This Wednesday, continuing Oberlin’s steady flow of activities commemorating Black History Month, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies Everett F. Hardy II delivered his talk, “We’re the Inventors of Black History Month.” Hardy, newly elected to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History executive board, traced the history of the celebration back to its origins in 1897, the first observance of Frederick Douglass Day. For him, culture is at the forefront of Black History Month.
“Black History Month, for me, means heritage,” he said. “I’m a Black American, meaning that my family is rooted in the United States, going back traceably until 1780 … [to] the first free Black person in my family that’s acknowledged. Everyone else was enslaved. So it really has always been about heritage for us. We celebrated Black people in every way, shape, form, or fashion.”
Hardy called Dr. Carter G. Woodson, founder of the ASALH, to the audience’s attention. Working in the early 1900s, Woodson and other African American historians were severely marginalized in their profession; the American Historical Association, for instance, barred Black people from their conferences. This incensed Woodson, who realized that it was necessary for Black people to carve out their own spaces in the history field.
Thus, with a few Black colleagues, Woodson founded the ASALH in 1915. In 1916, it began publishing its academic journal, The Journal of African American History, aimed at promoting African American studies as a distinct discipline.
Hardy expressed excitement about his new position at the ASALH. He hopes to foster a stronger connection with the organization’s local branch in Cleveland and promote a closer relationship with communities in the city, as well as Lorain and Elyria. His goal is to uphold Woodson’s vision of the organization as one welcoming of African Americans from all walks of life.
This communal emphasis is also important to Aleta Scott, administrative assistant of Africana Studies and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies. To her, Black History Month is all about capturing the joy in everyday Black life.
“Oftentimes, there’s an emphasis — rightfully so — on achievement and production,” she said. “But a lot of the basis of various movements is recognizing our humanity, because there’s a history of dehumanizing the Blackness, the Black body, the Black person. … [Thinking about some] nonviolent resistance movements, they just want to go have lunch, or they want to be able to sit at the park or go to a show. To me, that’s Black history.”
Woodson later had the idea to expand Frederick Douglass Day into a greater celebration raising awareness about Black history during the second week in February. The event was first observed in 1926; it started small, implemented only by certain school districts in places such as Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City, but quickly grew.
In 1969, students and faculty at Kent State University proposed to widen the scope further and celebrate Black history during all of February. The following year, the first Black History Month was celebrated by African American communities all over the country. College first-year George Buckman was surprised by student involvement in the holiday’s conceptualization.
“This is my first time actually getting a background of Black History Month,” Buckman said, who was inspired by the talk to read a poem he wrote to the audience. “To see that [the creation of Black History Month] came from Black student orgs and things … changed my perspective a little bit. Seeing that we had that much agency today definitely changed the way I thought about Black history.” An excerpt of Buckman’s poem is included in this issue.
Both Scott and Hardy were appreciative of the extent of Oberlin’s Black History Month programming, having found it a very unique situation.
“The idea that there’s something on the calendar every single day, that it bleeds into March?” Hardy said. “It’s shocking to me. It really is. It was shocking to me last year. It’s shocking to me this year.”
For anyone looking to expand their knowledge on Black history this month, Hardy recommends Tiffany Gill’s Beauty Shop Politics: African American Women’s Activism in the Beauty Industry, Therí A. Pickens’ new poetry collection What Had Happened Was, and James Baldwin’s semi-autobiographical debut novel Go Tell It on the Mountain. He also suggests watching some Black films.
From its origins in 1926 until now, Black History Month has continuously grown and flourished. Hardy concluded his talk by imploring Black audience members to reflect on what the celebration means to them. For him, family has always remained at the center.
“My hero is my great-great-grandmother … and her second husband,” Hardy said. “[They worked to buy a house that] my grandmother could grow up in, my mother could grow up in, and then that we could live in. … They had that kind of willpower, perseverance, and ability to work together to see a better vision for their family and their future. … Those are my heroes — regular people, everyday people — who are Black history to us in my family. … [These stories] tell the tale, the larger tapestry of what it means to be Black American and to survive.
