Back in the mid-1980s, while a mail handler working for the United States Postal Service at what was called the South Postal Annex, I had a conversation with a White liberal co-worker. I was trying to “Red Pill” him” by loaning him a book, “Hijacked,” the Anthony Bryant Story. Mr. Bryant was a Black Panther turned born-again Christian and patriot. Bryant hijacked a plane to Cuba back in 1969. Thinking he would be given a hero’s welcome, he ended up spending twelve years in a Cuban hellhole prison.
My liberal co-worker never bothered to read the book because it didn’t fit his liberal narrative. “You need to travel around the country and then get back to me,” he exclaimed. I told him that while I wasn’t the most well-traveled man, “I have been in the Deep South, but it wouldn’t make any difference to you.” He accused me of not knowing much about Black history. I then began to ask him some questions:
Who was the first Black U.S. Senator?
Who was the Black man killed in the Boston Massacre?
Who invented the traffic light?
What was the name of the first all-Black unit in the Civil War? (1)
He didn’t know the answer to any of the questions and a few more I posed to him
‘For someone who knows so much about Blacks, you don’t know much about Blacks,” I replied.
A number of my Black co-workers were listening to the conversation. As my liberal co-worker was about to clock out, I asked him one more question: “Why did you White liberals give Blacks the shortest month of the year to celebrate Black History Month?” This question ended our friendly relationship. My Black co-workers, on the other hand, were high-fiving each other and congratulated me for putting this condescending White liberal in his place.
A Black postal co-worker, a friend, and I were discussing the issue. He was a conservative-minded man but told me that Whites write history. I asked him if he could name the Black man who was killed in the Boston Massacre. “Crispus Attucks,” he correctly replied. “Now, name the White victims,” I queried. “You made your point,” he replied. (2)
Actually, Black History Month wasn’t chosen because it was the shortest month of the year. It started as Negro History Week in 1926 thanks to the efforts of historian Carter G. Woodson and the members of the Association for the Study of Negro Life. The second week of February was chosen because the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas fall in that week. Of the Negro History Week, Professor Woodson said
“It is not so much a Negro History Week as it is a History Week. We should emphasize not Negro History, but the Negro in History. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hatred and religious prejudice.”
Woodson acknowledged the work of William Cooper Nell, perhaps the first Black American historian. I highly recommend Nell’s book, Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, which is still in print. His book included a segment on the nation’s first all-black militia, the Bucks of America.
This Boston-based unit was led by Colonel George Middleton, who may have been the first Black military officer in U.S. History. John Hancock and his son John George Washington Hancock, who may have been the Buck’s mascot, presented a flag to Colonel Middleton to honor the militia unit. The original flag is on display at the National Museum of Black History in D.C.
Nell helped bring the name of Crispus Attucks, one of the victims of the Boston Massacre, into national prominence.
Negro History Week was observed by schools and organizations. Mayors of some cities would pass resolutions observing Negro History Week. In 1976, President Gerald Ford was the first president to declare February Black History Month with these remarks:
“Seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”
Every president since then has issued proclamations. On January 31, Trump issued this:
Today, I am very honored to recognize February 2025 as National Black History Month.
Every year, National Black History Month is an occasion to celebrate the contributions of so many black American patriots who have indelibly shaped our Nation’s history.
Throughout our history, black Americans have been among our country’s most consequential leaders, shaping the cultural and political destiny of our Nation in profound ways. American heroes such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Thomas Sowell, Justice Clarence Thomas, and countless others represent what is best in America and her citizens. Their achievements, which have monumentally advanced the tradition of equality under the law in our great country, continue to inspire all Americans. We will also never forget the achievements of American greats like Tiger Woods, who have pushed the boundaries of excellence in their respective fields, paving the way for others to follow.
This National Black History Month, as America prepares to enter a historic Golden Age, I want to extend my tremendous gratitude to black Americans for all they have done to bring us to this moment and for the many future contributions they will make as we advance into a future of limitless possibility under my Administration.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim February 2025 as National Black History Month. I call upon public officials, educators, librarians, and all the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth
I have mixed thoughts on Black History Month. On one hand, I think it is important for all Americans to learn of the incredible contributions made by many Black Americans from the Battle of Lexington to the Civil War, World War One and Two to the Deserts of the Middle East, Black Americans fought and died for our nation. Their ranks also include educators, explorers, inventors, architects, political leaders, athletes, artists, clergy, doctors, poets, writers, jurists, and every other profession and trade.
However, the Left has hijacked Black History Month by promoting racial hatred and division. Leftists give us a sanitized version of the likes of WEB DuBois and Paul Roberson-both communists – while having disdain and contempt for the Christians Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver. And they ignore people like George and Philippa Schuyler, Julia Brown, Dr. Mildred Jefferson, and Clarence Thomas to mention a few. (They especially hate Justice Thomas.)
Many prominent Black Americans including Morgan Freeman, Stacey Dash, and Vince Ellison have denounced Black History Month. In an interview on 60 Minutes with Mike Wallace, Freeman said that “Black History is American History” and Black History should not be “relegated to one month.
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In a 2016 interview on Fox and Friends, Dash said:
“We have to make up our minds. Either we want to have segregation or integration, and if we don’t want segregation, then we have to get rid of channels like BET and the BET Awards and the Image Awards, where you’re only awarded if you’re black,” she continued. “If it were the other way around, we’d be up in arms. It’s a double standard. There shouldn’t be a black history month. We’re Americans, period.”
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Vince Ellison, in a recent podcast, said that he “feels sorry for White folks” during Black History Month, that it is a “waste of time…A bunch of lies… Black people are oppressed…White people are low down and America is bad…”
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While it may be a while before we as a nation can jettison identity politics and the inordinate influence that the Cultural Marxist, Death Cultists and Self-Loathing Whites have, we can celebrate and honor the incredible accomplishments of Black Americans year-round.
Here is a recommended project for those of you who have children in government schools: Download this picture below and have you or your child take it to his or her history teacher.
- First Black U.S. Senator Rev. Hiram Revels of Mississippi,
- Crispus Attucks was killed in the Boston Massacre
- Garret Morgan invented the traffic light.
- The 54th Massachusetts was the 1srt all Black unit that fought in the Civil War
- Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, Samuel Maverick, and Patrick Carr.
