Keep Talking About Black History...

Tuesday was the start of the second half of Black History Month.

Or has that event escaped your mind already?

We all enter the month with loads of awareness and good intentions, then time passes and we think, "Well, that was enough."

In the meantime, nearly half the states in our country have already passed or are actively working to pass laws that prevent teachers from even discussing our true history.?

The legacy of slavery and the ensuing laws that prevented Black Americans from achieving even the semblance of equality are shameful and a dark part of our past that we must shine a light on. If we don't fight for the truth to be taught in schools, at all grades, we will perpetuate a false sense of fairness in our country that denies so much reality.?

I grew up in a part of southern Indiana that was still bitter that they had to fight on the side of the Union in the Civil War. When I was in fourth grade, the mini-series ROOTS aired on TV. That's when the teachers in our school system put on the full-court press of refuting it.

I was taught -- in school -- that slavery wasn't a bad deal for the slaves. That they were given food, shelter and medical care, something the average laborer in the North couldn't afford, and that no one ever beat or whipped their slaves because slaves were valuable property and no businessman destroyed his own property. Have you seen any of the history textbooks from the "good ol' days" that are now being shared on the Internet? These are the ideas that are espoused. These are the things taught to children, and will continue to be taught if the rest of us say, "It's no big deal if the laws change on this topic. They'll get the truth eventually."

How?

Seriously -- how will they get the truth?

About 20% of the kids from my high school went to college.

The other 80% -- their education ended with those lessons.

And most of them have kids...

But let's evolve from thinking Black History Month is all about slavery.

There is so much wonderful, rich Black history to talk about. So many triumphs despite the odds.

Were you ever taught in school that the carbon filament that makes lightbulbs work was actually perfected by Lewis Latimer, the son of escaped slaves? Mr. Latimer, pictured above, worked for two bosses you absolutely studied: Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. He was at the center of two of the greatest inventions of modern history -- the lightbulb and the telephone.?

Is this is the first you’ve ever heard of Latimer, who held patents on everything from electric lamps to locking coat racks to toilets on trains? He invented one of the first air conditioning units. Think about how much better all our lives are because of this man.

I’m a middle-aged woman...thank God for air conditioning and toilets on trains!

Why isn’t my power company called Southern California Latimer and not SoCal Edison?

?Is it because Latimer wasn’t smart enough?

Didn’t work hard enough?

Or because none of those factors were enough to overcome the barriers he faced to achieving the levels of fame and fortune his bosses, including Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, were able to amass??

Now ask yourself, what other history have I not learned?

Was I ever taught that Onesimus, a slave owned by Cotton Mather, brought the concept of inoculation to America from Northern Africa (the place from which he was kidnapped and sold into slavery) and that is what largely eradicated smallpox? Africa and the Middle East had vaccines long before the rest of the world. Is that news to you?

Ask yourself, "How could it have changed my beliefs about groups of people? How could it have changed my norms, if I’d been exposed to the geniuses from a wider variety of identity groups my whole life, instead of seeing one or two as the exception?"

How many other Black geniuses was I never told about?

Want to truly celebrate Black History Month? Find the inventors, artists, lawyers, politicians, doctors, scientists and others you were never taught about and share their stories.

Make their names known.?

Change what is perceived as the norm -- like Black Excellence -- and you change what opportunities are open to the next generation of?inventors, artists, lawyers, politicians, doctors, scientists and others.

And if you need a little inspiration, start here:

*Left to right: Stephanie Wilson, Joan Higginbotham, Mae Jemison, Yvonne Cagle and fighter pilot, Shawna Kimbrell

Now that's some seriously beautiful history!

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Valerie Alexander (she/her) is committed to expanding happiness and inclusion in all communities. She is a globally-recognized speaker on the topics of happiness in the workplace, the advancement of women, and unconscious bias, and her TED Talk, “How to Outsmart Your Own Unconscious Bias ,” has been viewed over half a million times.

If you want to join her Happiness & Inclusion mailing list, go to SpeakHappiness.com/inclusion to sign up and download the free workbook,?Five Policies That Outsmart Unconscious Bias in Your Company.?