Earlier this week I came across President Trump’s “Proclamation on National Black History Month.” Seeing his effort to attach himself to the event, given his history with racially insensitive comments, made me seriously consider the purpose and impact of the holiday. If one can claim to celebrate and honor Black History Month while ignoring, and even amplifying, the issues that harm Black communities, then something needs to change.
The general increase in Black representation each February is wonderful. I love the display of books by Black authors in the Labyrinth window, and I think it’s really funny when my friends Venmo me $5 for “reparations.” But I can’t help but wonder if this month has become a performative, mechanical ritual that we aren’t deeply invested in, rather than something in which we actively and intentionally participate.
The current political climate has made me realize that we cannot take things like Black History Month for granted. There won’t always be a principal to hold an assembly or a president to give meaningful weight to events like this. The responsibility is on us. As one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the world, Princeton is a place where the thought leaders and influential voices of the world come to train their predecessors. This institution should be at the forefront of pioneering the next iteration of this educationally and historically important national holiday. It’s not enough to just know Black history: We have to engage meaningfully with it, or it will fade from the cultural and political imagination.
As Princeton students living in a time when higher education is not only a privilege but under extreme attack, we owe Black History Month its due and that means no longer treating it merely as the educational event it was founded to be. We need to carry its tradition with us into the current social and political climate, utilize the foundation of education as an opportunity to generate change and look to the future, and prioritize intentional and active defiance of the structures that confine all of us.
Black History Month started as “Negro History Week” in 1926, instituted by historian Carter G. Woodson’s Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. The week’s purpose was to recognize the accomplishments of Black Americans and bring awareness to their history, which were otherwise excluded from school curricula and absent from public dialogue and awareness. President Gerald Ford extended the week into “Black History Month” in 1976 in an effort to “honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”
The historical reasons for celebrating Black History Month aren’t as relevant today. There is not nearly the same massive societal gap in knowledge about Black experiences or history as there was at the holiday’s inception. It is always valuable to acknowledge and think about the contributions Black Americans have made to American society — but in modern America, this is not a daunting or irregular task, especially for educated, thoughtful Princeton students.
At Princeton, we don’t need a presentation on Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad or George Washington Carver and the peanut. But that doesn’t mean we don’t need Black History Month.
As an educated group of people at an influential institution, we have a responsibility to the social institutions that better inform and push forward the society in which we live. We can’t let the tradition and legacy of Black History Month taper away.
Both Princeton and Princetonians have a great deal of social and cultural influence, which they have utilized historically to help create a more racially just society. When the Board of Trustees chose to rename Wilson College and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy in June 2020, they participated in — and propelled — a movement that shaped the American perception of racial justice. Princeton’s changes drew local and national attention to the impact of idolizing racist figures and the capacity for these harmful traditions to be amended, sparking a larger movement that saw the same actions taken across the nation.
These changes don’t just need to be administrative: Keeping discussion and the push for active changemaking alive starts small. Professors need to mention Black history in classes and acknowledge the places where it intersects with their curriculum — I promise it almost always does. It’s up to students to ask insightful questions and make meaningful connections between the racial dynamics of our society and whatever subjects they might be studying. It’s up to friends to check in with one another and open up genuine dialogue about race that can get so lost in our day to day.
There is always more to learn, and we should be seeking it out. We shouldn’t look at Black History Month as a time to check off a box or send a nice text. We shouldn’t allow ourselves to be exempt from meaningful engagement with Black History Month because we already know about Black history. We need to push ourselves to do more.
As a community, we have an intellectual responsibility to this month, not simply to pursue knowledge but to ensure that knowledge has a tangible impact. We have a responsibility to the Black leaders who have built so much of American society to maintain the tradition of having difficult conversations and pushing society to a better place. So I ask everyone reading, what does Black History Month mean to you, really? Should it mean more?
Ava Johnson is a sophomore columnist and prospective Politics major from Washington, D.C. Her column “The New Nassau” runs every three weeks on Thursdays. You can read all of her columns here. She can be reached by email at aj9432[at]princeton.edu.
Read More
Public intellectuals owe their institutions courage. Do not obey in advance.
Frances BroganIf professors like Timothy Snyder won’t choose courage in the face of authoritarian attacks on their scholarship and independence, who will?
If professors like Timothy Snyder won’t choose courage in the face of authoritarian attacks on their scholarship and independence, who will?
Your Ivy League experience would not send anyone into a coma
Shane McCauleyWhen this content markets the prestige and exclusivity of attending an elite university as central to the student experience, it risks misconstruing the true value of our education as a status symbol and not an intellectual experience. This reinforces the cultural gulf between the academic elite and America at large.
When this content markets the prestige and exclusivity of attending an elite university as central to the student experience, it risks misconstruing the true value of our education as a status symbol and not an intellectual experience. This reinforces the cultural gulf between the academic elite and America at large.
Is Princeton men’s basketball at an inflection point?
Steve SilvermanThe real issue is whether Princeton and every other Ivy program can continue to compete in a Division I landscape increasingly divided among the haves and have nots.
The real issue is whether Princeton and every other Ivy program can continue to compete in a Division I landscape increasingly divided among the haves and have nots.