Black History Month at NCMPS and Everywhere
Jasmine Williams, NCMPS Race and Equity Advisor, Instructor, and Coach
Black History Month grew out of Black American historian Carter G. Woodson’s Negro History Week in 1926. In 1970 Black students and educators at Kent State University extended this to a month, and it was nationally recognized under President Gerald Ford in 1976 . Woodson’s acclaimed 1933 work “The Miseducation of the Negro” unearthed and highlighted history that U.S. schools ignored and erased, and Black History month carries that work forward, elevating the achievements of Black Americans and empowering them in the process.
More information about the origins of Black History Month can be found here.
Historically, and continuing today, Black people have been tokenized in spaces dominated by white people. Parity in these spaces is still far off. But recognition of Black history is not just about increasing representation in those spaces. Black folks are also creating their own spaces without the need or desire to be welcomed at a possibly questionable table. Some mindsets have shifted and some people are consciously choosing to see Black people as human beings with inherent value. The thoughts, experiences, talents of Black folk enrich the canon and landscape of life. Blackness – including Black joy, brilliance, beauty, power and so much more are, now, part of the human experience.
Black history is being made 365 days of the year, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 365/24/7. Our contributions, achievements, lifestyles are not a one-off or an oddity. We are people living our full lives.
For this post, I thought it would be interesting to hear from our team at NCMPS how they are purposefully making Black history and culture part of their everyday lives, not just because February has been designated as Black History Month. None of these came from a book study, a scavenger hunt, or anything like that. They also don’t absolve our team from the continuous work that we need to do to combat anti-Blackness as individuals and as an organization. I asked the team for recommendations of television shows, movies, literature, and events that they had watched, read, attended, etc., and to share how they honor the intent of Woodson’s efforts to elevate the achievements of Black people in America.
Here are some of their responses:
Television
Heading into its 10th year Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s series on PBS Finding Your Roots is a favorite in our household. Gates himself is a diligent and brilliant historian, and the series elevates and isolates the complicated and often heroic lives led by ancestors of diverse people and well-known personalities from our modern culture.
I have been enjoying shows like Bridgerton and The Great for the fact that diversity and representation of different ethnicities is such a natural part of the show and for creating opportunities for Black actors to play parts that are not solely about their Blackness but rather about the stories they are telling
As a Gen Xer— I can’t not mention Shonda Rhimes, American television producer and screenwriter, and founder of the production company Shondaland. Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, Bridgerton, Inventing Anna, and Queen Charlotte are just a few of my favorites!
Abbott Elementary—A mockumentary sitcom series created by Quinta Brunson. Amazing writing and cast. So much joyful talent. And, although I want to rush in and tell them they’ve got it all wrong when it comes to the teaching methods, they’ve got it all right when it comes to loving their students and each other.
The show has been nominated for 15 Emmy Awards, winning four including Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Brunson. Abbott Elementary has also won three Golden Globe Awards: Acting for Quinta Brunson and Tyler James Williams and Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy in 2023.
High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
Netflix’s writers said it best in their description, “Black food is American food. Chef and writer Stephen Satterfield traces the delicious, moving throughlines from Africa to Texas in this acclaimed series.” Season 2 is out!!!
Chef’s Table, Volume 6: Mashama Bailey
I watched this and Mashama Bailey’s entire MasterClass Catalog on a cross-country flight. The sharing of her personal narrative and her entrepreneurial journey to convert a segregated bus station in Savannah, Georgia into a thriving restaurant is powerful stuff.
Books
Homegoing is a difficult but important multi-generational story that follows two half-sisters and their descendants across 250 years, beginning in Ghana in the 1700s and ending in the US. Gyasi’s prose is beautiful, intricate, and honest. Between the power of the story, meticulous research, and beauty of the writing, I was in awe and rapt through each page of this novel that tells a story that is as difficult as it is important.
Gyasi won, at age 26, the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Award for best first book, the PEN/Hemingway Award for a first book of fiction, the National Book Foundation’s “5 under 35” honors for 2016 and the American Book Award.
The House of Eve, a work of historical fiction that I appreciated particularly for its depiction of Black life and culture in DC after WWII. The story follows two Black women in the early 1950s: a teenage girl in Philadelphia struggling to escape intergenerational poverty, and a college student at Howard who marries into an elite family and struggles to be accepted by them (and with her own internalized feelings of inadequacy). Without giving too much away, it’s an exploration of how both women make difficult choices to create their families and live life on their own terms, and an account of how both eventually thrive and achieve their goals, within the context of the Jim Crow era. In an author’s note, the author indicates that she wrote the story as a result of exploring her own family tree, and to fill in some gaps in the historical record about adoption among Black families during this era. I would not say that it is about the achievements of Black people in America, per se, but it is a portrait of Black women characterized by agency, rich interior lives, and determination.
