Personal Narrative: Black History Month

Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattilo Beals is a memoir about Beals experiences and her journey while integrating Little Rocks Central High School. She wanted to share her story about what it was like to grow up in the middle of the civil rights movement and what it was like to be one of the nine students who were the first African Americans to integrate a public all white school. During and after reading the book a few thoughts went through my head. First, was my reaction at the horrific things that were done to Melba by integrationist in Central High. For example, while in the bathroom stall a group of girls locked her in and began dumping paper that was light on fire onto her.

As Neyyirah Waheed once stated, “Never trust anyone who says they do not see color. This means to them, you are invisible.” Neyyirah is explaining how at one time, when one’s self was little, one is taught not see color. But at the same time, one becomes more aware of the situation while being told to ignore it all at once. Peggy McIntosh’s White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack reflects on how she was taught how to deny the privilege she was born with as a white woman but also how to benefit from it.

“A fly in the milk” is a metaphor that has been used to explain what it’s like being a Black person surrounded by White people, or simply describes a person who is different from the rest. Robert Lake’s, “An Indian Father’s Plea”, he writes a letter addressing his son’s kindergarten that his son “is not culturally ‘disadvantages’ but he is culturally different.’” (20) Claude Steele’s book “Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do” gives examples of how different people are labeled and how these labels affect them socially and mentally. Lake’s letter illustrates the stigma, identity contingencies, and stereotype threat that are similar to those presented in Claude Steele’s book.

In Melba Pattillo Beals’ Warriors Don’t Cry, she recalls her adolescent years as being one of the nine African American students that chose to attend an all-white high school. In this memoir, she brings to light all of the horrible attacks they underwent. As a young girl, Melba became aware of the separation between whites and blacks, and strived to rise above that. She had a very religious family and black people during this time period learned to accept that they were less-privileged because of their skin color. She went to visit some relatives in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was astonished when white people were nice, or simply even smiled at her.

Since it’s Black History Month, I want to take the time to highlight the strides Brown took to personally end gang violence in the 1980’s. In 1988, NFL Hall of Fame recipient Jim Brown founded the non-profit organization “Amer-I-Can.” The program influences individuals to meet their academic potential and to not conform to negative environment standards. The program also provide training and education for incarcerated women, that entails a 60-hour curriculum combined with life management/self-improvement programs, Former running back Jim Brown, notably the best player to put on a Browns jersey, is receiving great honors in form of a statue. The statue will be raised at FirstEnergy Stadium and its simply awesome that Brown will able to see

I am a free African American, but in a since I am not free. I am not a free person because I am not allowed to vote or speak out for myself and my country where I live in. I want to have rights, but I am not allowed to due to some circumstances. Even though I am a free African American, people are saying that there is no proof that I am a free African American. Also, when a white American captures me, I do not have proof that I was a free African American, and I will be sent into slavery.

A well-known rapper, actor and activist said racism is not the problem, but that white supremacy is the source of pain minorities feel. That was the message from David Banner, who spoke to a diverse crowd in the Kirkhof Center February 15, as part of Black History Month at Grand Valley State University. Banner is the founder of, A Banner Vision, an organization that provides charity for under-served families during the holidays, including clothing and other supplies. Banner addressed what he called a growing movement for tolerance and ending racial discrimination. “Don’t believe a thing I say — consider it, think about it, and research it,” Banner said.

Hi Arleen, I hope you had a beautiful Passover weekend with your family. This is supposed to be a brief reflection regarding our last few sessions. Sometimes I am still struggling to bring across what I want to say, and I think my reference to what makes Black History different is a case in point. So, rather to stumble again by trying to do this verbally, I thought I rather write it out. This is mainly because you have been reiterating one of the aspects I have mentioned – the fact that some parts of African American history have yet to be written.

Years later, President Ford extended the week into an entire month. It began as an infrastructure to help eradicate the neglection of African American history; nonetheless, over the years, there has been much debate concerning the annual celebration. Although Black History Month has received backlash from both African Americans and Caucasians, it is still a necessity in today’s life because it provides historical information that the youth cannot find in textbooks and recognizes neglected people who have fulfilled great actions. Historically, African American history has been deemed as an unimportant subject.

In an interview with Mike Wallace, Morgan Freeman says that he doesn’t like Black History Month. He says that he thinks having a month for black history isn’t going to end racism and that the one way to is to stop talking about it. Morgan Freeman is wrong to say so. If we want to get rid of racism, we need to demote it until it goes away. Otherwise people won’t see that the way they treat other races is wrong.

Black History Month highlights the accomplishments and contributions of African Americans throughout history. The Multicultural Student Center reflected that goal. In a Feb. 16 event called Past and Present Heroes, MSC honored African Americans from the 1800s to present day. It was a timeline that attendees walked through, with posters displayed on the walls and videos about historic African American figures.

When I was younger I never felt out of place. I was at ease with the amount of love which spread across the faces of many black people (friends, family, coworkers etc.) my mother kept me around. As I was growing up all I'd seen were people who looked like me. Whether it was at school or just walking around our neighborhood.

February is considered Black History Month, but not only is it the shortest month of the year, it also is a celebration that is either forgotten or scrutinized by people of other races. African-Americans, and other minorities as well, have been an important, vibrant part of this country’s history, and that’s something that gets swept under covers and left out of textbooks all too often. Even though this government has not always been “for the people” as it should be, it’s still legitimate. Every State and Government is legitimate because they both have reasoning for the things they do, and although we may not like most of the things that do does not mean that we can discount it. This is exemplified through the foundation of and justification for “the state”/democracy, critiques of government/democracy, and the relationship between the individual and “the state”.

Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and it is also a time for recognizing the central role of African Americans in the U.S History. This event grew out of “Negro History Week”, the brainchild of a noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other African Americans. Since 1976 every U.S. president has officially designated February as Black History Month other countries around the world, including the country of Canada and the United Kingdom have also devoted a month to celebrate Black History Month. This Celebration began in the year of 1915, half a century after the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States.

An obvious view portrayed within the script is that Caucasian’s must hold all authoritative positions within society and further enforce their superiority upon African Americans, guaranteed through the certainty of exclusive Caucasian voting. Another outlook expressed was that throughout history, Caucasians have been a more dominant and distinguished race. Enforcing upon the belief that they must administer positions of power and socially dominant. The value withheld for bearing white blood was viewed as profoundly significant and that it shouldn’t be hindered through conceiving. Further deterring understanding and acceptance of African Americans.