We’re more than halfway through Black History Month, and this is the first mention of it that you’ll find in thishere magazine.
Historian Carter G. Woodson designated the second week in February — the birth week of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass — as Negro History Week in 1926. Woodson reportedly said he hoped the week would one day be eliminated as black history became just American history.
Yeah, not so much.
Classrooms, media outlets and corporate America seem to re-discover black people every February, only to lose us again come March 1. Recognition of the contributions of black Americans? Oh, we only do that in February. Positive pieces about black people? Um, hello, it isn’t Black History Month. Kente cloth decorations up the wazoo? Only in February, and OK, maybe in December for Kwanzaa.
And don’t even get me started that February is the shortest month of the year.
It all reminds me of being a kid and only seeing black people in commercials or ads for black products during “Soul Train,” as if black faces could only sell products to black audiences or that we didn’t watch television the rest of the time.
My goal for the magazine is to feature faces of color and diverse voices all year, negating the need to focus on [Marginalized Group Here] History Month. Ideally, we’ll bring feminism to different communities and make the broader feminist community more diverse.
In melanin-enhanced Rebellion all year long,
Karen
