Today is February 28. Its also the last day of Black History Month. I'm wondering if anyone else is sad. I've watched, read, listened and was inspired the many links that I discovered. Unheard of musicians. Famous favorites. Jim Crowism stories uncovered. Salutes to black achievers. Comedians first starts. Photos of people changing the world. Acknowledging firsts. Sharing memories with friends. And many children are trying to pave a way so maybe their names can be "famous firsts" in our history.
I have loved all of it: the music, the food, the quizzes, the contests, culture, the literature, the film festivals, and the discussions. I have found new businesses to patronize and new stories to share with my readers. During this celebration, I even managed to volunteer with a black arts organization by doing their social media for an upcoming event.
My children have learned a lot this month. My daughters learned more about The Underground Railroad and how it ran just not only North, but South to Mexico and in the Caribbean. They saw classic movies, attended a higher education seminar, learned about how your writing style tells something about you and how poor grammar eliminates many of us out of the game, and discovered that the world is MORE than your hometown. They also learned the ways of white folks.
Now that the celebration is coming to an end, I really hope we all learned something.
I hope we learned Black History Month isn't just limited to February. Black History is a year-round celebration. It's also NOT to just educate White folks. Some of us have to educate ourselves. Considering that the odds were stacked against us in so many ways, we should celebrate what we have accomplished, encourage others, and to keep on keeping on.
We need to remind ourselves what we are able to achieve. Twenty-eight days isn't a lot of time. However, George Washington Carver had the right idea. Let's know our history and grow it even further. Slavery, I repeat slavery was not our only contribution. We given more than that and we have proof.
Posted By: Marsha Jones
Monday, February 28th 2011 at 3:24PM
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