February is Black History Month. It has been Black History Month for decades now. In school and in the media we spend time discussing and celebrating the contributions of African Americans to the Americans society. It may come as a shock to some of you that the idea of Black History Month is not inspiring, but insulting. It is ridiculous and unnecessary.
Below is a video clip from Morgan Freeman explaining why he feels the month is ridiculous.
There are a number of African Americans that agree and disagree with his opinion. Regardless, he does bring up interesting points. Black history is American history and if we ever hope to truly reach a society in which race does not matter, should we still be separating Black history from the rest of history?
That being said, without Black History Month, how much would we know about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., or Rosa Parks? By dedicating a month to the contributions of African Americans, teachers and students discuss and commemorate the lives of people who have greatly shaped the fabric of American culture. Without this focus, we may miss the opportunity to the educate ourselves on these great Americans.
There are others who criticize not so much the idea of Black History Month, but the fact that it has been boiled down to the contributions of a limited number of African Americans. Black History Month has evolved into discussing the lives and times of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, and Frederick Douglas. While these individuals have greatly influenced our present day society, there are so many others whose addition to our world needs to be recognized.
Below is another video questioning the need for Black History Month.
After watching the videos, what do you think about Black History Month and have your thoughts changed? Is this something that we should continue in society? Do we need to expand or modify the way in which we commemorate the Black Americans?
After I had watched the videos I am starting to think how that can be an insult and a gift at the same time. Black history month can be an insult because thy are the same as everyone else, want to be treated the same as everyone else, but because of the pigment in their they are treated deferentially. It can be a gift because maybe the past generations felt bad and gave the a month only for them. I think that we should still remember Black History, but not give it a month. is their a month for white people even though we still remember white history to.I think that we should modify that white people just felt bad enough about how they had treated them to give them a month.
ReplyDeleteI don't feel like it is 'racist' or bad in any way. I personally don't think that it needs changed at all because it is just a time we dedicate to them. We do intertwine American History with Black History. They are both the same so I feel like the reason people get mad is just because of the name. We talk about the same stuff under the category American History so I feel like people should think of it as a gift because we are dedicating a month to them. Those events are under American History and therefore, I think that it is not needed. I don't even know if black history month is needed though either because we can celebrate all those things at other times. It's pretty much just a review of that history in February.
ReplyDeleteI don't feel like it is 'racist' or bad in any way. I personally don't think that it needs changed at all because it is just a time we dedicate to them. We do intertwine American History with Black History. They are both the same so I feel like the reason people get mad is just because of the name. We talk about the same stuff under the category American History so I feel like people should think of it as a gift because we are dedicating a month to them. Those events are under American History and therefore, I think that it is not needed. I don't even know if black history month is needed though either because we can celebrate all those things at other times. It's pretty much just a review of that history in February.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the videos my thoughts changed a lot.I used to not think much at all about it. Now thinking about, Morgan Freeman made a very good point. If your Jewish do you want a month dedicated to you. In a way it depends on if you want to be nationally recognized for being black. you can still be proud about your race without wanting a month dedicated to your race. all in all I think it depends on your personality and personal opinion.I have no idea of it is something we should change in society. I believe that this decision should be up to the African American community.We may not need to get rid of it but we may need to change it.
ReplyDeleteI feel that it is only fair that we have black history month to remember the people that helped us to slowly shift away from racism. While it makes it harder to step back from racism, we can't go without it. It is immensely important we celebrate all the people important in black history month. Not just the most common figures. They should be proud they have a month dedicated to their race.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this video my thoughts have changed a lot. I don't think that black people want all the attention that they're getting. It is definitely an important month don't get me wrong, but Most people don't even fully understand what the month is about. Like Morgan Freeman said, Jews have doe lots of great things over the year but do they really want a month dedicated to them?
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts have changed because what Morgan Freeman said is true. We have a black history month honoring brave black people. Why don't we have one for white people, or Jewish people? But at another perspective I think it's right to honor the brave black people. But maybe we should stop celebrating Black History Month and start just celebrating holidays. Meaning we should have a day for each black person who changed our history, instead of having a month called Black History.
