The Second Evolution of Black History Month: A Call to Reclaim, Redefine and Expand Our Legacy
OPINION: "Black history did not begin with slavery, nor does its success lie in seeking validation from those who once erased it," says writer Antwonette Shade.
By Antwonette Shade for Black Iowa News
It is February 2025, and Black History Month returns as it has every February since being officially recognized by President Gerald Ford in 1976 — or so popular narratives would have us believe. In truth, Black History Week, founded by Carter G. Woodson in 1926, had already evolved into a month-long celebration by the 1940s. Despite its deep significance to the Black community, recent policies restricting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives have led to the suspension of Black History Month observances within federal offices. This calculated move is designed to weaken DEI efforts and deliver a symbolic blow to the Black community.
But the very idea that Black traditions, holidays and celebrations lie in the hands of government officials and can only be “official” once recognized by them is deeply rooted in American arrogance — and it is precisely why Black people must reject that notion with equal audacity.
Reclaiming Black History on Our Own Terms
To be clear, while Black history is American history, the celebration itself is uniquely ours. We have never needed government recognition to honor our history, nor do we require permission to celebrate our legacy. Black history and Black History Month are gifts we share with the world, not the other way around. It was created by us, for us — to uplift, inspire and instill true knowledge of self in Black Americans. Therefore, it is our responsibility to protect and evolve it.
That requires Black Americans to stop seeking validation from white institutions, reclaim our history, reimagine its observance and initiate what I call the second evolution of Black History Month.
The first evolution of Black History Month expanded the time dedicated to honoring our legacy. But time alone is not enough. If the first evolution gave us more time, then the second must give us more truth. The second evolution requires us to decolonize Black history. Decolonizing Black history challenges us to acknowledge the ways systemic oppression has erased, minimized, or rewritten our stories and to dismantle the Eurocentric frameworks that have long shaped how Black history is told.
Breaking Free from an Oppressive Framework
Many Americans have been taught that Black history began with slavery and ended with the civil rights movement as if a few hundred years of oppression in America eclipsed millennia of unparalleled accomplishments in the world.
We are often celebrated for overcoming oppression and praised for being the first Black person to force our way into white spaces and proving ourselves worthy of white recognition.
But when success is defined by breaking racial barriers and conforming to white society’s standard for success, it implies that our worth is determined by acceptance from the very systems that created those barriers in the first place.
This narrative is not only flawed but dangerous, it reinforces the idea that our success is contingent upon white validation rather than being inherently rooted in our own brilliance and legacy. When Black Americans are conditioned to see breaking into white-dominated institutions as the pinnacle of success, it places the focus on assimilation rather than empowerment. It implies that true success comes from navigating their systems rather than creating, strengthening, expanding and thriving in spaces of our own making. This allows white institutions to remain the gatekeepers of progress. By continuing to define Black history and achievement in this way, we risk trapping ourselves in a cycle where progress is measured by proximity to whiteness rather than by the expansion of Black autonomy and power.
I am not suggesting we stop sharing the stories of those who overcame slavery and unimaginable hardships. These stories are essential to our resilience and collective history. Instead, I propose we reposition them within the full scope of our history. Our history did not begin with struggle — it began with rich cultures, thriving civilizations, groundbreaking innovations and powerful legacies and knowledge that shaped the world long before oppression attempted to define us.
Our history must free our minds and inspire us, or else we risk perpetuating the very inferiority complex that systematic oppression seeks to instill. That is why, as we take inventory of the contributions left by some of the greatest minds and bravest hearts the world has ever known, it is essential to recognize that Black history extends beyond American borders. Our people have been making history long before there even existed a place called the United States of America.
The Battle Over Education and Historical Erasure
Education has always been a battleground for liberation and mental enslavement. That is why reclaiming and teaching our history is of utmost importance. The American school system was never designed to prepare Black children to see themselves through the lens of their true identity, their ancestral brilliance, or their historical significance. Expecting a system built on the dehumanization of Black people to foster empowerment in Black children is not only naïve — it is asinine. This task falls to us as parents, educators and community leaders. It is our responsibility to instill pride and knowledge of self in our children, for they cannot draw strength from a history that portrays them as formerly enslaved people with no past beyond their oppressor.
