Unknowingly, a Euro-centric worldview has shaped the advantages and disadvantages billions of citizens are forced to deal with every day. Through widening the lens used to narrate monumental moments in human history, different perspectives are displayed and a newfound sense of empathy is created. Natives are no longer reduced to ‘savages;’ trailblazers, no longer generalized as ‘crazy;’ minorities, no longer written off as ‘caricatures.’
You can tell a lot about a country by what they deem important enough to remember, to create monuments for — what they put in their museums and what they name their schools after. For so long, America has reveled in either Civil War battles or Founding Fathers.
But you can learn even more about what a country urges its citizens to forget — its mistakes, its disappointments, and its embarrassments. In some ways, Black History Month is a clarion call to remember.
Since its designation in 1986, Black History Month has represented an age of understanding and compassion. The likes of Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X have finally made their way into textbooks, power points, and assignments. For the first time, their voices and ideals are echoed inside of the classroom. And since then, students have taken them into the real world.