Sheldon Celebrates Black History Month

Natalie Barnett staff writer

Black History Month was created in 1986 and congress decided February would be “National Black (Afro American) History Month.” The person who made Black History Month was Carter G. Woodson. Woodson was born on December 19, 1875, in New Canton, Virginia, and died April 3, 1950, in Shaw, Washington. He was an American historian , author, journalist, and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. With Woodson’s dedication to showing the contributions of Black Americans, in 1926 he started Negro History Week on the second week of February. 60 years later Negro History Week turned into Black History Month.

Sophomore Westley Johnson thinks Black History Month is important not only to point out the fact that Black people have done good things like any other race, but it also “reminds people that yes, racism is still a thing that happens in the world.” With there still being huge issues like this, it is important to acknowledge the faults of those issues. For example, 53% convicts who were found guilty, convicted, and later proven innocent were black. This percentage is nearly four times bigger than the population of Black Americans, which is 13.6%. Johnson also said, “The racism that happens in the world cannot just be ignored.”

Social studies teacher Mary Youngblood-Lee thinks that it is important for people to know about different ethnicities, and to know “information about contributing members of society from varying backgrounds.” As of February 2023, there are laws in some states banning or limiting talk about race and discrimination in schools. 37 states have introduced measures for this, and 14 states have actually placed laws for these restrictions. This has caused some teachers to either quit, be fired, or walk on eggshells for fear of being terminated. While Oregon is not one of the states,

Youngblood-Lee wasn’t aware that states were having this limitation. She went on to say, “If we are doing our jobs correctly, which most teachers do not, we would focus on all groups, skin colors, etc. as it deals with the subject matter they are teaching. But as long as we have teachers who don’t see an issue teaching things like ‘pros’ of slavery and refer to non-white skinned people as the ‘losers’ in the world, I guess things like Black History Month will be necessary.”

The restrictions in states, such as states like Idaho and Alabama, will only make it worse. This isn’t going to help with the racism that is still a major problem and this also restricts kids and teens from learning about Black history.