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Yay! One Extra Day for Black History Month
It’s time to learn about Black people year-round
Even though it’s only been four years, I can barely remember any years when we got to experience February 29.
As everyone knows, 2024 is a leap year. 366 days. And a full 29 days instead of 28 in February. That means we get a whopping one more day to celebrate and learn about Black history.
The problem with the month, though, is Black history isn’t a sideline issue. It’s not an elective. It’s part of all history.
To relegate the accomplishments and impact of Black people to one short month reinforces our deep, unconscious bias, caused by generations of so-called education, that pretends Black people haven’t contributed. That they aren’t worthy of inclusion into the rest of history.
The thing is, they are worthy. Indeed, given what Black people have endured, their impact is actually quite remarkable. From science to culture to fashion to music to sports to literature to justice.
We all know about Thomas Edison, but our schools conveniently forgot to tell us about Black scientist Louis Latimer, who invented and patented the carbon filament — that piece of the light bulb that keeps it on so you can read this essay at night. Latimer made it…