ReplyDeleteI think Black History Month is Kind of pointless because it should be American history Month. My thoughts on it have changed. No because black people are Americans. Not to be racist but I think we shouldn't celebrate it. I think we should change it to American History Month because there are famous black and white people.
ReplyDeleteI think that Black History Month should be obsolete. I understand the view of commemorating the steps to an integrated country, but like Morgan Freeman said, should there be a day for every president that did something or every person that marched? No. All of the events that seem to need a special day are just things that make up history. And plus, it's just a month, right? The important thing is that it has found its place in history. Yes, my thoughts have certainly changed, and I guess that I never thought of it this way until now. I wouldn't want to be called a "black man" because that just takes us back to square one of black and white people. I don't think that there should be a BLACK history month so one's race can be capitalized on, I think that we're all Americans, and like Jake said, this should be AMERICAN history month.
ReplyDeleteI think we should continue this holiday but have a different reasoning and have a different name. I think we should modify this holiday because the African Americans disagree with it. If they disagree with it then we should change...I mean after all isn't this their month.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching these videos, my thoughts have changed on black history month. I think it is a good idea to remind people of what black people did for our country, but dedicating a whole month seems unfair. Why don't the Jews get a month? Or the Native Americans? How come only African Americans get a month? I think we should be reminded of all they did for us, but a whole month is just too extreme. Perhaps instead, teachers should have regular discussions about the African American impact, along with the other people that impacted our country and made it what it is today. I don't think dedicating an entire month helps stop segregation, but rather, encourage it.
ReplyDeleteI was very excited after I saw the Morgan Freeman clip. Finally someone agrees with me. If we are treating African Americans equal then why do they get their own month? Aren't they mentioned throughout history. Every year we hear the same names. Not that these people aren't great but why not mention them in May or whenever they come up in history not just in February and forget about them till next year.
ReplyDeleteAfter I watched the videos I was shocked, but at the same time time, I agreed with them. The first video proved a good point.We shouldn't be saying black history month because I feel like a lot of people were upset about I guess the racism of calling it black history month. I think give the people what they want then take away black history month if people want it keep it. I don't want to sound mean or racist but in my opinion lower it down to 2 or 3 weeks.
ReplyDeleteI think i have changed my mind about black history month because of what that guy said.I mean it is true.If you were do white people want to have a white history month...no.No i don't think we should continue this in our society.Well yes we do need to expand it because we still are rude to some black people in other states.We are getting back because we now have a black president and we have so many more advantages for black people than when they didn't really have a chance to do anything.
ReplyDeleteI have totally changed my mind about black history month because of what they said. All that stuff is right, do we need to have a different month for black history. Isn't black history our history. Plus if we want to stop racism this is how. We should stop this in our society just as we should stop being racist. We also need to change the way we commemorate black Americans. They are humans just as much as white men are and women are.
ReplyDeleteI've never really thought that much on how different people think of Black History Month, but now that it is brought to my attention, I do agree that Black History Month is an insult. Continuing Black History Month would be a disgrace to our community because, why not just have American History Month? I think we celebrate black Americans and white Americans the same way, because doing otherwise would cause separation, or segregation,
ReplyDeleteI do think that my opinion changes. If we are going to give them a special month, then we are giving them special treatment. If we give them a month wheres white history month? I see how they could find it very offensive but i can also see why its an honor. They are no different from white people, their skin is a different color are we really going to judge them by that.
ReplyDeleteThat changed my point of view on Black History Month. I agree with Morgan Freeman black history is american history. I don't think we should continue it. Like Morgan Freeman said do we have a jewish or white history month. NO! So why do we have it and sill talk about what happened just treat everybody the way yo want to be treated. "We need to get rid of racism by just not talking about it." ~Morgan Freeman
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ReplyDeleteI always thought that Black History month was super special, but after I watched the videos that Mr. Grant posted I agree with Morgan Freeman that Black history really is American history. I like the idea of Black History Month though because it teaches kids about the Black people who made a difference in this country and has raised our awareness of their contributions and their early history in America. The problem is that they are Americans too and they shouldn’t be singled out as African Americans. I think we should keep the idea of Black History Month but change the name to something like American History Month and focus on all Americans - Irish, Chinese, Jewish, Mexicans, Basque, and many other groups that have made contributions and have impacted American history.