The Personal Librarian is a fantastic, fictionalized account of JP Morgan’s librarian who was a Black woman who “passed” as white during her time. This highlighting of her achievements in the fine art world and her legacy was truly fascinating to read about and was a wonderful way to lift the achievements of a woman who left a lasting impact on the community and culture of the art world.
This Promise of Change by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy
Sharing from a personal, positive bias for Jo Ann as she’s my elder cousin and the author of this book — it’s her story of being part of “The Clinton 12” and integrating the high school where successive generations of our family would later attend.
I enjoyed reading James McBride’s The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store this past year. It was a beautiful book about a strong, thriving Black community and did a wonderful job of addressing and dismantling stereotypes.
Movies
American Fiction is a 2023 movie based on the novel Erasure by Percival Everett. It is a satire about stereotypical “black books”, the publishing industry and Hollywood movie industry. We found it very entertaining and thought provoking. It is one of those movies that we keep talking (and laughing) about. American Fiction has won the People’s Choice Award at Toronto International Film Festival; was named one of top 10 movies of 2023 by the American Film Institute; and has 5 nominations for the Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Actor (Wright), Best Supporting Actor (Brown), Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score); won Best Adapted Screenplay at Critics Choice Awards.
Hidden Figures—wonderful movie about 3 brilliant African American women at NASA who were the brains behind the launching of John Glenn into space. The movie received some valid critique for the attention it gave to the women’s white bosses for “giving” the women a chance to show their genius. Yet, the opportunity to meet these women and learn their stories keeps this movie on my list.
Podcasts/TED Talks
Cord Jefferson, an award winning writer, director and producer, best known for American Fiction, The Good Place, and Watchman is interviewed on the National Endowment for the Arts podcast.
Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable by Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Using the imagery of the domino effect and speaking to her lived experience as the first domino, the one setting off the chain reaction, Ajayi Jones encourages the listener to speak truth to power — especially when it is inconvenient and uncomfortable. See also Luvvie’s books, Professional Troublemaker: The Fear Fighting Manual and I’m Judging You.
When sprinters, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, raised their fists in protest at the 1968 Olympic Games, it shook the world. More than 50 years later, the ripple effects of their activism are still felt. As the daughter of an Olympic level sprinter, this story was one I grew up with and I loved learning more.
Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey: Fawn Weaver (How I Built This)
When Uncle Nearest first hit the spirits market, the story I was told was that Jack Daniel had stolen the recipe for his whiskey from an enslaved person. That enslaved person, Nathan Green’s relatives were now reclaiming the history and marketing whiskey that was credited to the person who really made the recipe. This podcast speaks to the truth of this narrative and highlights the Black founder and owner of Uncle Nearest, Incorporated, producing one of the most awarded bourbon and American whiskeys since 2019.
Why Thinking About Death Helps You Live a Better Life by Alua Arthur
Alua Arthur encourages the listener to live fully, now, by speaking to her experience as a human being and death doula. Most poignant for me is her perspective that when thinking about life from the vantage point of her own graceful death, she is inspired to decide and lean into who she is now, how she wants to spend her time now, and what she will leave behind when she dies. See also Arthur’s sister, Bozoma Saint John, and her book The Urgent Life.
Art/Creatives
Bag Lady Meredith San Diego—A US-born returned Peace Corps volunteer, now expat living in Europe, sharing lessons learned and stories from a Black, female, solo traveler perspective.
Dr. Lorenzo Pace is a children’s book author, artist and most notably the artist of the Triumph of the Human Spirit sculpture in Foley Square on the site of a Colonial-era African-American burial site.
Kadir Nelson is a visual artist from San Diego who illustrated many of the books I read or took silent picture walks through throughout the school year with the students, but we always read Henry’s Freedom Box during Black History Month.
Websites
bettinalove.com is Dr. Bettina Love’s website that features a media and article section. This entire website is life-giving and affirming for me as an educator and as a Black woman. I reference her work in courses I facilitate and in my dissertation writing.
Places that are worth your time…
The Charles H Wright Museum of African American History (Detroit, Michigan)
If you get to Detroit, make your way to this museum. Looking at actual pages from the Green Book and walking through the hull of a slave ship are unbelievable experiences and important.
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (Cincinnati, Ohio)
A yearly field trip for the lower elementary students in my building, it was amazing to see what children noticed and discussed from year to year. The historical artifacts are brilliant and the opportunity to walk inside a pen where enslaved persons lived was horrifying and beautiful.
Community Groups
I learned about this community from a magazine lying on the coffee table in my hotel room on O’ahu, and have tried to keep up through social media ever since. The website provides historical information about Black folks in Hawai’i and around the world. Author talks, film screenings and community gatherings are also highlighted to invite folks into the community as well as keep folks in the know.
True, earnest belonging of Black people in all spheres of the human landscape in the US is nowhere near complete. I’m looking forward to a day in someone’s generation when this changes. It’s not enough to have cultural markers present in spaces if it’s not impacting hiring practices, academic outcomes, disproportionately in discipline, and really the beliefs and behaviors that don’t question the value and mattering of Black people in society.