without substance. I remember one of my primary school teachers dressing us up in kente cloth. Looking back at it now, I figured the Middle Passage wasn’t an innocent enough topic for a second grade classroom. In high school, I had a professor who taught American History, but I don’t recall learning about anything other than black history. I’ll never forget the day he placed photos of lynched black men on the overhead as a stern reminded that our education wasn’t free at all, but paid in blood and tears. It was probably one of the most unethical methods I’ve ever seen employed in a classroom, but it was also the most extraordinary.