First of all I would like to pay homage to Carter G. Woodson who is responsible for starting Negro History Week and getting it recognized throughout the country which led to what we now know as Black History Month. Carter G. Woodson is the author of Mis-Education of the Negro which discusses how Blacks in America have been rendered a disservice being educated in a system that does not have their best interest at heart. Therefore, Blacks have not received true knowledge of who they are and their contributions to the world. This seemed to me to be a serious oxymoron considering the fact that Mr. Woodson worked very hard to get Black History Month started and still true knowledge of who we are still hasn’t hit the main stream. Black people still are being mis-educated or at least not being fully educated about themselves. It seems that the powers that be have only allowed a portion of the truth to filter into the limelight. It seems that the only significant aspects of our-story (my-story) are those where Blacks are seen as slaves or struggling, marching, and dying for equality in a foreign land. Is this the full extent of our history? Are Africans not Black also? You can’t keep Africa out of Black History!

Why is it when February rolls around you get flooded with all these images and sound bites about Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Fredrick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, but rarely do you see images of Imhotep, Khufu, Hatshepsut, Queen Makeda, Queen Amina, Yaa Asantewaa, Chaka Zulu, Mansa Musa, or Kwame Nkrumah? Why is it that when Black History Month starts people only focus on the four hundred years or so of history that Blacks have accumulated in the Americas? Black History extends from the very beginning of human life on this planet up to the current time. Africans set the foundations for civilization as well as religion, science, mathematics, architecture, and philosophy. So why is February (the shortest month of the year) the month chosen for recognizing the people with the longest history (written and unwritten) known to humankind? Then it all dawns on me, who is it that controls the avenues that we receive these images, hmm? I mean even BET is owned by Viacom. Until Black (African) history is part of every day of the year and everybody has their eyes, ears, and minds open will Blacks and the rest of the world start to receive what everyone has been waiting for, the truth. For the truth shall make you free and nothing else.

“You can’t keep Africa out of Black History.” Don’t let the media widen the gap between Africans on the continent and those abroad; we are truly one nation/one people.

Charles Woods, III is BCRI Outreach Coordinator