Trump opens door for Black History Month in June

School may be out for summer but education without grade expectation exists as an aphrodisiac for learning.

Thanks to President Donald Trump, Juneteenth and Tulsa, Oklahoma could spark a Black History education revolution in June instead of the repugnant February celebration.

This development emphasizes a need for African American history throughout the year — and not for black people only. Plus, exploration of other ethnicities sounds like a worthy endeavor for mind expansion.

Speaking of history, some may recall a classic cartoon known as Peabody’s Improbable History which accompanied The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.

Mr. Peabody, a science- nerd canine and Sherman, his orphaned boy companion, enjoyed time travel.

Sherman received instructions from his handler as Mr. Peabody would order, “Sherman, set the WABAC machine for ...... ” a date in time and his boy twisted knobs and set dials for their world history destination.

Pronounced Way-Back, the WABAC acronym stood for Wavelength Acceleration Bidirectional Asynchronous Controller. Episodes concluded with a slight rewrite of facts.

Back to the real-deal, nonfiction U.S. African American history lesson. Mr. Peabody, please.

“Sherman, in the interest of saving time, set the WABAC Machine for June 19, 1865 and May 31, 1921.”

The first date delivers us to Galveston, TX as Gen. Gordon

Granger arrived to announce that President Abraham Lincoln had freed enslaved people in rebel states two and a half years earlier.

Lincoln had offered his Emancipation Proclamation in January 1, 1863 which set free slaves in rebellious states. His decree declared, “all persons held as slaves within any States, or designated part of the State, the people whereof shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

Why the freedom news arrived late in Texas remains a mystery although several ideas exist, including a conspiracy existed to keep those slaves working crops and under lock and key.

While Juneteenth may exist as Liberation Day, slavery officially ended Dec. 6, 1865 with the ratification of the 13th Amendment which offered, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

And while slavery may have ended, bondage remains as poverty latches many people to myriad issues that last lifetimes.

Either unknowingly or intentionally, Trump heads to Tulsa as media members and historians pull back the curtain or tear off a 99-year scab, and a not so unimaginable incident considering U.S. racial strife.

As May turned into June of 1921, Tulsa produced a race riot as mobs of white residents attacked black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District, an affluent black section of the oil-rich city.

Black residents had unlocked the vault to wealth and business success that the segregated Greenwood section earned a reference of “Black Wall Street.”

Nearly 40 square blocks were burned to the ground, depending on which accounts one believes 36 to 300 people died, and at least 9,000 African Americans were left homeless.

Initially identified as the Tulsa Race Riot the incident eventually earned a Tulsa Race Massacre reference — the single worst incident of racial violence in American history.

Historical accounts said the incident started when a 17-yearold white girl and elevator operator said a 19-year-old black “man” assaulted her inside an elevator.

Rumors swirled, including one that a white mob had hanged the alleged perpetrator. Crowds gathered. Shots were fired and Caucasians, already angry that Blacks had made movement up the economic ladder, destroyed Black Wall Street.

While a delay occurred with the Emancipation Proclamation notice in Texas, Oklahoma committed a more egregious oversight. In 2020, the massacre became part of the Oklahoma school curriculum.

History offers a fascination for those willing to open a book website, or ask somebody and delve into the past.

Set a date with your Wayback Machine for exploration and knowledge that may help to avoid mistakes of the past — then make some history of your own.

“Sherman ........