Black History is American History

It is once again time to remember that Black History is American History. It is not just February, but an everyday practice of understanding the truth of who we are and how we got here. Remembering the past is essential to building the future, especially in a time when it is at risk of being lost to us.

Throughout the country, authoritarian leaders are trying to erase history and remake America through book banning, forced pregnancy, organized violence, disinformation campaigns and putting an end to free and fair elections.

To be clear, America has never been perfect and has always been a work in progress. But that is exactly why we need to read and remember, so that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past and can choose to imagine better for ourselves and one another.

As Baratunde Thurston put it “when we ban books in schools before we ban guns, we admit we are more afraid of our children learning than we are of them dying”. It speaks to what Dr King meant when he said “I'm convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society.”

Building a culture of care that puts books over guns and people over profits is how we make that shift.

Kerri (she/her)

Art by @coolurbanhippie

1. Black History is Your History. Ijeoma Oluo on why if you aren't fighting for us, you're fighting for your souls. [click to tweet]

2. Joe Rogan is still here, but books are disappearing from libraries. Where’s the Cancel-Culture Outrage Over Banning Books? [click to tweet]

3. Book bans are targeting the history of oppression. The possibility of a more just future is at stake when young people are denied access to knowledge of the past. [click to tweet]

4. In the middle of a devastating global pandemic, and after a “racial reckoning” where more promises of hope and change were left unfulfilled, more and more Black women are realizing that Black Excellence is a set up. [click to tweet]

5. The pandemic has revealed the depths of our mutual dependence. Octavia Butler’s Fledgling show us how to co-exist. [click to tweet]

In Who is Black History Month actually for? author and historian Imani Perry talks about the origins of Black History Month and its current role in American culture. Here are six actionable ways to celebrate BHM from our friends at Anti-Racism Daily:

1. Address Pay Inequity: Do what you can to address the pay gap in the spaces/institutions you move in. If you’re in a position of power, use your influence to disrupt and advocate for structural equity.

2. Review your DEI initiatives: Examine your commitments to equity to ensure that you are centering the needs of those who are most impacted by dominant systems and work to create the conditions where everyone gets what they need to thrive.

3. Rally: Continue showing up for protests and other demonstrations as best you can. This includes rallying online, protesting physically in the streets and/or providing essential services to protestors on the ground.

4. Give: Donate monthly to Black-led organizations and/or mutual aid networks that center the healing and wellbeing of Black communities.

5. Mentor: Invest in the next generation of leaders in your field through fellowship or mentorship. Keep in mind that you likely have as much to learn as your mentee. And mentorship does not take the place of structural equity.

6. Pay Reparations: We cannot build a future until we repair the past. It’s important to understand what reparations is and what it isn’t. It’s not as simple as apologizing or investing. Check out M4BL’s Reparations Now toolkit which explores the long history of demands for reparations, lays out key facts, concepts, case studies and tools for exploring how to engage with skill and impact.

*Subscribe to Anti-Racism Daily’s 28 Days of Black History.

Art by @ardtakeaction

Bills are being enacted across the country (Georgia, Texas, Florida, Wisconsin to name a few) to ban books that will make it even harder to teach real history, to talk about racism and other forms of oppression and that honor the full spectrum of our human experience. So here’s our “Fuck Book Bans’ reading list to kick off Black History Month:

• Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America

• South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation

• Call Us What We Carry

• An Abolitionist’s Handbook: 12 Steps to Changing Yourself and the World

• The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation

• Me and White Supremacy Young Readers Edition

• Pause. Rest. Be. Stillness Practices for Courage in Times of Change

And check out the 1619’s Project education materials collection to help you teach the truth. You can also donate a copy of 1619 Project to independent bookstores in states that are trying to pass bans.

Two hundred years ago, a child was born into chattel slavery. She grew up to become a liberator. Abolitionist. Diviner. Healer. Nurse. Naturalist. Freedom fighter. Military raid leader. Spy. Scout. Suffragist. Daughter. Sister. Wife. Mother. Aunt. Friend. National Icon. Happy birthday, Harriet Tubman.

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