Celebrating Black History Month ???

Black History Month can seem gimmicky these days, when we should be—and are—confronting issues of racial injustice daily. It can feel like a "gotcha" waiting to happen. You could be early on your journey through DEI and anti-racism work, or maybe you want to celebrate #BlackGirlMagic and #BlackBoyJoy but aren't sure where to start. Are you going to say the wrong thing? Or be punished for speaking up now but not earlier??

But I believe in Black History Month. Here’s why.

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When I worked at the White House, many of my days were spent doing things that one does in any number of jobs: preparing memos, attending meetings, dashing off follow-up notes, and running through lists of to-do’s. But some days there were also experiences that were so unique as to be nearly out-of-body.

One day in early December 2016, my colleagues and I were hosting a screening of the movie Hidden Figures, which tells the story of the three black women who did some of the most difficult mathematical work (by hand!) responsible for John Glenn’s successful spaceflight in 1962. The cast of the movie had come to town to do a talk back with a group of elementary school students. The evening before the event, we had a small welcome reception for them at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.??

The chance to visit the then-newly-opened museum after hours was special in and of itself. But the chance to visit it while trailing quietly behind major contemporary African American stars and role models – Octavia Spencer, Taraji B. Henson, Janelle Monae, and others – was dizzying.

At one point we came around a corner, and there was a projector playing a reel of influential African American actors. As we stood there, a clip of Octavia Spencer in The Help, for which she won an Academy Award, began to play. Spencer’s friends squealed with delight when she came on screen. I watched her freeze, and then become completely overwhelmed with emotion. Her friends gathered around her, arranging themselves in a group embrace as they looked up at the screen, watching Spencer act. “I’m in a museum,” she whispered, in awe, as they leaned into one other long past the end of the scene. The rest of us stayed quiet, not wanting to disturb the moment.

In that museum that evening, I watched a woman celebrated for her place in contemporary culture brought to tears by the realization that she had also earned a place in history.?

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That is the moment I think of when I think of why Black History Month matters.?

Yes, we must confront contemporary issues every day, week, and month. Let’s also spend this month celebrating, reflecting on, and honoring the contributions Black folks have made that stand the test of time and have earned us a place in the halls of our museums, the pages of our textbooks, and the wiki entries that catalogue not our challenges but our accomplishments. Let’s tell those untold stories that deserve to be in those tomes. Let’s celebrate.

Happy Black History Month. I hope you have a proud one. ???

P.S. Here's me and my White House colleague and friend Dr. Knatokie Ford, who organized the screening, at the step-and-repeat at the museum that night. We'd been running around all day and were not red carpet ready, but that didn't stop us!