fhttps://www.wsj.com/opinion/black-history-is-american-history-e59da570
Black History Is American History
By: Bion Bartning and Daryl Davis
It deserves complete integration, not a specially designated month.
Each February, Americans observe Black History Month. The original intention was to honor overlooked contributions and correct historical omissions. Over time, however, it has encouraged the belief that black history exists apart from American history, rather than as an essential part of our shared story.
That belief is mistaken and corrosive. Black history isn’t a specialized field relevant only to some Americans. It’s inseparable from the nation’s founding contradictions, economic development, constitutional struggles, cultural achievements and moral progress. To treat it as a separate category is to misunderstand the American story itself.
The architect of what became Black History Month would have agreed. In 1926, historian Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) established Negro History Week, placing it in February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. At the time, black Americans were largely absent from textbooks and classrooms. Woodson viewed the observance as a corrective—a temporary intervention designed to ensure black history would be taught throughout the year as part of American history.
His aim wasn’t to segregate black history from the national narrative but to force its inclusion. “It is not so much a Negro History Week as it is a History Week,” he wrote. “We should emphasize not Negro History, but the Negro in history. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hatred and religious prejudice.” Woodson wanted history to be taught fully and honestly, not as separate observances. Over time, Negro History Week expanded into Black History Month. But the original purpose has quietly been reversed. What was intended as a bridge has become a boundary.
The same pattern appears elsewhere in our civic calendar. Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15), Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (May), Native American Heritage Month (November) and Women’s History Month (March) were all created to address real gaps in historical recognition. Yet assigning distinct periods to particular groups reinforces the idea that their stories sit outside the main narrative, as additions rather than foundations.
This matters because history isn’t merely a record of the past. It’s a guide to citizenship.
When history is segmented by identity, Americans are encouraged to see parts of the national story as belonging to “them” rather than “us.” Shared ownership gives way to selective identification. Shared understanding yields to grievance. The result isn’t deeper appreciation but greater distance.
Black Americans didn’t merely experience American history; they shaped it. From agriculture and industry to constitutional law, military service, music and civil rights, the nation wouldn’t exist as it does without their contributions.
The answer isn’t to abolish heritage months out of impatience or indifference. It’s to make them irrelevant by fulfilling their original purpose.
Teach Frederick Douglass alongside the Founders. Teach slavery and Reconstruction with the same seriousness as the Constitution. Teach the Harlem Renaissance as American modernism. Teach Bernardo de Gálvez as Revolutionary War history. Teach Japanese-American internment as constitutional history. Teach the good, the bad, the ugly and the shameful. Do this consistently throughout the year and for all students.
A healthy national culture doesn’t require reminders that certain histories matter. It demonstrates that they already do.
Black History Month shouldn’t serve as an annual acknowledgment of what was left out the rest of the year. It should remind us that the goal isn’t permanent separation, but a shared understanding. Not parallel narratives, but one honest national story.
Black history doesn't belong to one group of Americans. It belongs to all of us. The more fully we teach it as such, the stronger our country will be.
Mr. Bartning is an investor and entrepreneur. Mr. Davis is a blues musician and author of “The Klan Whisperer.” They are co-founders of the Prohuman Foundation.
Mike Wallace: Black History Month, you find…
Morgan Freeman: Ridiculous.
Freeman: You’re going to relegate my history to a month?
Freeman: What do you do with yours? Which month is White History Month?
Freeman: Come on, tell me.
Freeman: Okay, which month is Jewish History Month?
Wallace: There isn’t one.
Freeman: Oh. Oh. Why not? Do you want one?
Freeman: I don’t either. I don’t want a Black History Month. Black History is American History.
Wallace: How are we gonna get rid of racism un–
Freeman: Stop talking about it. I’m going to stop calling you a white man. And I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man. I know you as Mike Wallace, you know me as Morgan Freeman. "I know this white guy named Mike Wallace…" You know what I'm saying?
