STUDYING OUR HISTORY THROUGHOUT THE YEAR
By Dr. Conrad W. Worrill
(January 28, 2009)
The African
Centered Education Movement has brought a new meaning to the annual African
American History Month celebrations that have become so popular. That new
meaning of African Centered thought, as defined by Dr. Wade Nobles, “is nothing
more than a term categorizing a quality of thought and practice which is rooted
in the cultural image and interest of African people and which represents and
reflects the life experiences, history and traditions of African people as the
center of analyses.” With this definition, the challenges before us become
clearer as we continue the struggle for the liberation of African people.
Through the
African Centered Education Movement, African American History Month has now
become the catalyst for the intense study of
Dr. Carter G.
Woodson, who founded in February of 1926 what at that time was called “Negro
History Week,” would indeed be inspired by the continuing discussion and debate
over the infusion of the contributions of African people in all subjects. Dr.
Woodson was deeply concerned that the contributions of African people to this
society and the world were not given their proper recognition.
Dr. Woodson’s
great book The Mis-Education of the Negro, written in 1933, described in
the first chapter titled, “The Seat of the Trouble,” the essence of what the
African Centered Curriculum Movement is battling against today— 76 years later.
Dr. Woodson
explained that, “Of the hundreds of Negro high schools recently examined (1933)
by an expert in the United States Bureau of Education only eighteen offer a
course taking up the history of the Negro, and in most of the Negro colleges
and universities where the Negro is thought of, the race is studied only as a
problem or dismissed as of little consequence.”
Continuing
on, Dr. Woodson gave an example of, “an officer of a Negro university, thinking
that an additional course on the Negro should be given there, called upon a
Negro Doctor of Philosophy on the faculty to offer such work. He promptly
informed the officer that he knew nothing about the Negro. He did not go to
school to waste his time that way. He went to be educated in a system which
dismissed the Negro as a nonentity.”
Obviously,
since the writing of this great book, we have come a long way in our battle
against challenging the white supremacy foundation of the American public
school curriculum. However, we still have a long way to go!
The Black
Movement of the 1960s gave us an impetus to reexamine our history and its
impact on this country and the world. This movement brought on renewed
interest, on the part of our people, to study our history.
We moved from
the use of the term “Negro” in referring to ourselves and began to use “Black”
as the more appropriate way to describe who we are. We went from Black History
Week to Black History Month. In fact, some of us began to refer to the month of
February as Black Liberation Month.
It was through
the movement of the 1960s, particularly the Black Power Phase that we began to
re-identify with our homeland—
The Black
student movement of the 1960s sparked demands for courses in Black Studies that
lead the famous strike at
After a long
battle with the administration at the university, the students finally won a
victory for the first Black Studies Program to be established at an American
college or university. As a result, a movement for Black Studies erupted all
over
As we have
come full circle today in our general acceptance of being African People, whose
ancestral homeland is Africa, we are also beginning to recognize that African
American History Month celebrations and activities are great, but the
contributions of African people must be emphasized throughout the year.
There is no
question that the setting aside of the month of February, as an extension of
Dr. Woodson’s original idea of “Negro History Week” is something that we need
to continue to support and institutionalize vigorously.
However, we
are quite clear that the real meaning of African American History Month in this
era, is to take the spirit from all the celebrations,
great speeches, great entertainment and festive events to establish as a major
agenda item in our movement, the serious study of the contributions of
African people 365 days a year.
The basis of
the current African Centered Education Movement, whose objective is to take
control of the education of African people in America as we struggle to insure
that the truth is taught in all institutions, in our communities and
particularly in our schools.
We must
take the spirit of the African American History Month to another level. Our
history must be studied throughout the year. Our history is 365 days a year.
BLACK POWER!
Conrad Worrill
National Chairman
National Black United Front (NBUF)
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