Throughout history, the systematic erasure of a people’s history has been a common tool of oppression. Colonizers, conquerors and oppressive regimes have frequently destroyed or hidden the histories of those they subjugated. Today, we see this continuing through book bans, restrictions on Critical Race Theory and efforts to limit discussions of African American history in schools.
In states like Florida and Texas, new laws are whitewashing Black history — teaching that enslaved people “developed skills” that benefited them and referring to slavery as “involuntary relocation.” These attacks are not new. They are part of an ongoing strategy to disconnect future generations of Black children from their true history while sweeping the sins of this nation under the rug.
For any hostile system of control, the erasure of people’s history serves an invaluable purpose: it robs a people of their identity, dignity and power, making them easier to control. As Woodson warned, “When you control a man’s thinking, you do not have to worry about his actions.”
So, the real question is: How long will we allow others to control our history and thinking before we take full ownership of it and redefine its celebration ourselves?
Celebrating Black History Month:
‘Black stories matter, Black history matters’ say lawmakers during Black History Month celebration at Iowa Capitol
Implementation of The Second Evolution of Black History Month: A New Framework
New ideas and transformative movements often begin as sparks — bold proposals that challenge the status quo. And I would like to make a few proposals of my own. My first challenge is for each of us to broaden the scope through which we view Black history, the lens through which we see ourselves, and, most importantly, how we teach ourselves. Black History Month will then serve as a reinforcement, a reminder and a celebration of the knowledge of our history that we share every day of the year. The second challenge is to initiate a bold new framework for Black History Month that follows a structured, week-by-week progression and provides a more complete and empowering perspective:
Week 1: African and Indigenous Roots – Black history predates slavery, with civilizations like Mali, Ghana and Kemet, the intellectual legacy of Timbuktu, and contributions to science, medicine and architecture. We also use this time to recognize that Africans arrived in the Americas before Columbus, with some of us having Indigenous roots unrelated to slavery at all.
Week 2: Resistance and Innovation – This is where we traditionally honor pioneers like Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, Madam C.J. Walker, and W.E.B. Du Bois — along with other prominent innovators who shaped science, business and education — as well as less recognized revolutionaries like Nat Turner, Malcolm X and the Black Panthers, who fought for liberation through direct resistance.
Week 3: Black Excellence Today – Celebrating modern leaders in social justice, technology, the arts and more. We’ll highlight Africa’s current history makers and innovations, reconnecting African Americans to their roots and reminding us of our shared legacy.
Week 4: Celebration and Reflection – A full-circle moment to honor, educate, and take ownership of Black history through community action, mentorship and ongoing learning.
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A Movement for Liberation
The liberation of Black history requires taking control of and shifting our narrative to one that centers Black excellence not as a reaction to oppression but as an ongoing, self-sustaining force that has existed long before and beyond it. To decolonize our history and our free minds, Black people must take up a careful excavation of our identities, unearthing the truths that have been buried beneath centuries of oppression and erasure. If we continue to center Black history around overcoming oppression, we deprive ourselves and future generations of the full truth.
The truth is that Black excellence is written into our DNA — it is as much our inheritance as the curls on our heads and the shape of our noses.
By honoring our African roots first, then recognizing the resilience and achievements of early African American pioneers, celebrating our contemporary excellence, and reflecting on the full journey, we create a framework that empowers us. Black history did not begin with slavery, nor does its success lie in seeking validation from those who once erased it.
When we take ownership of our history, we equip ourselves to retake our positions in the world and transform Black History Month into what it was always meant to be — a movement for the liberation of Black minds.
“History tells a people where they have been and what they have been, where they are and what they are. Most important, history tells a people where they still must go and what they still must be.” — John Henrik Clarke
More on Black History Month at Black Iowa News:
Decolonizing Our Minds: A Black History Month Call to Action
Upcoming Events on BlackIowaNews.com
Cultural Heritage and Human Rights: The Black Experience in Sioux City
Feb22
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Sankofa Literary & Empowerment Group – Pages of Power Book Drive
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A Call to Remember and Act – The Life, Transformation & Legacy of Malcolm X
Feb22
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LIFT EVERY VOICE IN LOVE Benefit Concert for Grubb YMCA Youth Programs
Feb23
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