Deja Davis
Managing Editor
As students at a historically black university, you would think we would be inundated with African-American history from the time we stepped foot on campus. But sadly, this is not the case for many of us.
This week, we asked students at Jackson State University this question: Have you learned more about African-American history at JSU? And many replied that JSU was taking advantage of this opportunity to educate its students on the ‘real” facts of our history.
As a child, I’ve always loved Black History Month. I’m not sure if it was because I got the chance to dress up as one of my favorites, Madame C.J. Walker or sing the lyrics to the song “I Can” by the rapper Nas at my fifth grade Black History program.
The month of February has always brought excitement and joy because it was the only time black people would get recognized for their achievements.
During my childhood, it was a time I was able to learn more about my black culture; however, even though my dear ole college home honors the recognition of black leaders, I still feel like much more can be accomplished.
With an endless supply of black excellence and black heroes every day, I should learn something new, but I feel like I hear about the familiar names such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, or Harriett Tubman way too often.
Even though they are very important and we as black people should always honor them, I also feel that every day, we as students should be informed on other notable blacks.
There are still so many that we do not know about and those people should still get recognized. There are also many pivotal events that occurred within the black community and during the Civil Rights era that need to be elaborated on.
Students in grade school should be getting more activities incorporated in classrooms that deal with African-American achievements, and not just during Black History Month.
We are all familiar with that month in elementary that the teachers taught weekly lessons about famous black leaders, faculty and students decorated the school setting to make it more cultural, and the annual programs that highlighted African-American leaders were performed by students. All of this occurring during the shortest month of the year.
And then nothing for the next ll months.
I am grateful that while growing up my Nana made sure that I always found out something new about the accomplishments of African-Americans.
It was not until I started high school where the feeling of black history made a drastic change. The amount of history that was not taught in school was saddening.
The importance of the month was not getting the same attention I was used to as a child and students stopped caring to learn about it because some public schools did not make it mandatory to learn.
This reason ties into why I came to Jackson State. After attending a Black College Tour covering HBCUs in my hometown of Atlanta, Ga., during my junior year of high school, I was completely sold that I was going to an HBCU.
Learning the history, the atmosphere on campus, the wide range of opportunities and more made me want to become a part of this legacy and the greatness of attending this historically black university.
There are plenty events that are put together on campus for students that take place for the entire month of February to come out and celebrate our history, but most students do not take the initiative to attend. But I still question why, at this premiere HBCU, black history is relegated to one month?
Don’t get me wrong, several professors at JSU do integrate black history into the HBCU experience, and not only through the remembrance of heroes and role models past, but also by shaping future history figures. Am I wrong for wanting more?
We live in a generation that loves to proclaim that we are “Woke”. My challenge to you is to take the initiative to learn more about your history.
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