Happy Black History Month!
The Update - 2/1/2022
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It’s Black History Month
Today is February 1st, the first day of Black History Month, and today is just a preview of things we will be discussing this month. We’re still going to talk about the 2022 Georgia legislative session, national news, and other top news stories. But expect a decent mix this month. But for 2022, due to the climate of misinformation, attacks on teaching history, and removing textbooks from libraries across the country, I believe this month is instructive to understand how we got here.
I would suggest going back to my February 2021 update: Why do we have Black History Month? + The MVPs of Black History. There’s lots of good info in that article including:
Why do we have Black History Month in the first place?
Why do we celebrate Black History Month and not African American History Month?
Why do people capitalize the ‘B’ in Black?
Well, we’re gonna cover that more this month (we didn’t then, but we are this year), but ‘Black’ refers to a group of people, not a color, a mood, a type of comedy, or personality type. The lowercase ‘b’ actually comes from the Jim Crow era description of Black people in the US. Then commonly called negroes or colored, were purposely written in the lower case to denounce their position (smh, I know).
Marcus Garvey as the person who made global Blackness a thing
Garvey was a Jamaican-born teenager who immigrated to London in the early 1900s before eventually making his way to the US in the 1910s who initially popularized the notions of a unified African diaspora. Through the notions of Black capitalism, Black nationalism, and Pan Africanism Garvey sought to unify a global people displaced by slavery and colonization.
MVP Diane Nash, Civil Rights legend
Nash is noteworthy as she is the only person to be both Rookie of the Year and MVP. Nash starts out as a rookie in an unbelievably charged political climate in Nashville alongside a bevy of future civil rights legends in Nashville at the time. These future legends John Lewis, C.T. Vivian, and James Farmer, who ended up leading the entire Nashville student movement as a transfer from Howard University in DC with zero political experience prior. Nash was both a frontline leader, spokesperson, organizer, and strategist as a 22-year-old. Nash was able to not only gain a seat at the table, but she also opened up the table for everyone in Nashville to eat, metaphorically and literally.
There are going to be some cool things that are coming back:
The MVP’s of Black History
Why do Black People vote for Democrats? series — you can read part one and part two now.
The Black Mecca Parts Two and Three— you can read part one here.
Here’s what’s on tap for February:
Affirmative Action
The Supreme Court’s first Black female judge
Shelby v. Holder, the case that ushered in the new Jim Crow
The history of Oscarville and Lake Lanier
Here are some great online resources that I find both educating and/or entertaining:
Skip Mason’s Vanishing Black Atlanta History Facebook Page
PBS Crash Course - Black American history YouTube Playlist
Henry Louis Gate’s Black History in 2 minutes YouTube Channel
Know Your Caribbean Instagram account
Google History Institute Black history and culture online