This Black History Month, celebrate the achievements, and honor contributions
It was 47 years ago when President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month in 1976, calling upon the nation to seize the opportunity to honor the too often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.
Black History Month celebrates the achievements of African Americans and recognizes their prominent role in U.S. history. During this month, the United States honors the contributions and sacrifices of African Americans who have helped shape our nation, in conjunction with celebrating their rich cultural, heritage, triumphs and adversities that are an important part of our history.
A nation grounded in liberty and justice, not for some, but for all.
We represent the greatest diversity of any nation in the world, and that has challenged us in seeking the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We honor people for many reasons in this country with special times of remembrance. These annual events by themselves do not begin to tell the stories of our history and the people who helped write those stories.
However, these events remind us to transmit the narrative of the United States from the best of who we are to when we have been at our worst as a nation. Our historical narrative defines us and helps us remember important markers and milestones in our American journey.
Today, Black History Month, which is also a segment of American history, is a time to honor the contributions and legacy of African Americans within our history and society from activists and civil rights pioneers such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Rosa Parks, along with leaders in industry, politics, science and culture.
A history that includes accomplishments and also resistance
The challenges that have confronted the history of Black American in order to make a way out of no way has often been tested. The struggle for freedom and fair treatment, which includes the right to vote, along with equality in the areas of education, housing, economics and workplace opportunities. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
It is important to understand, since its passage, the Voting Rights Act has also been walked back in certain areas. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 vote that constraints placed on certain states and that federal review of some states voting procedures were outdated. Because of that ruling, several states began enacting laws limiting voter access, including ID requirements, limits on early voting and mailin voting procedures.
While attending a 2010 leadership conference in Washington, D.C., I had the opportunity to meet with the late United States Congressman, John Lewis. He stated to me that although we have Barack Obama, a Black man serving as the 44th President of the United States, residing in the White House, the official residence of the President, which was built by slaves, we must continue to keep our eyes on the equal opportunity prize.
Lewis further added, this is a great nation, however there are still challenges that must be addressed that will make us a better country while enhancing liberty and justice for all. Remembering that conversation, it is important that Black History Month serves as a marker of a time to pause and reflect about the contributions of African Americans to our nation that has shaped who we are as a culture today and what the future holds.
Spencer Wiggins is Community Relations Consultant and the former Chairman of the Tennessee Human Rights Commission.