Photos and quotes compiled by staff writer Jajuan Brown
February is a time when the history and impact of African Americans is amplified throughout the nation. Black history is something that black students recognize every day no matter the month, but Black History Month serves as a celebration that every creed and color can take part in. Aware of this knowledge, students weigh in on what Black History Month means to them.
“I feel like black history month is our representation of culture. It symbolizes not only the hardships we’ve gone through, but also the accomplishments that we move to. It’s a collection of beauty and tragedy.”
“It means a lot to me because it’s a month out of the year that I get to discover new stories. Every Black History Month I feel like there are always new historic figures that I never knew about. It’s always cool to have 28 … 29 days where you get to see new experiences and be celebrated for that.”
“Every other month of the year is just white every single day. Black History Month means for once we can have our accomplishments put out there not just, ‘Oh they’re talking about slavery. Oh, they’re talking about the civil rights movement.’ There’s so many other things black people have done, and we can actually talk about it, even though we should talk about it every day of the year, but for it to be put into a month is very special.”
“It’s a month for us, and only us, and we deserve it after all of the stuff we went through years ago and today. (It’s) recognition on the fact that slavery actually built this country.”
“Black history to me means coming together as one unit and overcoming all things that oppress us.”
“It shows an appreciation to our black ancestors and appreciation to black people in general because we had to go through so much to get to this point. The whole month is basically a celebration while showing what our culture is about.”
“I think every month should be black history month. But the one month that we have, I think it’s great to expose other people who may be ignorant or naïve of the culture. Just a month to educate them. I think they should educate themselves, but the month puts it in their face.”
“Black History Month is basically where we celebrate the African history, not just the struggles but also the awards and everything we have accomplished.”