WOW! My thoughts have really changed about black history month. Especially Morgan Freeman. He has a really good point. Black history isn't really black history, but American history. I realized there is no point in it because if the Americans wouldn't have treated African Americans poorly, there would be no point in this month. That's why we don't need to celebrate black history month.
ReplyDeleteWatching those videos on Black History Month changed my point of view. I can see why some people don’t enjoy hearing the same things every February. While many past black leaders are inspiring, it gets old hearing the same thing over and over and over again. I don’t think we should continue to have black history month, maybe a day or a week just not a month because it seems too long. We should have an American History Month and as part of that month we should explore the history of African Americans in the US.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching these videos I think Black History Month. It's an insult because blacks are the same as whites. It;s a gift because you are honoring all the people who are black.Black History Month is a good idea because we are honoring the people who changed the our world.No because I think is a insult to blacks.I think we should be nicer to the people who are black.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts have definitely changed about Black History Month. I never really thought Black History Month was and insult to some people;I always thought everybody thought it was a time to celebrate what our black predecessors did to make our country a better place. I think that Black History Month is fine as long as we remember the black people who changed our country not only in February but all year long.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts have changed after watching this video. If you think about it black history is pretty much the same as american history. The black people were here when america was formed. We should think about black people and the struggles they have overcome. They shouldn't be regulated to just one month. Thats my opinion about black history month.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts on Black History Month have changed after watching these videos, I never knew it was offending some people. but now that I think of it if I was African American I probably wouldn't like it either. I think we should change it a little in society, maybe celebrate it as a week or day, but not a whole month. I think we need to modify the way in which we commemorate African Americans, it really is just American History, it's not like we treat them different than regular Americans. But these are just my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThe thoughts about black history month have changed my opinion on it. No, I dont think this is something we should continue in society. I think we should change it to black history day or week.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts on black history month have not changed. I personaly always thought there should not be a black history month. Like Morgan Freeman said black history is American history. If your black people will look at you during this month. You mite think im just like everyone else. Im not african american. Im american.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the videos I have realized that black history month isn't what I thought is was. I now realize that even though it is an extremely kind and respectful thing for us to do, it makes African American people feel that they have unwanted attention upon them. Honestly, I don't think we should continue black history month. After all, it has "black" in the name, isn't that one of the things we aren't allowed to call African American people? I think that we should abolish Black History month, to me it only gives people an excuse to put labels on others.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching these videos it has changed my thoughts on black history month. We should change it a little bit by changing it to a day or something else but not a whole month. I think we should modify it because it can be an insult to some people.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this video it has changed my thoughts. I never knew that this month offended so many people. I think it could be changed in society by making it a day or even a few days. We should modify it because it offends people and we should not have a holiday like that we should be proud of all the African Americans who have gone through it.
ReplyDeleteI think that we should keep Black History Month, but maybe go about it differently. My thoughts have changed, because I didn't know that some people, especially a black man, thought it was insulting. I think we need to give more thought to the people that lived during that time, not only the people that had the most influence or best speeches. I agree that black history is american history, but I still think that black history month is good because, for me, it is about the struggle that the entire country went through, and yes, the black people that were mistreated, but it is about everyone, in a fight for freedom.
ReplyDeleteBlack History month should definetly still stay rellevant, and should still stay a national holiday. My thoughts didnt change much, but were boarderline the exact oppisite before i watched these videos. I wasnt aware that some black people were upset and offended by it. I think all black people need to be recognized. VBlack history to me, is not only american history but it is also so many other cultures history, and the influence of many other countries. Black history month should be treated with respect and dignity and people should recognize that is not meant to be an insult.
ReplyDeleteI do have a different way of thinking of Black History Month because it is basically is our history and that shouldn't be separated from every day life and that just makes things worse. I think that we should make the month a little longer or the celebration better. I don't think that we need to have it but that might make the dilemma worse
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