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It’s
That Time Again
By Van G. Garrett Last
February feels like a blur that transpired eons ago. A lapsed time
since I lectured extensively about the limitless contributions
African-Americans have made since their forced emigration to
America. It also seems like an eternity since my students asked me
the famous question, “Why do black people have to have a
month-long celebration to learn about their history?”
At
any rate, it is another Black Heritage Season, one that is sure to
be festive and informative as it attempts to address questions of
its merit and its conception.
In
1926, historian and educator, Dr. Carter G. Woodson determined
America should have a week to commemorate the exceptional strides
Negroes made nationwide. Negro History Week which later became
Black History Month occurred to
highlight the achievements of Negroes, as well as pay homage to
Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, men Woodson felt impacted
Negroes the most. This revolutionary tribute was designed not only
to educate the Black populace but to educate the world.
Black
History Month, in bold candor, announces monumental feats like:
W.E.B. Du Bois becoming Harvard’s
first Black Ph.D., Booker T. Washington organizing Tuskegee University,
J. Standard inventing the refrigerator, Garrett A. Morgan
inventing the traffic signal, Mary McLeod Bethune founding the
Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls
(now Bethune-Cookman College), Phillis
Wheatley writing the first volume of poetry to be published by an
African-American, Paul Cuffe paying
$4,000 in 1815 to transport 38 African-Americans to Sierra Leone,
and Tunis Gulic Campbell writing the
first American-published book on hotel management.
This
small offering is but a fraction of the rich continuum of artists,
athletes, scholars, and authors that have been trailblazers not
only for the Black race but for the human race as well.
People
of color have been resourceful, knowledgeable, and determined,
before the exodus from Egypt, the antebellum era, slavery, and
post-slavery, the Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights and modern
times. This unyielding and resounding Black presence has shown its
resiliency in every facet of society, proving Blacks are no longer
separate, but equal and worthy of celebration.
The
African-American influence in literature, music, art, and film has
provided a culture that is widely studied, imitated, and
appreciated. Major colleges and universities now offer courses
that study hip-hop (a Black music form) as a form of literature;
Broadway has lauded plays and performances written, produced, and
directed by African-Americans; and the drummers that supplied the
backbeats for this year’s Grammy’s are people of color. It is
obvious former second class citizens have become mainstreamed.
As
I reflect on the strides my ancestors and contemporaries have made
I experience a wonderful pride. However, I wonder if my students
make the correlation of legacy and accomplishments. I wonder if my
pride is misconstrued as being discriminatory. I wonder. At any
rate I hope my students will at least have an idea of why Dr.
Woodson saw a need to recognize his peers and ancestors.
I
hope they understand it’s a pride thing, not a racist thing that
should be celebrated by all races, "for if a race has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible
factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of
being exterminated" (Dr.
Carter G. Woodson).
* * * * * Van G. Garrett, a writer,
photographer, and teacher from Houston, TX can best be described
as a “contemporary courier of creativity.”
Garrett, a 1999 graduate of Houston Baptist University,
has a BA in English (with an emphasis in creative writing) and
Mass Media (with an emphasis in print) which he has utilized as
demonstrated by his various publications and honors.
He was awarded the Danny Lee Lawrence prize
for poetry in 1999, a 2002 Callaloo
Creative Writing Fellowship for poetry, and his poems have
appeared in Rolling Out,
Life Imitating Art, Swirl,
Drumvoices Review, Curbside
Review, Shanks’ Mare, Urban Beat,
E! Scene and
elsewhere.
His photography has appeared in Source, has been contracted by Capitol Records, and has been on
display at the Museum of Fine Arts of Houston.
v.g.garrett@usa.net
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