Quote Originally Posted by trini_gsr
i feel yall that black history should be totally integrated into american history or what have you, and should be taught like that. this is the ideal situation...

but the reality is that it's not. how much black history have YOU learned in high school? most of yall probably don't even know who marcus garvey is, know about any of the great black inventors, or even read any books by good black authors. i know when i was in HS i wasn't taught any of this stuff...besides prolly about MLK and Malcolm X.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. the ugly truth is that slavery totally robbed black ppl in this country of their sense of worth and pride compared to everyone else. black folks' accomplishments were simply ignored, credited to their white masters, or otherwise written out of history for hundreds of years. remember...slaves weren't really ppl so there's no way they could be smart! and everyone back then felt like this...from scientists to doctors to christian pastors to the authors/historians who wrote all this stuff down...to sadly, even black ppl themselves eventually. that has serious psychological repercussions (thats for a different discussion tho)...

black history month is really just about giving black (and white) folks a chance to feel proud about who they are, what they've done, and where they came from...there was no other avenue to learn about black history when it started, and even today there still really isn't.

it was just 45 years ago that they started letting black ppl vote and share bathrooms with white ppl here...i think a LOT less ppl are racist now than then, but we still got a ways to go. when you start to hear about w.e.b. dubois like you hear about say...mark twain...then black history month wont be necessary...


but it wasn't only black people who have gone through slavery. irish people were the first ones i believe to go through a horrible slavery, and they do not have an irish month? i definately agree with you, that black history should be integrated into our (america) history including mexican and irish history because there is not enough of it. now, people are tryin to get history classes to only tesch the past 50 years of history which in my opinion is the most ridiculous thing i have ever heard. they will miss out on huge events that happened to make what our country is today, like pearl harbor, christopher columbus and his expeditions, when the first pilgrims came from europe to here to settle. it is going to be interesting to see whats going to happen in the school systems in the next few years.