Late January, early February, which is Black History Month, SNL’s Leslie Jones wondered why she wasn’t taught about the women in Hidden Figures in school. This sparked a very interesting conversation that seems to reoccur every time this year, why did we only learn about George Washington Carver and his peanuts?
The time of the year where schools dust off their Martin Luther King Jr. posters and pull out their Rosa Parks lectures is now. Black History should be American History, all year round. In recent years some teachers have opted not to celebrate Black History in February, Women’s History Month in March, or even LGBT Month in October. The reasoning for this being, is these things should always be a topic of conversation, all year.
However, I enjoy Black History Month and feel it necessary, along with the necessity to keep the conversation going all year. But, Leslie Jones breaks down how some of us feel during this month, and educates us on some of the other great things that the school system neglects to inform us.
